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APIC Chicago is a local Chapter of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC). APIC is a multi-disciplinary voluntary international organization with over 10,000 members. The purpose of the organization is to influence, support and improve the quality of healthcare through the practice and management of infection control and the application of epidemiology in all healthcare settings.

APIC Chicago has approximately 200 members. Educational meetings are held at least four times per year with an all day conference held in the fall. The annual business meeting is held the first Wednesday in December. Visit the meetings tab to find out more about local, regional and national educational meetings.

If you would like to learn more about the organization, contact any member of the APIC Chicago Board of Directors or visit the membership section tab.

What's New!

February 2010: IL Senate Bill 2981 introduced on 2/3/10 to amend the MRSA Screening and Reporting Act regarding additional screening of several patient populations Access pdf copy here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/96/SB/PDF/09600SB2981lv.pdf

Read more here


Thursday, January 21, 2010 :: Chicago APIC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM "Illinois Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Plan" Mary Fornek
Click here for PowerPoint Presentation 


February 5 2010 :: Surgical Site Surveillance through NHSN Mandatory for State of Illinois Presenter Mary Andrus ---- 4 available meeting dates starting Feb 5, 2010. 
Click here for registration info


December 2009 :: Notice regarding lack of FDA clearance for Steris System 1 and FDA recommendation that all users transition to alternative methods within the next 3-6 months http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/ucm191585.htm
Also, read MCHC letter here


Thursday, January 21, 2010 :: Chicago APIC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM "Business Case for Infection Control"
PowerPoint presentation: "The Business Case for Infection Prevention and Control: Knowledge, Tools and Timing" Denise Murphy, RN, BSN, MPH, CIC
Click here for the PowerPoint Presentation


December 2009 :: Illinois SSI reporting requirements by April 2010: CABG and TKR
Read more here

December 2009 :: Illinois HAI Prevention Plan of December 23, 2009
Read more here


November 3 2009 CDC: CD requests public comments before Dec.3, 2009on update of guideline. - Draft Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections


Notice of proposed Chicago APIC bylaw change for the December 2009 business meeting


September 2009: : PROPOSED rule changes to Illinois Hospital Licensing Requirements were published on 8/7/09. The PROPOSED include changes to Section 250.1100 (Infection Control).
Go to http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/index/register/register_volume33_issue32.pdf

(Refer to PDF pages 59 through 81; page numbers 11418 through 11440). Comment instructions on page 11419


July 2009: CDC and Illinois have published recent H1N1 documents - “Process for Stakeholder and Public Review of Interim H1N1 Guidance” and “H1N1 Provider Overview


July 2, 2009 :: Federal MRSA Bills Introduced: Three MRSA bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress. The “MRSA Infection Prevention and Patient Protection Act,” would require hospital reporting of HA-MRSA and other infections beginning with ICU and high-risk patients and extending to the screening of all patients by 2014. See bills here: S. 1305 and H.R. 2937. Also, the “Worker Infection Protection Act,” which requires the development of standards to protect healthcare personnel and first-responders from workplace exposure to infectious agents and MDRO is available for review S. 1299.

July 2, 2009 :: CDC requests reports of non-respiratory febrile reactions beginning a few hours after gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures (see APICList 7-1-09)

APIC Community – APICList
http://www.apic.org
Febrile reaction post GI endo 07-01-2009
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating reports of non-respiratory febrile reactions beginning a few hours after gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures. Cases have occurred since June 19, 2009. We are interested in hearing from others who might have seen clusters of similar cases. If you have seen a recent cluster of these cases, please contact Arjun Srinivasan at CDC (contact info below).

Arjun Srinivasan, MD
CDR USPHS
Team Lead, Response Team
Medical Director, Get Smart for Healthcare
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd. MS A35
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: 404.639.2303
Fax: 404.639.2647

asrinivasan@cdc.gov



June 9, 2009 :: APIC Position Paper on Automated Surveillance Technologies “The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) supports the use of automated surveillance technologies as an essential part of infection prevention and control activities” ….. Read position paper here


June 3, 2009 :: Draft UTI prevention guidelines for public comment http://wwwn.cdc.gov/publiccomments/ Public comments can be made directly to CAUTI@cdc.gov Comments must be receive before or on July 6, 2009.


May 26, 2009 :: Mentorship Program for Chicago APIC members
Click here to read more here


H1NI Flu Resources

May 6, 2009

CDC Resources on H1N1 Flu
APIC H1N1 resources link
H1N1 flu information from IDPH
 

February 2009 - Informational letter from Chicago APIC Legislative Representative Mary Alice Lavin about Illinois MRSA legislation - SB 185, the “MRSA Screening, Prevention, and Reporting Act” and SB 1712, the “K-12 Educational MRSA Prevention Act”


January 2009 Announcement: APIC Chicago Metro Area Chapter Member Help Line Call Me For Questions - - As a service to Chicago APIC members, a list of members who are ready and willing to assist with questions on a variety of infection prevention topics is available. There is also a perminate link on the left column of the Resource Page.

