FEDERAL NEWS

What Does “Up-to-Date” Mean Now That the Bivalent Booster Has Been Approved?
LeadingAge National has been in close contact with CDC and CMS regarding the recently approved bivalent booster. CDC recently provided clarification on what that means and also provided this statement that has been copied and pasted for your information:

Here, copied and pasted is a note we received last night from leadership in CCSQ/CMS Quality, Safety and Oversight Group:

“The bivalent recommendation just came down Thursday. The surveyors will be surveying to existing guidance which doesn’t speak to the bivalent booster. If resident/staff are currently “up to date” with the existing boosters, they should be considered up to date for compliance, and we’ll provide additional regarding the bivalent as we look into this more.”

Here is the statement released by CDC which also includes key messaging around the boosters.

Yesterday, CDC endorsed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation for updated COVID-19 boosters. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky endorsed the recommendation for the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 booster for people ages 12 and older and the Moderna bivalent COVID-19 booster for people ages 18 and older, and released a statement. The updated COVID-19 boosters add Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 spike protein components to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine composition, increasing protection against the currently circulating variants.

With the arrival of updated boosters, CDC is reframing what it means to be up to date with COVID-19 vaccination. You are up to date if you have completed a primary series and received the most recent booster dose recommended for you by CDC.

Clinical research has demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of updated COVID-19 vaccines. As occurs for all vaccines—including COVID-19 vaccines—safety monitoring will continue for the new COVID-19 vaccines becoming available this fall.

CDC encourages people to get updated boosters if they are eligible. Vaccines are highly effective at protecting people from serious illness and remain the best way to protect from severe COVID-19 hospitalization and death. To learn when you can get a booster, use CDC’s COVID-19 booster tool.

Resources
Below is a list of resources and upcoming informational activities related to the recommendations.
Some web resources are in process and are expected to be updated by end of day on September 2, 2022, or soon thereafter.

In addition, please see the Topline Key Messages to help with communications around this update.

CDC Recommends the First Updated COVID-19 Booster
On September 1, 2022, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendations for use of updated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and older and from Moderna for people ages 18 years and older.

In the coming weeks, CDC also expects to recommend updated COVID-19 boosters for other pediatric groups, per the discussion and evaluation of the data by ACIP on Sept. 1, 2022. When data are available and FDA authorizes these other types of COVID-19 boosters, CDC will quickly move to help make them available in the United States.

You can learn more here: CDC Recommends the First Updated COVID-19 Booster | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

HHS to Suspend Orders of Free, At-Home COVID-19 Tests
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources will suspend ordering of free at-home COVID-19 tests after Friday, September 2nd, due to a lack of additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests. Order free tests before the Friday deadline at COVID.gov website or call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489).

COVID Data Tracker Resources and Updates
COVID Data Tracker is CDC’s home for interactive COVID-19 county, state, national, and global data dashboards. Recent COVID Data Tracker releases and updates include: 

  • On August 26th, the COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review issue focused on staying up to date with vaccines and COVID-19-associated hospitalizations and deaths.
  • On August 25th, the COVID Data Tracker’s Vaccine Effectiveness tab was updated to highlight vaccine effectiveness studies published in July 2022.
  • On August 19th, the COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review featured back-to-school information, including CDC’s updated guidance and ways to keep students and staff safe.
  • On August 18th, COVID Data Tracker’s County View page was updated to display county-level data on second booster doses. With this update, users can view second booster dose uptake among people with a first booster dose for the populations ≥50 years of age and ≥65 years of age.

CMS Requests Input on Consumer Access; Workforce Experience; Equity; and Impact of COVID Waivers. On September 6th, CMS released a Request for Information on a range of issues related to its healthcare programs. Respondents are asked for information and experiences as well as their ideas about solutions. Specifically, all stakeholders are encouraged to use the online form in the RFI to provide feedback by November 4th on any or all of the following issues:

  • Consumer experiences accessing various types of healthcare in different locations, including rural areas.
  • Provider challenges related to workforce (employee well-being, recruitment, retention, impact of technology on workforce challenges), compliance with payment and quality programs, and factors that influence providers’ ability to serve certain populations such as dually eligible people.
  • Advancing health equity and addressing health disparities.
  • The impact of the Public Health Emergency waivers and flexibilities and how experiences during COVID can be used to prepare for future health emergencies.

LeadingAge will review the RFI and determine next steps.

STATE NEWS

$15 Million ARPA Payments Now Available – Return Your Beneficiary Agreement ASAP
Beneficiary agreements were sent out last week for the $15 million in ARPA funds allocated to nursing homes for staffing costs. If you want to receive your ARPA payment as early as possible, make sure you return your beneficiary agreement before the two-week deadline. If you miss the first deadline you will have to even more weeks to receive a payment.

We received some questions about the new 12-digit numbers assigned to SAMS account users. If you are having difficulty finding your number please let us know or check out this guide from the SAMS website

Temporary Aide Training Waiver Updates – Are You Seeing Backlogs?
On August 29th, CMS released an update related to the temporary nurse aide training waiver that was terminated in June. CMS memo QSO-22-15-NH&NLTC&LSC was revised to provide more detail on waivers available for temporary nurse aides who are unable to meet requirements for certification prior to the October deadline due to NATCEP backlogs within their state.

We discussed the new memo with KDADS leaders. At this point they are not seeing backlogs for temporary aides who want to achieve nurse aide certification. However, if that changes KDADS would be willing to submit waiver applications to CMS. If you encounter backlogs or other difficulties in getting temporary aides through the certification process, please let us know ASAP by emailing rachel@leadingagekansas.org

LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS

Friday Webinars
Stay up to date on COVID-19, 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

RESOURCES

Previous COVID-19 infection offers protection against BA.5
Infections with previous COVID-19 variants offer more protection against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant in vaccinated people compared with vaccinated people who had no previous  infections, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.

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