FEDERAL NEWS
IMPORTANT CMS News for Nursing Homes and Hospital LTCUs
CMS Issues HUGE Changes in Revised Visitation Memo
CMS memo QSO-20-39-NH-REVISED revises visitation, outings, dining/activities. Visitation changes eliminate most restrictions on visitation. Highlights:
- Visitation is now permitted at any time for all residents, regardless of vaccination status, nursing home outbreak status, or implementation of transmission-based precautions.
- Nursing homes may no longer require scheduling, limit number of visitors, limit length or frequency of visitors, or limit number of overall visitors in the nursing home at one time.
- Large gatherings continue to be discouraged, and all must continue to adhere to core infection control principles. This includes masking and social distancing, which is recommended or required within certain parameters.
- Dining/activities and resident outings are all permitted without limitation provided core infection control principles are followed.
- Nursing homes may continue to offer testing and/or vaccination to visitors but may not restrict visits based on vaccination status or refusal to test.
- The memo explicitly states that nursing homes may not restrict surveyors’ access based on vaccination status nor is the nursing home permitted to ask for proof of vaccination as a condition of entry. Nursing homes should refer questions about the process used to ensure surveyors are safe to enter a nursing home to the state survey agency.
CMS Issues Guidance to Surveyors to Address Survey Backlogs
CMS memo QSO-22-02-ALL includes new guidance on survey activity. Highlights:
- Focused infection control surveys will no longer be required based on outbreak. State survey agencies are still required to conduct focused infection control surveys at 20% of the nursing homes in the state during a given fiscal year and may conduct additional FIC surveys when a concern arises, such as outbreak in a nursing home with low vaccination rates.
- Recertification surveys should continue but surveys are not required to make up those missed during survey reprioritization periods. For example, if a recert was due in April 2020 but was not conducted until August 2021, the next recert would be due no later than October 2022 (15 months after the completion of the August 2021 survey). Recertification surveys can be prioritized based on potential risk to residents (factors such as past noncompliance, allegations of noncompliance, or complaints regarding abuse, infection control, insufficient staff or staff competency, violation of transfer/discharge rights, quality of care issues, etc.).
- Some surveyor tasks will temporarily be discretionary (resident council observation, dining observation, medication storage).
- The memo outlines levels of triage to assist surveyors in addressing back-log of complaints and facility-reported incidents. Surveyors are directed to pay special attention to certain areas such as nurse competency including assessing for change in status, inappropriate use of antipsychotics, and risks to health and safety such as unplanned weight loss, loss of function/mobility, pressure ulcers, abuse/neglect, and depression.
LeadingAge Kansas staff will be talking with KDADS about these items tomorrow, at our weekly meeting. Please send questions and concerns to Rachel@leadingagekansas.org or Debra@leadingagekansas.org so we can surface them with KDADS and LeadingAge national.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
Vaccine Mandate Toolkit – Updated
We are collecting tools and resources to help you comply with the new healthcare mandate. We will continue to add to the resources as we receive them. View the toolkit. You will need to have your LeadingAge Kansas website login credentials to view it.
LeadingAge Kansas In the News
Read about Rachel and Debra advocating on your behalf in the last week.
- Nov 12th: Governor calls special session as business groups object to proposed vaccine mandate response
- Nov 10th: Kansas signs onto Missouri-led lawsuit challenging federal vaccine mandate for health care workers
Join Us Friday for our Last Weekly Webinar of November
If you haven’t already done so, register here for upcoming calls through the end of the year.
STATE NEWS
Zoom meetings for Providers on Free Testing Options Set for the 16th and 19th
KDHE worked with Battelle to set up some calls to allow providers time to ask questions about the free testing that’s available through the Midwest Coordination Center.
- The first time is tomorrow, November 16th from Noon – 1 PM
- The second is Friday, November 19th from 1 – 2 PM.Zoom connection details will be sent on Wednesday.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
Vaccine Mandates: New CMS and OSHA Rules: Virtual Update Recording Now Available
On November 11th, LeadingAge policy experts held a 90-minute briefing explaining the Interim Final Rules by CMS and OSHA mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for organizations with more than 100 staff and all staff in CMS-certified settings. Listen to the briefing and download the presentation materials here: Vaccine Mandates: New CMS and OSHA Rules. Stay informed about vaccine mandate developments with the latest information, tools, and resources.
New Insights and Tools From LeadingAge
LeadingAge staff experts are developing essential advocacy, guidance, and tools, and curating the most relevant resources for aging services providers, including:
- Nursing Home Weekly Recap
- Life Plan Community Weekly Recap
- Home Health and Hospice Weekly Recap
- PACE Weekly Recap
- Senior Housing Weekly Recap
RESOURCES
- Updated COVID-19 Vaccines for Specific Groups of People— CDC and medical professionals have updated recommendations for specific groups of people in response to COVID-19 vaccination. These updates include recommendations for people who would like to have a baby and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines for specific groups of people.
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