In
an interim final rule with comment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) requires nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for
individuals with intellectual disabilities (1) to educate residents and their
representatives and staff about vaccinations for COVID-19, (2) to offer
residents and staff vaccinations, if available to the facility, and (3) to
report vaccine information to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). CMS intends to post the
information reported to CDC on its COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website, https://data.cms.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-Nursing-Home-Data/bkwz-xpvg.
The rule goes into effect May 21, 2021; comments are due by July 12, 2021.
The
Center for Medicare Advocacy has two recommendations.
- First, knowing that residents and families choosing a nursing
home are likely to want to know about facility’s vaccination rates, the
Center recommends that the nursing home section of Care Compare (the
federal website for the public about nursing homes and other health care
providers) include (1) a statement that information about vaccination
rates in facilities is available on its COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website
and (2) a link to the website.
- Second, the Center recommends that CMS impose specific civil
money penalties when facilities fail to educate residents and staff about
vaccinations and fail to offer vaccinations. At present, in a letter
to state survey agencies describing the interim final rule, CMS reports
that it will impose specific penalties only when facilities fail to report
to CDC -- $1,000 for the first occurrence, increased by $500 for repeated
noncompliance.
Among
other issues, CMS invites public comment on whether it should implement similar
vaccination policies for other Medicare and Medicaid participating shared
residences, such as assisted living and adult foster homes.
For
further information and instructions on how to comment, see:
- 86 Fed. Reg. 26306 (May 13, 2021), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-05-13/pdf/2021-10122.pdf
and
- CMS, “Interim Final Rule – COVID-19 Vaccine Immunization
Requirements for Residents and Staff,” QSO-21-19-NH (May 11, 2021)
(describing the interim final rule in a memorandum to state survey
agencies), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-21-19-nh.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment