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Blog by Vicki Gottlich, Director - Center
for Policy and Evaluation
In this Policy Round-Up, you’ll find:
COVID-19 Updates:
Input needed:
More updates:
New CDC Recommendations:
COVID-19 Community Levels
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) released an updated framework for
community response to COVID-19. Based on current data and
science, the framework recommends that community measures
should focus on minimizing the impact of severe COVID-19,
rather than on eliminating transmission of the virus that
causes COVID-19. Specifically, CDC recommends:
- Protecting those at greatest risk,
through vaccines, medicines, and prevention strategies
- Preventing serious illness
- Minimizing strain on the healthcare
system
Within that framework, CDC has updated its
recommendations for the factors public health officials –
and all people -- should consider to make decisions about
which COVID-19 prevention strategies to use. (These recommendations
do NOT apply to healthcare settings.)
What’s new:
- CDC now recommends that communities
and individuals consider local “COVID-19 Community
Levels,” which measure the current impact of COVID-19
on the local community. Previously, CDC had
recommended considering local levels of transmission
of the virus that causes COVID-19.
- COVID-19 Community Levels can be
low, medium, or high. They are determined by looking
at how many hospital beds are being used by COVID-19
patients, new hospital admissions due to COVID-19,
and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.
(Together, those factors indicate the potential for
strain on the health system due to COVID-19.)
- You can find your local COVID-19
Community Level on
CDC’s website.
READ MORE
Department of Education:
What CDC’s new guidance means for schools and students with
disabilities
On February 25, the Department of Education released
a letter that outlines how the CDC’s updated masking
guidelines apply to schools and early care settings and
highlights guidance
available for schools and parents on the rights of students
with disabilities. The letter notes that CDC guidance now
recommends universal masking for the following in areas
where the COVID-19 Community Level is high:
- Schools
- Early care and education centers
- School buses and vans for schools
and early care and education centers
The guidance reinforces that students with
disabilities have a right to access schools without taking
on a far greater risk to their health than other students
face. That means that school districts may need to make
reasonable modifications, including requiring some degree
of masking to ensure students with disabilities can learn
in person. The guidance also provides additional resources
for students with disabilities and their families.
Updated list: People at
highest risk from COVID-19
CDC has added disabilities, primary
immunodeficiencies, and physical inactivity to its list
of conditions that have been conclusively shown to put
people at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. CDC
notes that people with disabilities are more likely to have
chronic health conditions, live in congregate settings, and
face more barriers to health care, all of which increase
risk. Age remains the strongest risk factor for severe
illness, and living in congregate settings also
significantly increases risk. For people with underlying
medical conditions, risk increases as the number of
conditions increase. This
science brief explains CDC's systematic review process.
CDC’s updated guidance on
intervals for mRNA vaccine (does NOT apply to everyone!)
CDC now recommends consideration of an
eight-week interval between the first and second mRNA
COVID-19 shots for some people ages 12 years and older,
particularly males who are between 12 and 39 years old.
(Some studies have shown that the longer interval may make
the vaccines more effective and further reduce the small
risk of heart inflammation associated with the
vaccines.)
It’s important to note that this new
recommendation does not apply to everyone. For people who
are moderately or severely immunocompromised, adults age,
65 and older, and others who need rapid protection due to
increased concern about community transmission or risk of
severe disease, the CDC still recommends a shorter interval
between the first and second dose (three weeks for the Pfizer
vaccine and four weeks for Moderna).
ICYMI:
White House Fact Sheet: New Actions to
Address the Needs of People with Disabilities & Older
Adults in Response to & Recovery from COVID-19
On February 24, the Biden-Harris
Administration announced that it would be taking additional
steps to meet the needs of people with disabilities and
older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ MORE
Partnership Opportunity: Masks and At-Home
Test Kits for Older Adults and People with Disabilities
ACL and the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA) have
partnered to ensure older adults and people with
disabilities have the resources they need to prevent the
spread of COVID-19. In a recently released joint
letter, ACL and HRSA announced an opportunity for the
aging and disability networks to partner with
HRSA-supported health centers and Medicare-certified rural
health clinics to distribute at-home tests and N95 masks to
people with disabilities and older adults.
