On August 27, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it has distributed almost $2.5 billion of an allocated $5 billion from the Provider Relief Fund to nursing homes to support increased testing, staffing, and supply needs to combat COVID-19. HHS plans to distribute another $2 billion to nursing homes later this fall ...
On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) that changes existing infection control regulations for nursing homes and mandates weekly reporting of COVID-19 related data.
Testing. CMS states that, in support of national efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, nursing homes ...
On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) that establishes new requirements for laboratories to submit daily reports on COVID-19 test results to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is to issue further guidance on the form and ...
On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) that establishes new requirements for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) on tracking the incidence and impact of COVID-19. Specifically, CMS has added new Medicare and Medicaid Conditions of Participation (CoPs ...
On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) that updates the previous Extraordinary Circumstances Exceptions (ECE) granted to ESRD facilities, hospitals, and SNFs to reduce the data collection and reporting burden on these facilities and providers so they could direct their ...
On August 10, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated recommendations for anyone traveling within the United States and internationally by scaling back the previous recommendation that all travelers self-quarantine for two weeks. The CDC cautioned that there is ongoing transmission of COVID-19, that exposure from traveling ...
COVID-19 has demanded every employer’s immediate and on-going attention. Because of the pandemic, employers may not have paid particular attention or evaluated existing policies to ensure they comply with a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court. Specifically, on June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court released Bostock ...
On August 17, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) announced that it will resume all routine on-site surveys of Medicare and Medicaid certified providers and suppliers. Inspections had been put on hold in March to assist infection control and prioritize providers’ response to the COVID-19 emergency. CMS instructs state ...
On August 17, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published new guidance stating that effective September 1, 2020, hospitals will be required to document a positive COVID-19 laboratory test to receive a 20% increase in the MS-DRG weighting factor for their inpatients being treated for COVID-19. Positive tests must be ...
On August 19, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it had amended the March 17, 2020 Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) concerning the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency to increase accessibility of lifesaving childhood vaccines in order to control preventable ...