Washington
Update
October 15, 2003
Dear
Chapter Legislative Representatives:
The following is a brief synopsis
of our most recent public policy activities. If you have any questions in
follow up or would like to request any documents that are mentioned but do not
include a link to our Web site, please email me at jthomas@apic.org
The
Public Policy Team continues to work with the APIC Practice Guidance Team as
well as the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Society for
Healthcare Engineers (ASHE), in shaping policy regarding the placement of hand
sanitizers in the health care setting. Loretta Fauerbach, Practice Guidance
Team leader attended a meeting at the AHA in Washington, DC on this subject.
Recent guidance, resulting from this meeting and collaboration is posted on the
APIC Web site at https://www.apic.org/resc/guidlist.cfm.
APIC
continued its lobbying efforts in support of funding for bioterrorism
preparedness -- not only for strengthening public health infrastructure and
response capabilities, but also for facility-level preparedness efforts.
We also
continued our work with Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) regarding APIC�s
involvement with the First Responder market. We drafted a letter for
Congressman Weldon to send to Tom Ridge, Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, recommending APIC to the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium.
The Consortium is the principal vehicle through which the Office of Domestic
Preparedness identifies, develops, tests and delivers training to state and
local emergency responders.
APIC
submitted formal written comment to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in
response to the agency�s reopening of the administrative record of the
Tentative Final Monograph for Health-Care Antiseptic Drug Products (1994 TFM).
The 1994 TFM represents the most current regulatory guidance for
over-the-counter topical antimicrobial products. If promulgated in its
current form into a Final Monograph, the results would have a major impact on
the cost, availability, and performance of current and future topical
antimicrobial products available for use in healthcare.
Public
Policy Team Chair, Sue Sebazco, attended the CDC & SARS Preparedness
Meeting in Decatur, GA, on August 12-13 as APIC�s representative. To obtain the
most recent recommendations from the CDC on addressing SARS, go to https://www.apic.org/resc/guidlist.cfm.
On
September 23, Rachel Stricof represented APIC at the meeting of the Secretary's
Council on Public Health Preparedness. APIC's oral statement focused on the
role of infection control in bioterrorism and emerging threat response
efforts, as well as the ongoing and often overwhelming everyday
responsibilities of ICPs in the health care setting.
Thanks
for passing this information along to your Chapter members.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Thomas Barrows
Director of Public Policy