CMS issues COVID-19 infection control and lab test guidance

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released two memos this week with guidance for health care facilities and the state survey agencies that inspect those facilities. The first memo provides information on infection control policies and practices to ensure public safety in light of the threat from the novel coronavirus. A second memo provides guidance to help surveyors confirm authorized laboratories are following protocols for accurate testing for the virus, recently named COVID-19 by the World Health Association. This is the first guidance issued by the Tri-Agency Task Force for Emergency Diagnostics, which was created a year ago by CMS, the Federal Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide timely recommendations to laboratories for rapid implementation of emergency diagnostic tests. (CMS news release, 2/6/20)