Update to COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Specific Providers

 

To: Federally certified facilities From: Centers for Medicaid Service (CMS) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated guidance that restores certain minimum standards for compliance with CMS requirements. The standards will be restored by phasing out some temporary emergency declaration waivers that have been in effect throughout the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). These temporary emergency waivers were designed to provide facilities with the flexibility needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. As vaccination rates steadily increase among nursing home residents and staff, and as nursing homes make overall improvements in their ability to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks, CMS is taking steps to phase out certain flexibilities that are generally no longer needed. This transition will re-establish certain minimum standards while continuing to protect the health and safety of those residing in skilled nursing facilities/nursing facilities (SNFs/NFs). Similarly, CMS is terminating some of the same waivers for inpatient hospices, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IIDs), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities. CMS will maintain the flexibility to make temporary waivers available for nurse aides’ certification if there are documented capacity issues in training or testing programs. CMS will retain the ability to issue individual state-based, county-based, or facility-based waivers as needed until the expiration or termination of the national COVID-19 PHE. Specific waivers are ending in two groups. One group of waivers will terminate 30 days from the issuance of this new guidance. The other group will terminate 60 days from issuance. These timeframes give providers and state agencies time to adjust their operations to the reinstituted requirements. Full details can be found in the Quality, Safety, and Oversight (QSO) memo.