In an August 18, 2022 blog post, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages health care providers “to prepare for the end [of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency] flexibilities as soon as possible and to begin moving forward to reestablishing previous health and safety standards and billing practices.” HHS Secretary Becerra will give 60 days’ advance notice before ending the public health emergency.
The blog post describes post-COVID-19 actions for three categories of waivers and flexibilities:
- Waivers and flexibilities that will remain in place. These include the requirement (established by an interim final rule with comment, which became effective May 8, 2020) that nursing facilities “report resident and staff infections and deaths related to COVID-19.” These long-term care reporting requirements will remain in place until December 2024.
- Waivers and flexibilities that have been made permanent by federal law. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, “expanded access to telehealth services for the diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of mental health disorders.”
- Waivers and flexibilities that are no longer needed. The CMS bloggers write:
For example, recent onsite LTC survey findings provided insight into issues with resident care that are unrelated to infection control, such as increases in residents’ weight-loss, depression, and incidence of pressure ulcers. As a result, it was determined that the lack of certain minimum standards, such as training for nurse aides, may be contributing to these issues. Thus, on April 7, 2022, CMS announced the termination of some temporary waivers to redirect efforts back to meeting the regulatory requirements aimed at ensuring each resident’s physical, mental, and psycho-social needs are met.
CMS also releases 16 separate Fact Sheets that summarize the current status of the blanket waivers and flexibilities, by provider type, as well as additional COVID-19 Resources, including PHE Unwinding Guidance for State Medicaid Programs. For further information, see: Jonathan Blum, Chief Operating Officer and Principal Deputy Administrator; Carol Blackford, Director, Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group; and Jean Moody-Williams, Deputy Director, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, “Creating a Roadmap for the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency” (Blog, Aug. 18, 2022), https://www.cms.gov/blog/creating-roadmap-end-covid-19-public-health-emergency
August 25, 2022 – T. Edelman