NEWS ALERT
May 1, 2020
Here is a summary of recent Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actions taken in response to the
2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), as part of the ongoing White House Task
Force efforts. To keep up with the important work the Task Force is doing
in response to COVID-19, click here www.coronavirus.gov. For information
specific to CMS, please visit the CMS News Room and Current Emergencies Website. CMS updates
these resources on an ongoing basis throughout the day; the information
below is current as of May 1, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET
Trump
Administration Issues Second Round of Sweeping Changes to Support U.S.
Healthcare System During COVID-19 Pandemic
Building on its recent historic
efforts to help the U.S. healthcare system manage the COVID-19 pandemic,
CMS issued another round of sweeping regulatory waivers and rule changes to
deliver expanded care to the nation’s seniors and provide flexibility to the
healthcare system as America reopens. These changes include making it
easier for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to get tested for COVID-19
and continuing CMS’s efforts to further expand beneficiaries’ access to
telehealth services. The temporary changes will apply immediately for the
duration of the Public Health Emergency declaration.
CMS Announces Independent Commission
to Address Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes
CMS announced a new independent
Commission that will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the nursing home
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission will help inform efforts
to safeguard the health and quality of life of vulnerable Americans as CMS
continues to battle COVID-19 as well as prepare for future threats to
resident safety and public health. This unprecedented effort builds on the
agency’s five-part
plan unveiled last April to ensure safety
and quality in America’s nursing homes, as well as recent CMS efforts to
combat the spread of COVID-19 within these facilities.
New
Frequently Asked Questions on EMTALA
CMS issued Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) clarifying requirements and considerations for hospitals and other
providers related to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)
during the COVID-19 pandemic. The FAQs address questions around patient
presentation to the emergency department, EMTALA applicability across
facility types, qualified medical professionals, medical screening exams,
patient transfer and stabilization, telehealth, and other topics.
Guidance Available on Telehealth and
HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment for Individual and Small Group Health
Insurance Health Plans
In response to the increased need for
providing telehealth due to COVID-19, CMS has given additional consideration
to telehealth services in HHS-operated risk adjustment for issuers in the
individual and small group health insurance markets inside and outside the
Marketplaces. CMS’ new guidance clarifies which telehealth services are
valid for HHS-operated risk adjustment data submission in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Dear
Clinician: CMS Adds New COVID-19 Clinical Trials Improvement Activity to
the Quality Payment Program
CMS issued a letter thanking
clinicians for their ongoing efforts to treat patients and combat COVID-19
and shared additional details on the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment
System (MIPS) improvement activity. As
announced earlier this month, clinicians who participate in a
COVID-19 clinical trial and report their findings to a clinical data
repository or registry many now earn credit in MIPS under the Improvement
Activities performance category for the 2020 performance period by
attesting to this new activity.
CMS Gives
States Additional Flexibility to Address Coronavirus Pandemic
CMS has approved 140 requests for
state relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent
approvals for Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wyoming.
These approvals help to ensure that states have the tools they need to
combat COVID-19 through a wide variety of waivers, amendments, and Medicaid
state plan flexibilities, including for programs that care for the elderly
and people with disabilities. CMS developed a toolkit to expedite the application and review of each request and has
approved these requests in record time. These approved flexibilities
support President Trump’s commitment to a COVID-19 response that is locally
executed, state managed, and federally supported.
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Contact: CMS Media Relations
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