CMS NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2019
Contact: CMS Media
Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries
CMS offers comprehensive support for North Carolina with
Hurricane Dorian preparation
The Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced efforts underway to support
North Carolina in response to Hurricane Dorian. On September 4, Health and
Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency (PHE)
in North Carolina that is retroactive to September 1. CMS is working to
ensure hospitals and other facilities can continue operations and provide
access to care despite the effects of Hurricane Dorian. CMS will be waiving
certain Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
requirements; creating special enrollment opportunities for individuals to
access healthcare quickly; and taking steps to ensure dialysis patients
obtain critical life-saving services.
“We are extremely
concerned about those who are in harm’s way and affected by Hurricane Dorian
and CMS is doing everything within its authority to provide assistance and
relief to everyone impacted by the devastation of this storm,” said CMS
Administrator Seema Verma. “It is our priority to make sure we coordinate
with our federal, state, and local partners to make sure our beneficiaries
have the access to healthcare and other critical life-saving and sustaining
services they may need.”
Below are key
administrative actions CMS will be taking in response to the PHE declared in
North Carolina:
Waivers
and Flexibilities for Hospitals and other Healthcare Facilities: CMS will
be temporarily waiving or modifying certain Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP
requirements. CMS will also issue a number of blanket waivers, listed on the
website below, and the CMS Regional Office will grant other provider-specific
requests for specific types of hospitals and other facilities in North
Carolina. These waivers work to provide continued access to care for
beneficiaries. For more information on the waivers CMS has granted, visit: www.cms.gov/emergency.
Special
Enrollment Opportunities for Hurricane Victims: CMS will
make available special enrollment periods for certain Medicare beneficiaries
and certain individuals seeking health plans offered through the Federal
Health Insurance Exchange. This gives people impacted by the hurricane the
opportunity to change their Medicare health and prescription drug plans and
gain access to health coverage on the Exchange if eligible for the special
enrollment period. For more information, please visit:
Disaster
Preparedness Toolkit for State Medicaid Agencies: CMS
developed an inventory of Medicaid and CHIP flexibilities and authorities
available to states in the event of a disaster. For more information and to
access the toolkit, visit: https://www.medicaid.gov/state-resource-center/disaster-response-toolkit/index.html.
Dialysis
Care: CMS is helping patients obtain access to critical
life-saving services. The Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) program
has been activated ahead of the storm and is working with the End Stage Renal
Disease (ESRD) Network of North Carolina, ESRD NW6, to assess the status of
dialysis facilities in the potentially impacted areas related to generators,
alternate water supplies, education and materials for patients. They are also
assisting patients who have evacuated ahead of the storm to receive dialysis
services in the location to which they are evacuating. Patients have been
educated to have an emergency supply kit on hand including important
personal, medical, and insurance information; contact information for their
facility, the ESRD NW hotline number, and contact information of those with
whom they may stay or for out-of-state contacts in a water proof bag. They
have also been instructed to have on hand supplies to follow a three-day
emergency diet. The ESRD NW6 toll-free hotline is 800-524-7139 and the KCER
hotline is 866-901-3773. Additional information is available on the KCER
website www.kcercoalition.com.
During the 2017 and 2018
hurricane seasons, CMS approved special purpose renal dialysis facilities in
several states to furnish dialysis on a short-term basis at designated
locations to serve ESRD patients under emergency circumstances in which there
were limited dialysis resources or access-to-care problems due to the
emergency circumstances.
Medical
equipment and supplies replacements: CMS will
be temporarily suspending certain requirements necessary for Medicare
beneficiaries who have lost or realized damage to their durable medical
equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies as a result of the hurricane.
This will help to make sure that beneficiaries can continue to access the
needed medical equipment and supplies they rely on each day. Medicare
beneficiaries can contact 1-800-MEDICARE
(1-800-633-4227) for assistance.
Suspension
of Enforcement Activities: CMS will temporarily suspend
current survey and enforcement activities for healthcare facilities in North
Carolina, but will continue to investigate allegations of immediate threat to
patient health and safety.
Ensuring
Access to Care in Medicare Advantage and Part D:
During a public health emergency, Medicare Advantage Organizations and Part D
Plan sponsors must take steps to maintain access to covered benefits for
beneficiaries in affected areas. These steps include allowing Part A/B and
supplemental Part C plan benefits to be furnished at specified non-contracted
facilities and waiving, in full, requirements for gatekeeper referrals where
applicable.
CMS Central Office and the
Regional Offices hosted two Webinars in 2018 regarding Emergency Preparedness
(EP) requirements and provider expectations. One was an all provider training
on 6/19/2018 (over 3,000 providers participated) and the other an
all-surveyor training on 8/14/2018. Both presentations covered the EP Final
Rule, which included emergency power supply; 1135 waiver process, Best
Practices & Lessons Learned from past disasters, and Helpful Resources
and more. Both webinars are available at https://surveyortraining.cms.hhs.gov/.
CMS also compiled a
list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and useful national emergency
preparedness resources to assist State Survey Agencies (SAs), their State,
Tribal, Regional, local emergency management partners, and health care
providers to develop effective and robust emergency plans and tool kits to
assure compliance with the EP rules.
The tools can be located at:
Survey & Certification
Group Emergency Preparedness Regulation dated November 2016, Revised
6-1-2017.
CMS Regional Offices have
provided specific Emergency Preparedness information to Medicare providers
and suppliers through meetings, dialogue and presentations. The
regional offices also provide regular technical assistance in Emergency
Preparedness to State Agencies and staff, who, since November 2017, have been
regularly surveying providers and suppliers for compliance with emergency
preparedness regulations.
CMS will continue to work
with all geographic areas impacted by Hurricane Dorian. We encourage
beneficiaries and providers of healthcare services that have been impacted to
seek help by visiting CMS’ emergency webpage (www.cms.gov/emergency).
To find additional
hurricane preparedness and response resources for the health sector and the
latest regarding HHS activities for Hurricane Dorian, please visit: www.phe.gov/dorian.
For more information about
the Department of Health and Human Services’ PHE, please visit:
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Wednesday, September 4, 2019
CMS offers comprehensive support for North Carolina with Hurricane Dorian preparation
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