How to Avoid NHSN Data Reporting Errors

The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has identified a few hundred nursing centers that are submitting confirmed and suspected COVID-19 data incorrectly. The NHSN team has been conducting telephone outreach to centers identified as submitting incorrect data but reports that it has only had minimal success. Centers that are receiving citations should immediately review the NHSN LTCF COVID-19 data quality webinar to review the commonly identified errors in submission data and follow the data quality slides to check that their information is being submitted correctly. 

According to NHSN, common data submission errors include: 

• Reporting aggregate counts for COVID-19 confirmed, suspected, and deaths. Data submitted should be newly identified since prior data submission. 
• COVID-19 deaths are greater than total number of deaths. Data submitted for COVID-19 deaths should never be greater than the total number of deaths reported. 
• Missing data for counts. Leaving blanks for numbers equaling zero (0) results in a system flag and identification of a failure to report to the NHSN system. 
• Missing or incomplete reporting in one or more pathways. Missing or incomplete reporting results in a system flag for failure to report data to the NHSN system. Each pathway must turn green when all data has been successfully submitted. 
• Number of ventilators missing or “0” in facilities that identified that they have ventilator units and/or beds. If your center marks “yes” to the question “do you have ventilator dependent unit and/or beds in our facility?” then there should be a corresponding number entering into the next two data questions regarding “number of mechanical ventilators” and the “number of mechanical ventilators in use”. 

Please email COVID19@ahca.org for additional questions, or visit ahcancal.org/coronavirus for more information.