CMS Considers Vaccine Reporting Mandate for Assisted Living, Implements for Nursing Homes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Tuesday that it is now requiring nursing homes to report on the status of Covid-19 vaccinations for residents and staff. And, the agency said it’s seeking comment on whether to do the same for providers of assisted living.

The interim final rule requires long-term care facilities to relay weekly data on staff and resident vaccinations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Nursing homes must already report to NHSN data on Covid-19 testing, cases and deaths for staff and residents. The new requirement also applies to intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

CMS touts the new policy as a way to assist with monitoring vaccine distribution among residents and staff, and to identify facilities that might need more resources.

“Today’s announcement directly aids nursing home residents and people with intellectual or developmental disabilities who have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19,” said Dr. Lee Fleisher, who is chief medical officer and director of CMS’ Center for Clinical Standards and Quality (CCSQ). “Our goal is to increase COVID-19 vaccine confidence and acceptance among these individuals and the staff who serve them.”

CMS plans to post each facility’s vaccination status on its COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website. Should providers fail to report that information, CMS plans to enforce the rule through civil money penalties, according to an analysis from Skilled Nursing News.

Although the federal agency is not currently requiring assisted living providers to report this information, it is currently taking comment on “opportunities to expand these policies to help encourage vaccine uptake and access in other congregate care settings, such as psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs), group homes and assisted living facilities.”

David Schless, president of the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), noted that the industry has embraced the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, which boosted vaccination rates. But, he does not believe that the new rule would be right if applied to assisted living providers.

“Because senior living operators are not directly involved in the administration of the Covid-19 vaccine, they are not in a position to accurately report vaccination uptake information to the federal government,” Schless told SHN. “It is our belief that the federal government should instead be collecting vaccination data directly from those entities who are administering the vaccine and are the point of contact with the individual.”

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) supports public reporting of Covid-19 vaccination rates in long-term care, and “greatly appreciates CMS taking this step.”

“We believe transparency on vaccination rates should be expanded to all Medicare providers, including hospitals, home health, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, where many of our nation’s seniors may also receive care and the virus can still remain a threat,” Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer of AHCA/NCAL, said in a press release. “All Medicare providers should have a streamlined effort to report their vaccination rates.”

John Schulte, vice president of quality improvement at Argentum, said the organization is pleased with “high rates of resident vaccinations and with the increasing uptake among staff.”

“At Argentum, we strongly support continued access and education around the Covid-19 vaccine in senior living settings for both staff and residents,” Schulte told SHN in a statement.

Some providers have in recent months set mandates requiring the vaccine as a condition of employment. These include Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities; Louisville, Kentucky-based Atria Senior Living; and Irvine, California-based Silverado,

Other new additions to the vaccine mandate list include Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based American House Senior Living Communities, which mandated vaccines for staff in April; and Retirement Center Management, headquartered in Houston, which began mandating them in May.

The post CMS Considers Vaccine Reporting Mandate for Assisted Living, Implements for Nursing Homes appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Source: For the full article please visit Senior Housing News