January 2009: APIC Chicago Metro Area Chapter Survey – Executive Summary was presented at the January Chicago APIC meeting, Click here to access the summary


December 2008
CBIC news: Elimination of 2 year practice requirement
Read more here


December 19: Proposed rules for the Illinois Adverse Health Care Events Reporting Code should be published in the Illinois Register on Friday, December 19, 2008, and the 45-day comment period (First Notice) will begin on that date.


October 2008

The Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals was produced by SHEA and IDSA, in partnership with AHA. APIC, and The Joint Commission. These five leading healthcare organizations have come together to publish practical, science-based strategies to help prevent the six most important healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Click here to access the compendium


August 2008

CMS Issues Final IPPS Rule for Fiscal Year 2009
Click here to view the Final Rule
Click here to view Press Release related to the Final Rule


20 July 08

IMPORTANT IDPH REPORTING UPDATE


May 9, 2008

CMS-ProposeHospAcqConditions2009


April 2008

CMS-1390-Proposed Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2009 (Display Date: 04/14/2008; Publication Date: 04/30/2008)
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/


April 15, 2008

Hearing entitled "Healthcare Associated Infections: A Preventable Epidemic" held Wednesday, April 16th before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Oversight and Reform.

Reade More Here:

Leadership Needed from HHS to Prioritize Prevention Practices and Improve Data on These Infections
Testimony Before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives
Health-Care-Associated Infections in Hospitals
Report to the Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives

March 14, 2008

Amendment to IL Control of Tuberculosis Code (77 Ill. Adm. Code 696) Illinois Register Citation: 32 Ill. Reg. 4010)

The rules previously required the use of the Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST) as the only test approved for screening for LTBI. The amendment allows the use of a newly developed FDA-approved blood test for the detection of patients with active TB disease or LTBI. Click here to read more


October 2007

OSHA Annual TB fit test requirement: Lisa Tomlinson, APIC Director of Government Affairs, has confirmed that the requirement for ANNUAL FIT TEST (TB) is enforceable on October 1, 2007 despite much effort to change and prevent this requirement.
>> Read more here


August 2007

The Governor signed both HB 192 and SB 233 on 8/20/07.


July 2007

The IL Hospital Report Card Act became effective March 28, 2007. Read more here


June 2007

"The Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings 2007" (1.39MB, 219 pages) updates and expands the 1996 Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals. This guideline can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/gl_isolation.html or http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/guidelines/Isolation2007.pdf.
This document is associated with the Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organism 2006 PDF (233 KB, 74 page) guideline published last year http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ar/MDROGuideline2006.pdf.


June 7, 2007

IDPH has published a memo (6/7/07) that includes many useful CA MRSA references. Click here for the IDPH memo

The healthcare provider guidelines highlighted in the memo is entitled “Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Illinois: Guidelines for the Primary Care Provider”. It can be accessed on the web at http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/infect/MRSA_Provider.htm


May 3, 2007

Facemasks and Respirators Could Provide Added Value When Used in Combination with Other Preventive Measures


May 2, 2007

Chicago Tribune Commentary ‘Keeping patients safe’ by Michael O. Vernon, President, APIC Chicago (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology); Director, Communicable Disease Control, Cook County Department of Public Health. Read More


April 30, 2007

Chicago Tribune 'Super bug' bill targets hospitals: State measure could dictate fight against deadly bacterium’ Read More


April 25, 2007

CMS Proposes Changes For Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System It is noteworthy that use of "Present on Admissions Codes" also take effect on October 1, 2007.

Proposed conditions that will not be covered include HAI related issues: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections; pressure ulcers; Staphylococcus aureus septicema; and "serious preventable events:" object left in surgery; air embolism, and blood incompatibility.

http://www.apic.org/EUpdate


April 2007

Recommendations for Surveillance of Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease McDonald LC, et.al. (Ad Hoc Clostridium difficile Surveillance Working Group) ICHE 2007 Feb;28 (2):140-5


March 2007

Available now on APIC web site (under Government Advocacy): Guide to the Elimination of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital Settings, created by the MRSA Task Force and released on March 14, 2007, provides infection prevention and control professionals with a step-by-step approach to battle MRSA transmission. A range of approaches has been included to make the guide appropriate for any size or type of facility.


MRSA Legislative Issues

Legislative Mandates for Use of Active Surveillance Cultures to Screen for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci: Position Statement From the Joint SHEA and APIC Task Force
An Intervention to Decrease Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in the ICU

 



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