coronavirus
22 States Urge Biden Admin to Repeal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
A group of 22 states is asking the Biden administration to withdraw the mandate requiring health care workers in any Medicare and Medicaid-funded facilities be vaccinated against COVID-19. The 39-page petition from the group, led by Austin Knudsen, the Attorney General of Montana, asks the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 Public Health Emergency Will Not End in January 2023
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) did not provide states and health care providers with 60-day notice of the termination of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) last Friday, meaning it will not end in mid-January 2023. The most recent externsion of the PHE occurred on October 13, 2022. The PHE dates from […]
Read MoreCall with Surgeon General: Increasing Bivalent Vax of Elderly & Disabled
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs and the Administration for Community Living invite you to join a webinar with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and other subject matter experts on how we can work together to accelerate vaccination of people with disabilities, older adults, and others who are […]
Read MoreCMS Revises Guidance for Staff Vaccination Requirements
On November 5, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued interim final rule with comment period (86 FR 61555) titled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination,” which revises the requirements to establish COVID-19 vaccination requirements for staff at applicable Medicare and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers. The staff vaccination requirement […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 News Update
New variants’ Could Drive a Winter COVID Surge New COVID-19 variants are spreading around the world, prompting health experts to warn of a surge in coronavirus cases during the upcoming winter months in the northern hemisphere. A flurry of new Covid-19 variants appears to be gaining traction globally, raising fears of a winter surge. These variants […]
Read MoreOIG: Home Health Responded to COVID Creatively, but Challenges Persist
Key issue of telehealth remains Home health agencies (HHAs) developed strategies to respond to challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing new incentives to maintain staff and seeking alternative sources of personal protective equipment, finds a new report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The report also concluded that HHAs were helped by regulatory flexibilities and expanded telehealth usage, and recommended […]
Read MorePublic Health Emergency Extended 90 Days
The Biden administration has renewed the Public Health Emergency (PHE) that has been in effect since January 27, 2020 due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released the following statement on October 13, 2022: As a result of the continued consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, on […]
Read MoreSupreme Court Rejects Challenge to COVID-19 Worker Vax Mandate
On Monday, October 3, the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal from ten states attorneys general, declining to hear their legal challenge to the COVID-19 health care worker vaccination mandate created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The mandate, which included exemptions for religious purposes, applied to about 10.4 million workers at care facilities that receive […]
Read MoreCMS Updates COVID-19 Guidance for Surveys, Visitation and Testing
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the COVID-19 Focused Infection Control (FIC) Survey Tool and visitation restrictions for acute and continuing care (ACC) facilities through a revised QSO-21-08-NLTC memo. This memo supersedes the instructions in QSO-20-16-Hospice and QSO-20-18-HHA. State survey agencies (SA) and accrediting organizations (AO) have returned to the existing standard […]
Read MoreCDC’s New Guidance for Health Care Workers
Last Friday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance for several COVID-19 pandemic infection control recommendations in health care delivery settings. The new guidance does away with the vaccination status of health care workers when determining whether to screen them for COVID-19, quarantine those workers, or employ “source control” measures such as […]
Read MoreFlu Shot: Encourage Preferred Vaccines for Patients 65+
It’s time to talk with your patients about flu shots. The CDC recommends annual flu shots for everyone 6 months and older by the end of October or as soon as possible each flu season. You can give flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same visit. New for this flu season: Patients 65 and older should get […]
Read MoreYour Help Needed with COVID-19 Survey
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program has been working on an initiative to develop and distribute at-home COVID-19 tests that are accessible to people with a range of disabilities. As part of this effort, they are working to collect user experiences with existing at-home COVID tests, and have prepared […]
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