LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
We Need to Know What Temporary Healthcare Staffing Agencies You Contract with to Build Our Case- Please Respond by January 6, 2022
We need information that only you can provide to help with our advocacy efforts with the Kansas Legislature to get pricing caps and other regulations for temporary healthcare staffing agencies in Kansas. Please complete this important survey (even if you are not currently using temporary healthcare staffing agencies) by January 6, 2022. Let me know if you have questions. Thank you!
Final Weekly Webinar of the Year is In the Books
Thanks to everyone who joined us today for the last weekly webinar of 2021. If you missed it, you can still listen to the recording. Here are the handouts. During the call, we mentioned that that we would include a link to sign up for the Battell program in our COVID Update today. Here is the link.
We’ll be back in 2022. See you next year!
STATE NEWS
Weekly KDHE Update for Local Partners
Listen to the recording. Download the slides.
Highlights:
- The 7 day average number of cases in the US is 117,890 cases per day, up slightly from about 117,488 cases per day last week
- As of December 15th Kansas had 493,492 cases and 6,895 deaths statewide, up by 11,260 cases and 127 deaths reported since last week. There were 4,138 new cases and 20 new deaths reported between Monday 12/13/2021 and Wednesday 12/15/2021.
- between Tue Dec 07 2021 – Mon Dec 13 2021
- All Kansas counties are in the high (red) level of transmission category
- Outbreaks: 9 active outbreaks in daycares, 7 in corrections, 5 in group living, 7 in healthcare settings, and 58 active outbreaks in LTCFs (up from 44 last week). Also have 22 in private businesses and 38 in schools.
- BD Veritor kits have received an extension to their expiration date of 4 months
The next KDHE COVID-19 Update for Local Partners will take place Thursday, December 23rd at 10 AM. Register here. Password: KDHECOVID
FEDERAL NEWS
Special Briefing Call Invitation: COVID-19 Booster Shots for Seniors
We’re pleased to invite you to participate in call with White House COVID-19 Coordinator Jeff Zients and Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky on the COVID-19 response and booster vaccinations for seniors.
We’ll share the latest updates on the President’s plan to combat COVID-19 and confront the Omicron variant this winter by using every tool at our disposal. And we’ll ask for your partnership as we work to reach the roughly 100 million eligible Americans—including our nation’s seniors—with their booster shots.
Please share this call with your networks and community partners.
Call Information
Date: Friday, December 17th
Time: 1:00 PM CST
Click Here for Call Information
Update on Legal Challenges to CMS Interim Final Rule
We have two updates today after the Eighth Circuit and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeals decisions earlier this week. The updates involve the separate cases filed individually by the states of Texas and Florida, respectively.
- Texas– After the Fifth Circuit eliminated the injunction on the CMS vaccine mandate for 26 states that were not part of the Louisiana litigation, the federal district court in Texas revisited Texas’s challenge to the CMS vaccine mandate. The Texas court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining the CMS mandate for communities in Texas.
We have a tie — the Texas injunction means that the CMS vaccine mandate is paused in 25 states and in effect in another 25 states. Injunctions are now in place in the following states: Texas, Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire.
- Florida– Florida has petitioned for a “rehearing en banc” of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision refusing to enjoin the CMS vaccine mandate pending appeal. The motion asks for the full court to overrule the three-judge panel’s order denying Florida an injunction pending appeal. The Eleventh Circuit as a whole is more conservative than the three-judge panel that denied Florida’s request for an injunction pending appeal. Florida’s motion for rehearing en banc will delay it seeking relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, likely putting it after applications from the federal government seeking to fully stay the Missouri and Louisiana district court’s preliminary injunctions.
Barring any changes from CMS, the CMS Memo QSO 22-04, issued on December 2nd, is still in place, which states that they will not enforce the interim final rule while there are court-ordered injunctions in place prohibiting enforcement of the provisions. LeadingAge reached out to CMS for clarity. They report they are “reviewing the court decisions and evaluating next steps.” We will keep you updated if/when we hear any additional response from CMS or any updates on the legal challenges.
Action on Build Back Better Unlikely Before January
The second top Democrat in the Senate, Democratic Whip Senator Durbin, signaled today that they plan to revisit Build Back Better in January. He deferred to Senator Schumer to make official announcements but confirmed what many observers feared to be the case. This means LeadingAge members still have time to reach out to their Senators and let them know about the importance of passing the bill, with its HCBS expansion, housing, and workforce provisions.
RESOURCES
- Provider Quick Reference Guide for COVD-19 Vaccine Administration
- Public Health Collabarotive – Vetted messaging resources are designed to help public health leaders deliver fact-based, effective, and timely COVID-19 communications in your communities. Use these resources to make sense of the latest developments, answer tough questions, and bolster your local public health outreach.
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