The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will immediately stop enforcing the COVID-19 vaccine mandates for home health workers and other health care staff.
In light of the public health emergency (PHE) ending on May 11, the Biden administration announced in early May that it planned to end vaccination requirements for federal workers and certain other groups. At that time, the administration explained that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was in the process of doing the same for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified health care providers, including home health agencies.
“HHS announced today that they will start the process to end their vaccination requirements for head start educators, CMS-certified health care facilities and certain noncitizens at the land border,” the Biden administration wrote in a May 1 statement.
CMS has now posted a draft version of its final rule on withdrawing COVID-19 vaccine requirements for health care workers. The draft is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on June 5.
CMS published its emergency interim final rule (IFC) establishing requirements regarding COVID-19 vaccine immunization of staff among Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers on Nov. 5, 2021.
Several states challenged that rulemaking in the courts, but it ultimately survived as part of the PHE.
“At this point in time, we believe that the risks targeted by the staff vaccination IFC have been largely addressed, so we are now aligning our approach with those for other infectious diseases, specifically influenza,” the CMS draft final rule states. “Accordingly, CMS intends to encourage ongoing COVID-19 vaccination through its quality reporting and value-based incentive programs in the near future.”
Normally, federal rules become effective 60 days after publication.
But because the PHE ended May 11, CMS will stop enforcing vaccine requirements before that point.
“Our decision to terminate the omnibus facility staff vaccination requirements in this final rule reflect our determination that the emergency circumstances which occasioned these vaccination provisions no longer exist,” CMS noted. “Since facilities are no longer operating under PHE circumstances, and considering the lower policy priority of enforcement within the remaining time, we will not be enforcing the staff vaccination provisions between now and [60 days from the rule’s publication].”
Even with vaccine requirements going away, home health stakeholders have made it clear that providers will need to remain diligent when it comes to COVID-19.
“Even though this particular requirement may go away, home health and hospice organizations are still going to have to pay attention to what’s happening in their area with COVID,” Katie Wehri, director of home care and hospice regulatory affairs at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), previously told Home Health Care News. “They still have to implement basic infection control and prevention techniques. That probably would include some screenings. They’re going to need to look at that at the local level.”
Just over 6 million patients admitted to hospitals in the United States have been confirmed positive with COVID-19 infection since Aug. 1, 2020, according to CDC statistics. Approximately 1.1 million COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the U.S. as of April 14.
“COVID-19 has had significant negative health effects on individuals, communities and
the nation as a whole,” the CMS draft rule states. “Over a year ago, in September 2021, COVID-19 overtook the 1918 influenza pandemic as the deadliest disease in American history.”
Companies featured in this article:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, National Association for Home Care & Hospice
