As antibiotic resistance continues to grow, organizations from the Urgent Care Association of America to the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked their audiences to take a close look at what they can do to curb unnecessary prescriptions that exacerbate the problem. (The cover article in the May issue of JUCM will look at how one institution tackled this problem, as well.) Now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Quality Innovation Network–Quality Improvement Organization, has launched a new program called Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria through Antibiotic Stewardship in Communities. Its objective is to promote the principles of antibiotic stewardship among outpatient settings—including urgent care. Each state will have a dedicated “team” to work with healthcare providers toward realizing CMS’s Quality Strategy goals:
- Make care safer by reducing harm caused in the delivery of care.
- Ensure that each person and family are engaged as partners in their care.
- Promote effective communication and coordination of care.
- Promote the most effective prevention and treatment practices for the leading causes of mortality, starting with cardiovascular disease.
- Work with communities to promote wide use of successful interventions to enable healthy living.
- Make quality care more affordable for individuals, families, employers, and governments by developing and spreading new health care delivery models.
Read more about the new stewardship program here.