Hello. I am Lauren Wattenmaker here at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
We at CDC are very grateful for your participation
in our healthcare-associated infection
and patient safety surveillance system known
as the National Healthcare Safety Network, or NHSN.
Today, I'm going to tell you about the updates we are making
to NHSN's Agreement to Participate and Consent,
which I will refer to as, 'the Consent'.
The Consent is a signed agreement between CDC
and healthcare facilities that participate in NHSN.
The Consent includes a list of NHSN's purposes
and CDC's assurance of confidentiality for the data
that healthcare facilities report to the system.
Starting January 23, 2018,
CDC will be introducing a new online consent form
to be signed electronically by your facility.
This form will need to be signed by April 14, 2018.
How is the new Consent different?
The new online form can be signed
by a facility administrator OR the primary contact.
While there is a separate consent for each NHSN component,
a facility administrator or primary contact can agree
to the terms of the consent for multiple facility locations
and components in one step.
Additionally, the new Consent will include updates
to the purposes of NHSN, such as: Enabling local
and territorial health departments to access NHSN data
for surveillance and prevention purposes reported by facilities
in their jurisdictions.
At this time, this does not include long-term care.
Also it enables CDC to provide patient and facility-level data
to state, local, or territorial health departments during an
outbreak investigation to assist
with related case-finding efforts
or support outbreak response activities.
How will the Consent remain the same?
CDC continues to assure confidentiality of the data
that facilities submit to NHSN.
CDC also continues to restrict its use of identifiable data
to the stated purposes.
Starting January 23, 2018,
currently enrolled NHSN facilities can consent
electronically through the NHSN application.
Let's take a closer look at what you should expect: Step 1:
Facility Administrators and Primary Contacts
for all components at all NHSN facilities will receive an email
notification when the January 2018 update is released,
which will look similar to the one shown here.
Step 2: After you receive this email, you will be able to view
and accept the consent agreement in the NHSN application
with a simple click of the button.
Step 3: Once you accept the updated agreement,
you will receive a confirmation email.
A link to a printable consent document will be available
in the NHSN application.
Consent for all NHSN components should be electronically
submitted by April 14, 2018 by 11:59 pm EST.
If the Consent is not submitted by April 14, 2018,
this will result in temporary suspension
of your component's NHSN access until the Consent is agreed
to by the facility administrator or the primary contact.
You have time.
Our NHSN team is here to support you along the way.
If you have questions, comments or concerns,
please do not hesitate to contact us at NHSN@cdc.gov
and put "consent form" in the subject line.
Thanks for your time and effort.
We look forward to our continued partnership.