  |
CMS NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2020
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries
CMS Offers Comprehensive
Support for Louisiana and Texas with Hurricane Laura
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today
announced efforts underway to support Louisiana and Texas in response to
Hurricane Laura. On August 26, 2020, Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) Secretary Alex Azar declared public health emergencies (PHEs) in these
states, retroactive to August 22, 2020 for the state of Louisiana and to
August 23, 2020 for the state of Texas. CMS is working to ensure hospitals and
other facilities can continue operations and provide access to care despite
the effects of Hurricane Laura.
CMS provided numerous waivers to health care providers during
the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to meet the needs of
beneficiaries and providers. The waivers already in place will be available
to health care providers to use during the duration of the COVID-19 PHE
determination timeframe and for the Hurricane Laura PHE. CMS may waive
certain additional Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) requirements, create special enrollment opportunities for
individuals to access healthcare quickly, and take steps to ensure dialysis
patients obtain critical life-saving services.
Below are key administrative actions CMS will be taking in
response to the PHEs declared in Louisiana and Texas:
Waivers and Flexibilities for
Hospitals and Other Healthcare Facilities: CMS has
already waived many Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP requirements for facilities.
The CMS Dallas Survey & Enforcement Division, under the Survey Operations
Group, will grant other provider-specific requests for specific types of
hospitals and other facilities in Louisiana and Texas. These waivers, once
issued, will help 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 and is working
with the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network, Network 13 – Louisiana, and
Network 14 - Texas, to assess the status of dialysis facilities in the
potentially impacted areas related to generators, alternate water supplies,
education and materials for patients and more.
The KCER is also assisting patients who evacuated ahead of the
storm to receive dialysis services in the location to which they evacuated.
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 Network hotline number, and contact information
of those with whom they may stay or for out-of-state contacts in a waterproof
bag. They have also been instructed to have supplies on hand to follow a
three-day emergency diet. The ESRD Network 8 – Mississippi hotline is
1-800-638-8299, Network 13 – Louisiana hotline is 800-472-7139, the ESRD
Network 14 - Texas hotline is 877-886-4435, 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: Under the COVD-19 waivers,
CMS suspended 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 PHE. 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.
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.
Emergency Preparedness
Requirements: Providers and suppliers are expected to have emergency
preparedness programs based on an all-hazards approach. To assist in the
understanding of the emergency preparedness requirements, CMS Central Office
and the Regional Offices hosted two webinars in 2018 regarding Emergency
Preparedness requirements and provider expectations. One was an all provider
training on June 19, 2018 with more than 3,000 provider participants and the
other an all-surveyor training on August 8, 2018. Both presentations covered
the emergency preparedness final rule which included emergency power supply;
1135 waiver process; best practices and lessons learned from past disasters;
and helpful resources and more. Both webinars are available at https://qsep.cms.gov/welcome.aspx.
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 emergency preparedness
rules. The tools can be located at:
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.
Additional information on the emergency preparedness
requirements can be found here: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_z_emergprep.pdf
CMS will continue to work with all geographic areas impacted by
Hurricane Laura. We encourage beneficiaries and providers of healthcare
services that have been impacted to seek help by visiting CMS’ emergency
webpage (www.cms.gov/emergency).
For more information about the HHS PHE, please visit:
###
Get CMS
news at cms.gov/newsroom, sign up for CMS news via email and follow CMS on Twitter CMS
Administrator @SeemaCMS and @CMSgov
|
 |
Thursday, August 27, 2020
CMS NEWS: CMS Offers Comprehensive Support for Louisiana and Texas with Hurricane Laura
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment