GNYHA recently hosted a webinar with experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) on updates to tuberculosis (TB) guidelines and reporting for NYC hospitals. The session was designed for health care professionals involved in the care and management of TB patients in NYC, including hospital epidemiologists, infection preventionists, health care providers, employee health/occupational health staff, and laboratory staff.
Lisa Trieu, MPH, DOHMH’s Director of Surveillance, Informatics and Evaluation, reviewed TB data for NYC going back to 1984, noting that while cases have mostly plateaued over the past decade, there has been a 24% increase from 2023 to 2024. She also reviewed TB cases by neighborhood, gender, and age.
Herns Modestil, MPH, DOHMH’s Team Lead Surveillance, shared TB reporting reminders, noting that health care providers, infection control practitioners, hospital administrators, pathologists, and laboratories must report all suspected or confirmed TB cases to DOHMH within 24 hours of diagnosis or clinical suspicion. He also discussed—and shared examples of the consequences of—incorrect case reporting.
Christina Kaul, MD, DOHMH’s Medical Epidemiologist, detailed TB infection control measures, highlighting the need to reduce TB exposure by enabling prompt identification, isolation, and appropriate treatment of individuals with possible infectious TB disease. Dr. Kaul also reviewed contact investigations following health care-associated TB exposures and screening recommendations for health care personnel post-exposure.
DOHMH Assistant Commissioner Joseph Burzynski, MD, MPH, covered updated discharge recommendations, which will reduce the hospital stay duration for many patients. He noted that infectious TB patients need DOHMH approval to discharge via Form TB354, which must be submitted 72 hours prior to discharge, and that treatment updates must be reported to DOHMH monthly. Dr. Burzynski also reviewed guidelines from the National Tuberculosis Coalition of America.
The recording of the webinar is available on GNYHA’s website.