SHEA Releases Position Paper With Recommendations for IPC Programs

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology in America (SHEA) released a joint position paper today in collaboration with APIC, IDSA, and PIDS “urging United States healthcare facilities to elevate the standards and effectiveness of their Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programs.”

The COVID-19 pandemic “exposed persistent vulnerabilities and resource gaps in IPC programs, highlighting the urgent need for stronger, better-resourced, and more influential efforts. The new position paper calls on healthcare leaders, regulatory agencies, and payors to prioritize IPC programs as foundational and essential components of healthcare operations.”

The position paper offers recommendations for leadership. It suggests that “healthcare facility leaders and regulatory partners should prioritize the expectation that IPC programs address all infectious risks and harms as a core requirement.” It also recommends IPC program leaders “have direct access to senior facility executives who can provide prompt support for IPC initiatives.” Regulatory agencies and “other evaluators of healthcare facility quality should assess IPC program leadership, including resource allocation, staff competencies, and leadership structures (such as the presence of a dyad leadership model), during facility surveys.”

The organizations also write that “current regulatory requirements – such as the [CMS] mandate for active IPC programs – lack clear definitions of program effectiveness. … The authors advocate for revised standards that promote continuously improving, data-driven IPC programs with measurable outcomes.” The adoption of a dyad leadership model with “a Medical Director of IPC and an Infection Preventionist Director of IPC” is a suggestion provided to “strengthen communication, collaboration, and the achievement of institutional goals.”