NEWS ALERT
May 7, 2020
Here is a summary of recent Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) actions taken in response to
coronavirus disease 2019 (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 7, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. ET.
New
Guidance Available on Requirements for Notification of Confirmed and
Suspected COVID-19 Cases Among Residents and Staff in Nursing Homes
Nursing homes are now required to
report the first week of COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) beginning May 8 but no later than May 17. For the
first time, all 15,000 nursing homes will be reporting this data directly
to the CDC through its reporting tool. This reporting requirement is the
first action of its kind in the agency’s history. On April 19, CMS
announced the agency would be requiring
facilities to report COVID-19 information to the CDC and to families.
Within three weeks of that announcement, on April 30, CMS issued an Interim
Final Rule with Comment Period with the new regulatory
requirements. As nursing homes report this data to the CDC, we will be
taking swift action and publicly posting this information so all Americans
have access to accurate and timely information on COVID-19 in nursing
homes.
CMS has a longstanding requirement
for nursing homes to report cases of communicable diseases, such as
COVID-19, to the appropriate state or local health department. This
new requirement not only helps health departments intervene when needed,
but serves to provide awareness to the public (e.g., families), and
surveillance for public health agencies and the CDC. The importance of ongoing
transparency and information sharing has proven to be one of the keys to
the battle against this pandemic. Building upon the successes of the Trump
Administration prior to COVID-19, CMS has strongly supported transparency,
such as the work done over the past several years to improve public access
and understanding of nursing home inspection reports and expand the
information available to consumers on Nursing Home Compare. The agency
remains committed to greater transparency, and plans to publicly release
new data by the end of May. CMS will never stop working to give
patients, residents, and families the clearest and most accurate
information possible.
CMS
Releases Additional Medicaid & CHIP COVID-19 FAQs for State Medicaid
and CHIP Agencies
CMS released additional frequently
asked questions (FAQs) to aid state Medicaid and Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies in their response to the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The new FAQs cover a variety of Medicaid
and CHIP topics, including emergency preparedness and response, benefit,
financing, eligibility and enrollment flexibilities, information
technology, and data reporting. CMS is committed to providing our state
partners the resources they need during this public health emergency.
CMS Gives
States Additional Flexibility to Address Coronavirus Pandemic
CMS has approved over 155 requests
for state relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recent
approvals for Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Hawaii, Maryland, New
Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington.
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 support 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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