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Future Directions for the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System was the theme of the biennial conference held October 24-25, 1996 in Atlanta for hospitals participating in the NNIS system. The conference, which was co-sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with support from Pfizer Inc, provided a platform for exchanging ideas that will help NNIS better respond to the rapidly changing US health care system.
Participants at the conference, attended by more than 150 infection control specialists from 117 NNIS hospitals, discussed new developments in hospital epidemiology and described to their colleagues how they used NNIS data to solve infection control problems.
Speakers at the conference discussed newly analyzed data and the important role of the NNIS system, which provides national surveillance data on nosocomial infections. The data from this system can be used to asses the quality of patient care, as a prevention tool to reduce nosocomial infections, and to monitor trends in infectious diseases.
Data acquired, analyzed, and published by NNIS are eagerly awaited throughout the world. Its methods of surveillance and analyses have become the yardstick against which all nosocomial programs are measured.
As the only source for national data on the epidemiology of nosocomial infections and comparable infection rates, the NNIS system depends on participating hospitals to accurately and uniformly report nosocomial infections data. During the conference, participants listened to reports on a study to evaluate the accuracy of the NNIS infection data, the plans for improving the NNIS data collection protocols, and the institution of a new telecommunication system to speed the transfer of data and to improve communication between NNIS hospitals and CDC.
At an NFID-sponsored reception and dinner honoring NNIS participants, keynote speaker Rafael Mertens, MD, described how the NNIS system has shaped infection surveillance in Europe. Dr. Mertens is an epidemiologist from the Institute of Hygiene in Brussels, Belgium.
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) announced the top 10 infectious diseases this past spring on which the foundation will focus its efforts. At its April meeting, the NFID Board of Directors ranked the top 10 infectious diseases as follows:
"I am here today to take my own advice and get my annual flu shot," said advice columnist Ann Landers during a Chicago press conference on October 7. "I'm urging everyone else who is enrolled in Medicare to get theirs, too."
The press conference was sponsored by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), US Department of Health and Human Services, as part of its fall campaign to encourage senior citizens to get their free flu shots. The National Coalition for Adult Immunization (NCAI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are partners with HCFA in a joint effort to increase the number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations over the five-year period covering 1996 through the year 2000. Gregory A. Poland, MD, Chair of the NCAI Steering Committee, also participated in the press conference.
Ms. Landers received her flu shot from Acting US Surgeon General Audrey Manley, MD. Besides getting her shot, Ms. Landers used her nationally syndicated column to urge older Americans to get their annual flu shots.
This is the fourth year that Medicare will pay for flu shots. The shots are free for those enrolled in Medicare Part B who get them from physicians who accept Medicare payment as full payment.
Last year the program paid for 11 million shots, resulting in an estimated 5,000 fewer hospitalizations and $25 million in savings to the Medicare program. Still, only about half of the nation's Medicare beneficiaries were immunized last year. Among African-American beneficiaries, only about a quarter were immunized.
"We are making an extra effort this year to reach the underserved," said Bruce C. Vladeck, HCFA administrator. HCFA's Horizons Project is specifically designed to increase flu vaccination rates among African-Americans. HCFA is working with historically black colleges and universities to get ministers, family physicians, and others at the community level to urge African-American beneficiaries to get their flu shots every year.
HCFA is also developing new initiatives with public health and provider organizations to make it easier for providers to administer flu shots.