VACCINE UPDATE
CMS Mandate Rule Temporarily Halted in Kansas
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt along with 9 other State Attorneys General successfully obtained a ruling today in the US District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri temporarily halting the new CMS vaccine mandate rule. The federal district court in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting CMS from enforcing the CMS Interim Final Rule pending a final trial on the merits of the challenge.
The preliminary injunction only applies the following states that are part of this specific litigation: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Read Attorney General’s press release on the ruling.
FAQs About the Temporary Injunction
Q: Does this stay apply to VA Contract Providers?
A: The attorney general this morning said that they don’t have a ruling yet on the federal contractor rule, and the hearing for it is scheduled for this Friday.
Q: I am concerned about the part of the CMS/Healthcare Worker Mandate that says federal rules override state rules. Do they override this ruling?
A: The Court that issued the ruling today is a federal court, and federal courts do have the power to issue a preliminary injunction on federal rules. This is basically the same kind of injunction that was granted for the OSHA mandate weeks ago. The states who filed the suit may ultimately lose their lawsuit, but until the court decides either way, the CMS mandate is on hold.
Governor Signs State Vaccine Mandate Bill
Last Friday Governor Kelly signed HB 2001 into law, after an emergency publication in the Kansas Register the law is now in effect. Stinson law firm put out a helpful description of the new law here. Legal challenges to the new state law are expected.
NOTE: We have received many questions from our members about how to proceed when state and federal laws conflict on vaccine mandate exemptions. After today’s court ruling, the answer in the short-term is to follow state law. When the preliminary injunction against the CMS mandate is lifted and the Missouri court issues a decision, we will have to re-visit the question.
Attorney General Schmidt Issues Warning on Religious Exemptions
AG Derek Schmidt put out a press release on November 24th advising employers not to question religious beliefs of employees who claim waiver from vaccine mandate. Read the press release.
STATE UPDATE
Updated Visitation Guidance for State-Licensed Adult Care Homes
Last week, KDADS released an updated visitation guidance for state licensed only homes to match the new CMS guidance to nursing homes. Read KDADS guidance here. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know or send an email to kdads.reopening@ks.gov.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
Join Us This Friday as Weekly Webinars Resume
We are looking forward to answering all your questions this week about last week’s Legislative Session, the new rules/expectations, updated information from CMS and more. If you haven’t already done so, register here for upcoming calls through the end of the year.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
National Says Nursing Home Staffing Provisions in Build Back Better Bill (BBB) are Unworkable
Thanks to many of you who shared your thoughts on the nursing home staffing provisions in Build Back Better. Here’s a short paper explaining the LeadingAge national position. The paper points out that while National supports the historic HCBS, housing, workforce and other provisions in BBB, the nursing home staffing provisions must be changed. Both the requirement for: (1) a staffing study and its implementation; and (2) the 24/7 RN coverage are unworkable as currently drafted. They must be fully funded and there must be waiver/exemption processes that are functional and that hold providers harmless when there simply are no applicants to fill the additional jobs. We offer three possible solutions:
LeadingAge is calling for:
- Amending the two nursing home staffing provisions by adding full funding and hold harmless waivers/exemptions that are workable;
- Eliminate the two provisions and undertake a thoughtful nursing home bill, based on the Care for Our Seniors provisions we and AHCA have already put forward; or
- Instead of these staffing provisions add a new center on nursing home staffing to conduct the staffing ratio study and develop a strategy to address staffing challenges in nursing homes.
New QuickCasts from the LeadingAge Learning Hub
- Navigating Nursing Home Visitation in the COVID Era. This 12-minute QuickCast outlines recently released CMS guidance that eases most limitations on nursing home visitation, while providing direction to maintain safety through infection control practices.
- New Nursing Home Survey Direction and Oversight. This 21-minute QuickCast provides an overview of CMS QSO-22-02-ALL Memo that directs State Survey Agencies to address backlogs of standard recertification and complaint surveys.
The LeadingAge Knowledge Center continues to add new content. Access these new QuickCasts and other resources on the Learning Hub.
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