A nursing home in a Health Professional Shortage Area where one quarter of its residents are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligible) and 30 percent are racial or ethnic minorities, was referred to Qsource in February 2022 for assistance with improving its resident COVID-19 booster rate.

In January 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services leveraged the expertise of Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations (QIN-QIOs) to increase nursing home resident COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters. IPRO QIN-QIO provided the nursing homes in its region with access to just-in-time education, training and resources to help them mount an effective defense against the new wave of COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant.

In January 2022, a nursing home that had previously received technical assistance from Superior Health Quality Alliance (Superior Health) to improve nursing home resident COVID-19 initial vaccination series rates was referred again to Superior Health for assistance with improving its resident COVID-19 booster rate.

In January 2022, a nursing home that had not had any COVID-19 cases for more than a year was referred to Health Quality Innovators (HQI) for assistance with improving its resident COVID-19 booster rate and responding to a sudden COVID-19 outbreak. The nursing home demonstrated a 62.7 percent increase in booster rates from when the facility was first referred to HQI and the last report to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) database in May 2022. 

Keeping nursing home staff updated on the latest COVID-19 guidelines and directives is critical for continued improvement of resident and staff vaccination rates for the COVID-19 vaccine and booster. Quality Insights, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) is using a multi-faceted approach to educate its staff and update nursing homes in its two-state region about the latest COVID-19 vaccination and booster guidance.

One of the first nursing homes referred to Mountain-Pacific Quality Health (Mountain-Pacific) in December 2021 for assistance with improving its resident COVID-19 booster rate demonstrated a 44.1 percent increase following frequent and tailored one-on-one assistance.