8 Moments of Enhanced Barrier Precautions

“Wait – Do I Need PPE for This?” Making Sense of Enhanced Barrier Precautions

Infection prevention in long-term care takes teamwork—and sometimes a little extra reinforcement. It’s been a year since CMS formally added Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) to infection control guidance, and that big question— “Do I need PPE for this?”—still comes up.

EBP expands personal protective equipment (PPE) use beyond isolation, applying to high-contact care like wound care, changing linens, and bathing. EBP is key to stopping the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in long-term care facilities, but it takes clear systems and consistent staff education to make it stick.

What to Expect: This month’s resources are designed to meet your team where they are—whether you’re providing direct care, coordinating therapy, or supporting infection prevention efforts facility-wide.

8 Moments of Enhanced Barrier Precautions: Simple visual education tool. If you’ve ever heard “Do I need PPE for this?”—this tool is your new best friend. Also available in 8 other languages!
VDH’s Enhanced Barrier Precautions in Nursing Homes Algorithm: This decision-making tool breaks down when and why to use EBP in plain language.
CDC’s EBP Implementation—Observations Tool: Built for infection preventionists and facility leads, this resource helps track EBP use and identify areas for coaching

How to Use These Resources:

Share the 8 Moments visual in breakrooms, care stations, huddles, or staff emails.
Use the algorithm and observation tool to support your facility’s infection control plan or prep for survey readiness.

Enhanced Barrier Precautions are a big shift, but they’re not a solo effort. Whether you’re providing direct care or leading infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts, these tools are here to help you do the work and explain the why. Infection prevention is always evolving, but so are we.

Guidance & Regulation Updates

VIPTA members track guidance and regulation resources to share source documents that guide infection prevention and control practices for public health staff and clinical and non-clinical healthcare personnel.

The date of the regulation or guidance update is included in each post. Please check linked content to be sure it is the most up to date and recommended practice.

CMS Fiscal Year 2027 Acute Care Hospital and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule: CMS-1849-F (8/04/2026)

CMS

Acute Care Hospital

Acute Care Rehabilitation or Long-Term Care Acute Hospital (LTACH)

Quality Improvement

CMS updated Medicare payment and quality requirements for hospitals and LTCHs. The Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP) will continue. Hospitals with the poorest performance on hospital-acquired conditions may lose 1% of Medicare fee-for-service payment.

CMS Fiscal Year 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System Final Rule: (7/31/2026)

CMS

Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)

Quality Improvement

CMS will remove two COVID-19 vaccination measures from the SNF Quality Reporting Program beginning in FY 2028.SNFs will no longer report COVID-19 vaccination coverage for healthcare workers or whether residents are up to date through this program. Facilities should still follow current CDC vaccination guidance and CMS infection control requirements.

Surveillance for Candida auris — United States, 2022–2024 (07/02/2026)

CDC

Acute Care Hospital

Acute Care Rehabilitation or Long-Term Care Acute Hospital (LTACH)

Department of Health

Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)

Surveillance

CDC reported continued growth of Candida auris in U.S. healthcare settings from 2022–2024. Clinical cases increased from 2,882 to 6,197, and screening cases increased from 6,226 to 12,432. CDC emphasizes continued C. auris screening of high-risk patients, appropriate Transmission-Based Precautions, use of disinfectants effective against C. auris, communication of C. auris status during transfers, antifungal susceptibility testing, and strong coordination between healthcare facilities and public health to limit further transmission.

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)

August 10, 2026 August 12, 2026 SHEA

Infection Prevention and Control of Candida auris in Pediatric Settings (6/23/2026) The guidance recommends identifying at-risk pediatric patients through targeted screening, using appropriate isolation and room-placement precautions, and coordinating closely with infection prevention and public health partners when Candida auris is suspected or confirmed. It also emphasizes prevention through meticulous hand hygiene, effective environmental cleaning and disinfection, and careful...

What’s In Your Water?

Hayley Andrews, an infection preventionist in the southwest region of Virginia, used her curious mind and a desire to educate others to help uncover environmental contamination that caused an illness in one of her patients.

Hayley’s facility admitted a patient with sepsis, and blood cultures grew Aeromonas hydrophila. Because Hayley had never heard of this organism, she researched it and learned that it is typically a waterborne organism. Hayley took this information to the nursing unit where the patient was located and the patient’s son heard her educating the nurses about Aeromonas. He joined in and mentioned that his mom had a well and he was concerned that it may be contaminated.

The health department visited the home and tested the water. Sure enough, it was contaminated with Aeromonas and other organisms, and failed potability testing. The health department was able to get the patient an alternate, safe water source upon her discharge to prevent further infection until her well water could be remediated.

Thank you, Hayley! Your diligence prevented this patient from getting sick again, and perhaps prevented other neighbors from a similar outcome!

Virginia Infection Prevention & Control Training Alliance (VIPTA)

Upcoming Events

Cuppa Tea with an IP