Asante is standardizing isolation rules for MRSA, VRE

During the height of COVID-19 pandemic, temporary changes in isolation requirement for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) patients were implemented to conserve critical PPE. As this public health emergency ends, Asante is suspending temporary changes and implementing standardized, systemwide isolation requirements for MRSA and VRE in accordance with national and state recommendations.

Patients with a positive test result for VRE or MRSA are to remain in contact precautions during their current admission and any subsequent encounters as long as the infection flag is in place. The infection flag will remain in place for one year after the last positive MRSA or VRE test, and after that, will automatically resolve in Epic.

Providers may clinically assess patients and document if patients meet criteria to remove the infection flag before the one-year mark.

To demonstrate the patient is negative for MRSA or VRE, documentation should show that the patient has had:

• All negative cultures or tests in the past six months, and
• Three or more negative cultures or tests, separated by at least one month, in the past year, and
• One negative swab in the previous seven days.

The form for flag removal is no longer required and has been sunset. Once the provider documents the required criteria, care team may contact Asante Infection Prevention through Halo or email Asante Infection Prevention for review. If the patient meets the criteria, the flag will be removed.

With this change, Asante is also returning to the Epic infection flag standards of: “MRSA” and “VRE” for positive patients, eliminating the temporary flags of “MRSA-Active” and “VRE-Active” created during the pandemic. The presence of an infection flag of MRSA or VRE indicates that contact precautions should be followed for the patient.

Resources

• Transmission-Based Isolation Precautions (ASANTE) 400-IC-IC-0629
• Isolation Requirements: Alphabetical Listing of Organisms and Diseases 400-INF-0013