HHS released updated guidance Friday, March 11th on reporting COVID-19 test results. Effective April 4, 2022, negative test results for point-of-care (POC) testing is no longer required to be reported. This means that nursing homes conducting point of care antigen tests in response to symptoms, as part of outbreak testing, or during routine staff screening testing, are required to report positive test results ONLY. Reporting of negative test results will be optional. However, Washington State has an emergency rule in effect that states all COVID-19 POC test results need to be reported to NHSN.  Please continue to report all COVID-19 POC tests until further notice.

As a reminder, test results must be reported within 24 hours. Methods of submission remain unchanged. Tests results may be reported to public health, through a centralized health agency platform, through a state or regional health information exchange, or through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) system. Results of all nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), both positive and negative, must still be reported. Review current guidance, in effect since January 2021, here.

Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804