READ MORE
Input needed: Access to
Coverage and Care in Medicaid and CHIP (Comments due 4/18)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) are
seeking input from stakeholders to inform the
development of a comprehensive access strategy for Medicaid
and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Your
input will help CMS address barriers to enrollment and
access to care. It also will help CMS ensure timely access
to critical services, such as behavioral health care and
home and community-based services. CMS is interested in
hearing from a wide range of stakeholders, including people
using Medicaid services. Comments can be submitted online
until April 18.
CMS seeks information on five key
objectives.
READ MORE
Input needed: CDC’s Draft
Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids
(Comments due 4/11)
CDC is
seeking input on a proposed update to its clinical
practice guideline for prescribing opioids, which was last
issued in 2016. Comments can be submitted online
or by mail until April 11.
The updated
guideline includes several changes that were strongly
advocated for by the disability community. It is intended
to be flexible, and to support, not replace, clinical
judgment and individualized, person-centered care. It
underscores that pain management should include
consideration of a person’s physical health, behavioral
health, long-term services and supports, and expected
health outcomes and well-being needs. It also includes
content on management of subacute painful conditions, as
well as to clarify recommendations that apply to patients
who are being considered for initial treatment with
prescription opioids and those who have already been
receiving opioids as part of their ongoing pain management
treatment.
Input needed: Senior
Community Service Employment Program rule (Comments due
3/16)
In March of 2020, the Older
Americans Act, which funds many important social and
nutrition services for older adults and their caregivers,
was reauthorized by the Supporting
Older Americans Act of 2020. To conform to changes that
were made to better support formerly incarcerated individuals,
the Department of Labor (DOL) recently published a direct
final rule revising its Senior Community Service
Employment Program (SCSEP) regulations.
Under the new rule, grantees may choose to
make formerly incarcerated individuals eligible for an
increased period of participation in the program. The
rule defines formerly incarcerated individuals as people
who were incarcerated at any point within the last five
years, or those who were under supervision following a
release from jail or prison during the previous five years.
It also recognizes formerly incarcerated individuals among
the program’s priority groups.
Comments can be submitted online
until March 16. If significant comments against the rule
are submitted, the rule will be withdrawn and those
comments will be considered in response to a corresponding proposed
rule DOL has published. Otherwise, the rule will go
into effect on April 15.
ICYMI: Input needed on
DHS’ proposed “Public Charge” rule
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is
seeking comments on a proposed
rule that would define the criteria used to determine
whether a person likely to become a “public charge,” or
primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, for
purposes of determining eligibility for a visa and/or legal
residency. The proposed rule contains several
provisions that directly affect older adults and people
with disabilities, so input from ACL’s networks is
critical. Comments may be submitted until
April 25, 2022. Our blog
post from March 7 has the details.
White House Fact Sheet:
Improving Safety and Quality of Care in Nursing Homes
In his State of the Union address on Feb.
28, President Biden reiterated his commitment to building a
long-term care infrastructure, calling out the need to
expand home and community-based services and hold nursing
homes accountable for providing quality care. Earlier that day,
the White House released
a fact sheet that outlined the details of the
President’s plan for nursing home reform. Highlights
include:
- Setting minimum staffing
requirements
- Increasing accountability through
inspection and enforcement changes and focus on the
poorest nursing homes
- Improving quality through payment
changes
- Improving data for consumer
decision-making
- Increasing transparency of who owns
nursing homes and who is accountable for care
- Improving quality of life by
promoting single-occupancy rooms and otherwise
reducing crowding
- Reinforcing requirements against
unnecessary drugs
- Providing assistance to help
nursing homes improve
The initiative will include a focus on
workforce, with goals of increasing the number of people
entering the caring workforce and the availability of
high-quality training. The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services and Department of Labor will launch a
National Nursing Career Pathways Campaign.
CDC’s Updated
Developmental Milestones for Children
CDC has revised its developmental
milestones to help parents, healthcare providers, and
early childhood professionals identify children with
developmental disabilities at younger ages, and connect
them earlier to the interventions that have been shown to
improve outcomes.
Prior to the update, the checklists
indicated when 50% of children were expected to reach
certain developmental milestones That made identifying
children with developmental disabilities early difficult,
because it didn’t provide clarity around when additional
screening may be helpful. The checklists now indicate when
75% of children are expected to reach certain milestones,
to make it easier to determine when a child might benefit
from further evaluation. The new update also includes
checklists for ages 15 and 30 months, so that a checklist
is available for each recommended well-child visit.
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