Regulatory Requirements | 02.15.22
HHS COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate to Proceed
By Molly Giammarco, NAMSS Advocacy & Government Relations
Following the Supreme Court’s January 13 decision to [temporarily] uphold a federal mandate to require all personnel at Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facilities be fully vaccinated, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released enforcement guidance to 24 states. This guidance requires eligible facilities in these states (those not challenging the mandate in courts) to ensure that all staff receive their first COVID vaccine dose by February 14, and obtain full vaccination status by March 15, 2022.
HHS’ current enforcement applies to the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
The HHS mandate applies to the following entities, which includes approximately 10.4-million personnel, nationwide, at 76,000 of the following medical facility types:
- Hospitals and Critical-Access Hospitals
- Ambulatory Surgical Centers
- Hospices
- Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly
- Long-Term Care facilities
- Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities
- Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
- Home Health Agencies
- Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
- Clinics (rehab and public-health agencies that provide outpatient physical therapy and speech-language pathology services)
- Community Mental Health Centers
- Home-Infusion Therapy suppliers
- Rural-Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers
- End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities.
The rule does not apply to physician and dentist offices that Medicare/Medicaid does not regulate, nor does it apply to Organ-Procurement Organizations or Portable X-Ray suppliers.
Compliance
CMS will use established survey and enforcement processes to ensure compliance and work with accrediting organizations, as well as State Survey Agencies that assess compliance with Medicare/Medicaid regulations.
These Agencies will conduct onsite-compliance reviews by:
- Assessing all facilities for these requirements during the standard recertification survey.
- Assessing staff-vaccination statuses on all complaint surveys.
The HHS’ enforcement guidance states that the Agency will enforce facility and continuing-care providers noncompliance is termination, but “…CMS’s primary goal is to bring health care facilities into compliance. Termination would generally occur only after providing a facility with an opportunity to make corrections and come into compliance.”
For specific guidance on this mandate, check with your facility’s compliance team or email namss@namss.org.
Molly Giammarco, NAMSS Advocacy & Government Relations