Public Health Emergency Ends May 11, 2023: Check Your Readiness

/in

By Kim Stanger

After three years, the federal public health emergency (PHE) will expire May 11, 2023.1 Most of the relaxed regulatory and payor standards will end on or within a few months after the deadline, including many relating to:

  • Federal subsidies for PHE-related services.
  • Medicare coverage and/or the amount of reimbursement for certain services, especially COVID-related care and telehealth services.
  • Medicaid coverage for COVID-related services.
  • Flexibility on standards relating to patient stays (e.g., use of skilled nursing facility (SNF) beds for patients who do not meet SNF criteria; critical access hospital (CAH) 25-bed and/or 96-hour length of stay requirements; etc.).
  • Facility safety, staffing, and operational standards.
  • Use of alternative or expansion sites to provide care (e.g., Hospitals Without Walls Programs; use of other sites to render hospital services; etc.).
  • Practitioner supervision requirements.
  • Charges and cost-sharing amounts for certain services, including COVID testing.
  • Prescribing controlled substances through telehealth services as otherwise governed by the Ryan Haight Act.
  • Use of non-HIPAA compliant modalities to conduct telehealth visits.
  • Stark, Anti-Kickback Statute, and Civil Monetary Penalties waivers concerning arrangements with physicians, patients, and other referral sources.
  • EMTALA guidelines concerning directing patients to other locations.
  • PREP Act liability protections.2

Read more

Prepare for the End of the Public Health Emergency: Compliance Concerns

/in ,

By Kim Stanger

For nearly three years, federal and state agencies have waived or relaxed regulatory requirements and expanded reimbursement for services due to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), but the signs indicate that the party is nearly over. Many states have already ended their emergency exceptions, and the federal PHE appears to be coming to an end. The current 90-day PHE extension issued by the Health and Human Services (HHS) will expire January 11, 2023. (See here.) The Biden Administration has informally promised that it would notify stakeholders at least 60 days in advance of ending the PHE; consequently, there is a good chance that the PHE will be extended an additional 90 days into April 2023, but no formal announcement has issued yet. In the meantime, HHS has warned providers that most of the PHE waivers will end upon termination of the PHE and that providers should prepare now for a return to normal standards. (See CMS, “Creating a Roadmap for the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency” (8/18/22), available here.) Read more

CMS Vaccine Mandate: New Deadlines

/in

By Kim Stanger

On January 13, 2022, a divided Supreme Court vacated the injunctions that applied to CMS’s vaccine mandate in 24 states, thereby allowing CMS to enforce its mandates in all states except Texas.1 (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a240_d18e.pdf). Here are key points for providers seeking to comply with the mandate.

Deadlines for Compliance. The effective deadlines for compliance run from the date CMS issued its relevant compliance guidance to survey agencies. For facilities in states that were not subject to an injunction, CMS issued its guidance on December 28, 2021. (QSO-22-07-ALL, available at https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-22-07-all.pdf). For facilities in states that were subject to an injunction (i.e., Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming), CMS issued its updated guidance on January 14, 2022. (QSO-22-09-ALL, available at https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-22-09-all-injunction-lifted.pdf). As set forth in the guidance, the deadlines are as follows: Read more

Federal Court Stays CMS Mandate Nationwide

/in

By Kim Stanger

Today, the federal district court in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction staying the CMS vaccine mandate nationwide (except for the 10 states subject to yesterday’s injunction in Missouri). A copy of the Order is here. Read more

CMS Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers: Resources for Preparing Your Policies

/in ,

By Kim Stanger

Under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)’s new vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, facilities must draft and implement policies and procedures by December 6, 2021 to ensure covered personnel are fully vaccinated or exempted by January 4, 2022. (86 FR 61573). That does not give facilities much time, but here are some resources that may help with compliance. (This alert supplements our summary of the CMS and OSHA mandates.) Read more