VACCINE NEWS
State Launches Dashboard on LTC Staff Vaccination Rate by Facility
KDADS and KDHE collaborated to create an online dashboard that makes it easier for the public to track vaccination rates among healthcare personnel in the state’s long-term care facilities. All LeadingAge Kansas members that provide nursing home care are strongly encouraged to prepare for questions and contacts on the report related to your dashboard numbers. Look at your data weekly and prepare to articulate the ways you are trying to encourage and education your employees about vaccination. If you see a problem with the data that appears on the dashboard email DNH_TriageTeam@cms.hhs.gov and/or bdavis@kfmc.org.
CDC Advisory Committee Discusses Booster Shot Recommendation
CDC’s Advisory on Immunization Practices (ACIP), experts discussed booster shot data and options recently. CDC may recommend that boosters only become available to a certain population subgroup, like healthcare providers, residents of Long Term Care Communities, and other older adults. Slides from the ACIPs meeting yesterday are available here.
NIH Launches Study of Extra COVID-19 Vaccine Dose in People with Autoimmune Disease
The National Institutes of Health has begun a clinical trial to assess the antibody response to an extra dose of an authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine in people with autoimmune disease who did not respond to an original COVID-19 vaccine regimen.
Kansas COVID-19 Vaccination Overview
2,762,615 Total Doses Reported as Administered
- First Dose: 1,526,433
- Second Dose: 1,236,183
3,349,210 Total Doses Distributed
- State Distributed: 2,130,860
- 52.4% of Kansans Vaccinated with One Dose
- 45.8% of Kansas Completed COVID-19 Vaccine
Source: https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data
FEDERAL NEWS
Important Change for SSI Recipients and Applicants
The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently changed their rules about how pandemic-related financial assistance can affect an individual’s eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or monthly SSI benefit amount. Previously, SSA had been counting many types of assistance as income and resources for SSI purposes, resulting in individuals having their SSI benefits reduced or suspended, or having their applications for SSI benefits denied. However, due to the severity of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, SSA has decided they will not count most types of pandemic-related financial assistance against SSI eligibility or benefit amount.
STATE NEWS
KS Cluster Summary
The state has not updated the cluster summary metrics as of the sending of this email. You can check for updates here: https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas . We will publish the updates in our Friday edition of the COVID Update.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
LeadingAge Joins with KHCA to Urge Increased Staffing and Regulatory Flexibility for Long Term Care
Earlier this week the two associations sent a letter to the Governor and legislative leaders, specifically the Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC), to request targeted regulatory and staff flexibility due to the escalating LTC workforce crisis. All of the specific requests we made are within the state’s power. Unfortunately, the LCC and Governor do not “get along” and this might be clouded by their ongoing conflict. We are coordinating follow up advocacy efforts. Stay tuned for if/when we need members to jump in with grassroots efforts. As usual, we welcome your feedback and questions about this or any other advocacy topics on your mind. Email rachel@leadingagekansas.org or debra@leandingagekansas.org.
Kansas Congressional Response to Nursing Home Vaccine Mandate
Our federal elected officials continue to receive messages from our long term care providers regarding our dire workforce shortages in Kansas adult care homes and the effect the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate will have on this already terrible situation. Most of the Congressional offices have stated that they know they have been made very aware of the issue. Sen. Marshall’s office is looking for examples of facilities with low infection rates who may experience a significant loss of staff with the mandate. (Is that you? Let us know) Rep. Tracey Mann has taken the extra step of writing a letter to President Joe Biden expressing his concern and opposition to the government vaccine mandate.
We will continue our advocacy with our elected leaders and encourage all of our members to keep sending messages and stories to them.
Join Us Each Friday for the Latest on COVID
Join us each week to hear the latest on COVID and other important information for organization. Register here. Anne Yeakley, KDADS CARE Program Manager will join us this Friday to talk about PASRR and CARE. On Friday September 10th Karen Sturchio and Crystal Packard will discuss about vaccination rates in their organizations.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
Policy Updates from National
If you haven’t registered for LeadingAge Coronavirus Update Calls, you can do so here. They are held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2:30 PM Central.
RESOURCES
- US HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) provides an overview of lessons learned from vaccine programs, presents evidence on COVID-19 vaccine outreach, and discusses several examples of federal and state programs that could serve as potential models for designing new vaccine outreach strategies.
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