TESTING NEWS

Coverage of At Home Tests by Medicare Announced
The Biden Administration announced coverage of 8 over the counter at home covid tests per month under Medicare Part B. Coverage of at home tests under private insurance and Medicaid were announced in January and the Administration promised to work on coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. The program starts April 4th and continues until the end of the Public Health Emergency. Click for more info.

FEDERAL NEWS

HRSA to Give Opportunity to Complete or Fix PRF Reporting Period 1 Issues
Our advocacy on behalf of members has paid off, we received word from HRSA that there will be an opportunity to correct reports submitted during PRF Reporting Period 1 (RP1) as well as submit reports that may have been missed. For providers who made errors in their first PRF report, they can contact the Provider Support Line at 866-569-3522 and ask to speak with a Tier 2 representative regarding fixing an error in their RP1 report. They will need to ask for their report to be unlocked or re-opened. If you missed reporting on a particular payment, it is not clear if this is considered a reporting error or if you will need to await information that HRSA is to release soon on a Late Reporting opportunity for “non-compliant providers to complete a report as a result of specific extenuating circumstances.” We do not know what HRSA will consider “extenuating circumstances” or when the portal will re-open to permit these missing reports to be submitted nor how long providers will have to complete these reports. HRSA did ask us to tell providers who received the March Repayment Letters, DO NOT return any PRF payments at this time. They will reach out to providers if they don’t submit a Late Payment Request and complete the required report. Additional information on the Late Reporting Request process will be posted to the PRF website and emailed to providers who are registered in the Reporting Portal. LeadingAge will be monitoring the HRSA website. This is good news for members who made inadvertent reporting errors and/or received repayment letters from the RP1.

Close to COVID Relief
Reporting from Capitol Hill today that the Senate has reached an agreement on 10 billion in COVID aid. A majority will be spent on therapeutics; it is all for vaccines, therapeutics, and tests. A preliminary score is back from CBO clearing the way for the bill to be voted on in the Senate this week. However, negotiators were unable to come up with a means to “pay for” global COVID aid so it is excluded from the package. This could cause trouble in the House where some Democrats have said they won’t vote for COVID aid without an international component. We’ll keep you posted.

VACCINE NEWS

Updates to CMS Vaccine Mandate Guidance
CMS updated memos QSO-22-07-ALL, QSO-22-09-ALL, and QSO-22-11-ALL, revised guidance for Interim Final Rule Medicare and Medicaid Programs Omnibus COVID-19 Healthcare Staff Vaccination. Updates include clarification around the expectations for assessing compliance with the requirement to ensure all staff are vaccinated. Specifically, revisions address concerns that many providers are not able to maintain a line listing of the vaccine status for contracted staff. Additional clarification regarding assessing compliance for repeat surveys occurring within 6 weeks was also made.

Kansas COVID-19 Vaccination Overview as of 4/1/2022

• 4,256,495 Total Doses Reported as Administered     
   – First Dose: 1,954,451
   – Second Dose: 1,581,800
   – Third Dose: 720,245
• 5,515,310 Total Doses Distributed     
   – State Distributed: 3,027,000
• 62.4% of Kansans Vaccinated with One Dose   
• 54.2% of Kansas Completed COVID-19 Vaccine Series

Source: https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data  

LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS

Weekly Webinar Fridays at 10 AM
Get the latest on COVID, CMS, the Legislature and more each Friday at 10 AM. If you haven’t registered for future calls, you can do so here.

If you would like to listen to updates you have missed, visit this page.

LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS

LeadingAge Members Who Provide Nursing Home Services: What are Some Data Points That Would be Red Flags for Nursing Homes in a Risk-Based Compliance System?
At the Leadership Summit and again in our meeting last week with CMS, Jon Blum asked what we consider to be red flags that might indicate some impending quality concerns. They are looking at what they call a risk-based compliance system, in which some nursing homes get additional focus. One example a LeadingAge member mentioned was leadership changes. Another suggested increases in pressure ulcers. If you have some ideas to add to the list, whether they are along the lines of leadership changes or related to specific survey or reporting elements, please sent them to Janine (JFinck-Boyle@LeadingAge.org).

RESOURCES

Give Your Community a Boost: The FDA published the FDA Voices
“ Give Your Community a Boost: Combatting Misinformation Through Communication and Research ,” by RADM Richardae Araojo, Pharm.D., M.S., Associate Commissioner for Minority Health and Director of the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity. April is National Minority Health Month, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected “Give Your Community a Boost” as this year’s theme. Over the last two years, the FDA has worked tirelessly with our U.S. government partners, medical product manufacturers, international partners, and additional stakeholders to address COVID-19. Although the pandemic continues, significant strides have been made in efforts to protect the health of Americans. The FDA authorized and approved multiple vaccines, authorized several treatments, increased available testing options such as at-home tests and provided countless educational resources in a variety of languages.

HQIN COVID-19 Vaccine Office Hours  
The Health Quality Innovation Network’s (HQIN) Weekly Dose Office Hours  provides current updates on COVID-19 guidance and vaccine information. The forum features interactive, peer-to-peer collaboration following a brief presentation. Each session includes best practices and innovative idea sharing, as well as tips for improving resident and staff safety. Weekly Dose Office Hours are held Wednesdays at 1 PM CT. Register for the next Office Hours, as well as upcoming sessions.

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