Mass Senior Care Association has partnered with our national association, American Health Care Association (AHCA) to help you meet the new Infection Preventionist specialized training requirement finalized by CMS in the Reform of Requirements of Participation for Long Term Care Facilities. This Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO) course provides education for healthcare professionals who seek to serve as Infection Preventionists. Individuals who complete the course will be trained to effectively implement and manage an Infection Prevention and Control Program at their nursing facilities.
The course is an online, self-study program with 23 hours of training. It includes online lectures, case studies and interactive components taught by subject matter experts who have real life experience working in long term/post-acute care. Upon successful completion of this program, participants will receive certificates including 23 ANCC contact hours. Please click here for more information about the training program that is specifically designed for adult learners.
Even though nursing facilities are not required to have a designated “Infection Preventionist” until November 2019, there are three compelling reasons why it is critical to register for this training now:
- As of November 28, 2016, nursing facilities are being held accountable to more expansive infection prevention and control federal regulations.
- Beginning November 28, 2017, the federal requirements for nursing facilities expand further and require that every nursing facility develop and implement an antibiotic stewardship program. This is a new requirement and should be conducted with oversight from specially trained healthcare professionals.
- Surveyors nationwide are being trained this summer to survey for the expanded infection prevention & control and antibiotic stewardship requirements.
The training course registration fee is $450 for Mass Senior Care Association/AHCA members. There are no refunds and no transfers. Payment and registration must be made online in ahcancalEDor you can access the IPCO course here or at: https://educate.ahcancal.org/p/ipco. Discounted group purchase rates are available for groups of 25 or more. If you’re interested in making a group purchase, please email AHCA at educate@ahca.org.
To access ahcancalED and the IPCO course, you will need to login with your AHCA/NCAL username and password. If you need assistance obtaining your AHCA/NCAL username and password, please e-mail update@ahca.org with your name and facility contact information.
Please contact the Mass Senior Care office at 617-558-0202 if you have any questions.