• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Donate Now
  • Sign Up

Center for Medicare Advocacy

Advancing Access to Medicare and Healthcare

  • Eligibility/Enrollment
  • Coverage/Appeals
    • Medicare Costs (2021)
    • Self Help Materials – Toolkits & More
  • Topics
    • Basic Introduction to Medicare
    • COVID-19 and Medicare
    • Medicare Costs (2021)
    • Home Health Care
    • Improvement Standard and Jimmo News
    • Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility Care
    • Outpatient Observation Status
    • Part B
    • Part D / Prescription Drug Benefits
    • Medicare for People Under 65
    • Medicare “Reform”
    • All Other Topics
    • Resources
      • Infographics
  • Publications
    • CMA Alerts
    • Fact Sheets & Issue Briefs
    • Infographics
    • The Medicare Handbook
    • SNF Enforcement Newsletter
    • Elder Justice Newsletter
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • Articles by Topic
  • Litigation
    • Litigation News
    • Cases
    • Litigation Archive
    • Amicus Curiae Activities
  • Newsroom
    • Press Releases
    • Editorials & Letters to the Editor
    • CMA Comments, Responses, and Letters
    • Medicare Facts & Fiction
    • CMA in the News
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • CMA FAQs
    • Personnel & Boards
    • The Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Connecticut Dually Eligible Appeals Project
    • Ossen Medicare Outreach, Education and Advocacy Project
    • National Medicare Advocates Alliance
    • National Voices of Medicare Summit
    • CMA Webinars
    • Products & Services
    • Testimonials
    • Career, Fellowship & Internship Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Support Our Work
    • Donate Now
    • Join the Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle
    • Take Action
    • Share Your Health Care Story
    • Tell Congress to Protect Our Care
    • Listen to Medicare & Health Care Stories
    • Sign Up

CMS to Require Transparency Regarding Coronavirus in Nursing Facilities

April 23, 2020

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

In guidance released Sunday evening, April 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that in two sets of future rulemaking, it will require nursing facilities to report information about suspected and confirmed cases of coronavirus to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and to residents and their representatives.[1] Although CMS claims to be “reinforcing an existing requirement that nursing homes must report communicable diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and potential outbreaks to State and Local health departments,” the federal infection control regulations cited by CMS (42 C.F.R. §483.80) do not impose such a requirement on facilities.  The rules require facilities “to know when and to whom possible incidents of communicable disease or infections should be reported.” Some states require the submission of such information as a matter of state law.

CMS acknowledges that CMS, CDC, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) do not collect data on “residents or staff with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, residents with severe respiratory infections resulting in hospitalization or death, or ≥ 3 residents or staff with new-onset respiratory symptoms within 72 hours of each other,” and that nursing facilities provide this information “optionally.”  CMS says that the information that it will require facilities to submit to the CDC “will be used to support surveillance of COVID-19 locally and nationally, monitor trends in infection rates, and inform public health policies and actions.”  It also says that the information “may be retained and publicly reported in accordance with law.” In other words, CDC will apparently communicate information about coronavirus to local officials, but there is no commitment to publicly report such information.

Separate rulemaking will require facilities to:

  • Inform residents and their representatives within 12 hours of
    • A single occurrence of confirmed COVID-19 or
    • When three or more residents or staff “with new-onset of respiratory symptoms that occur within 72 hours”
  • Update residents and their representatives
    • Weekly
    • Whenever a confirmed infection of COVID-19 is identified
    • When three or more residents or staff “with new-onset of respiratory symptoms occurs within 72 hours”

According to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, Marsha Greenfield, vice president for health legislation at LeadingAge, the trade association of not-for-profit providers, describes the duplicative reporting announced by CMS as a “‘disaster’” and indicates that LeadingAge will be requesting that CMS rescind the rule.[2]

A Better Proposal

The Center for Medicare Advocacy proposes that CMS require facilities to report information about coronavirus to state health departments/survey agencies on a daily basis. The Center also urges CMS to require states to collect the COVID-19 information from facilities, make the information public on a daily or weekly basis, and use the information both to monitor facilities with problems (remotely and through on-site visits) and to target additional resources where they are most needed.

With accurate information about which facilities have residents and staff with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, states would be able more effectively to target tests, personal protective equipment, and additional staff (some states have strike teams) to facilities with the greatest need.

___________________

[1] CMS, “Upcoming Requirements for Notification of Confirmed COVID-19 9or COVID-19 Persons under Investigation) Among Residents and Staff in Nursing Homes,” QSO-20-26-NH (Apr. 19, 2020), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-26-nh.pdf.
[2] Danielle Brown, “New COVID-19 requirement could be a ‘disaster,’” McKnight’s Long-Term Care News (Apr. 22, 2020), https://www.mcknights.com/news/new-covid-19-requirements-could-be-a-disaster/,

Filed Under: Article Tagged With: alert, COVID-19, Skilled Nursing Facility, snf, Weekly Alert

Primary Sidebar

Easy Access to Understanding Medicare

The Center for Medicare Advocacy produces a range of informative materials on Medicare-related topics. Check them out:

  • Medicare Basics
  • CMA Alerts
  • CMA Webinars
  • Connecticut Info & Projects
  • Health Care Stories
  • Se habla Español

Sign Up for CMA Alerts

Jimmo v. Sebelius

Medicare covers skilled care to maintain or slow decline as well as to improve.

Improvement Isn’t Required. It’s the law!

Read more.

Medicare: Build Back Better

By prioritizing Medicare beneficiaries and the health systems that serve them, we can avoid drastic national consequences. The Center for Medicare Advocacy proposes a five-part plan that will make Medicare a bulwark against the worsening health and economic challenges facing the American people.

learn more.

Latest Tweets

  • RT @johnahartford: Celebrate 35 Years of Medicare Advocacy and attend the 8th Annual National Voices of Medicare Summit & Sen. Jay Ro… https://t.co/OfBcjmtYo0, Feb 26
@CMAorg

Footer

Stay Connected:

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Products & Services
  • Copyright/Privacy

© 2021 · Center for Medicare Advocacy