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‘Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst’: How Providers Should Plan Around the CMS Mandate Freeze
Home Health Care News
By Andrew Donlan | December 1, 2021
The initial health care worker vaccine mandate laid out by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was a cause for confusion for some home health providers when it was announced officially in early November. Now that a nationwide injunction has been issued by a federal judge with key deadlines rapidly approaching, that confusion has only intensified.
What’s more likely than the mandate completely going away, however, is an implementation delay.
“I think for the near-term future, until this is worked out in the courts, the mandates are not going to apply,” Angelo Spinola, the co-chair of the home health and home care industry group at the law firm Polsinelli, told Home Health Care News. “Right now, that means that these rules will not go into effect until and unless the injunctions are lifted, and that’s not going to happen until the matter is resolved.”
But that doesn’t mean home health providers should put their employee-vaccination efforts on pause.
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is urging its provider members to continue on the path to compliance as the waiting game begins.
“We believe it is incumbent upon providers to operate in good faith throughout to achieve compliance,” NAHC said in a statement shared with HHCN. “It remains possible that the District Court rulings will be reversed and that the original compliance deadlines will be held in place. While that outcome is not highly likely, a good faith compliance effort will be the best protection a provider can have against any enforcement action. Should the administration take steps to directly suspend implementation and enforcement of the rule pending the outcome of the litigation, providers can then suspend efforts to comply with the CMS.”
In its statement, NAHC also advised the Biden administration to take steps to provide “needed clarity” to all health care providers subject to the rule, a group of about 76,000 Medicare and Medicaid organizations.
Litigation timeline
The length of the litigation process and any coinciding delays are highly relevant given that the deadline for health care workers to get fully vaccinated is a month away…
…The matter will not follow a normal litagary timeline, though. The courts are moving very quickly on the issues, which means they should be resolved in mere weeks at the earliest and a few months at the latest, Spinola said.
All three mandates are under fire right now: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) large-employer mandate, the federal contractor mandate and the CMS mandate for providers under Conditions of Participations (CoPs).
“I think that it’s probably pretty likely that the district court judges are going to rule that the mandate is not valid,” Spinola said. “Because to issue an injunction like this, it means that the judge believes that there’s a likelihood of success for the moving party, and therefore, they’re not going to put the rule into place until after the decision is made.”
After that, however, an appeal is likely. At that point, new judges – perhaps with different perspectives on the issue – will come into play. Ultimately, the vaccination-mandate battle could end up in the Supreme Court.
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Expression of Thanks from the Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado
We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends.
The HHAC Board and Staff have so much to be thankful for!
- We are thankful for the dedicated frontline home care and hospice employees who have continued to go above and beyond during the last year of the pandemic; often putting their own needs behind those of others;
- We are thankful to all the Administrators, Managers, and Office Personnel who continue to sacrifice in support of their clinical teams and clients/patients;
- We are thankful for your loved ones who recognize how important your work is and support you through your long days/nights and work-related stress that sometimes come home with you;
- We are thankful for all the health care providers in Colorado who partner with home care and hospice organizations to care for their clients/patients;
- We are thankful for our local and national representatives, government employees, Advocacy and Communications teams who advocate for the expansion and increased support of home care and hospice services;
- We are thankful for the hundreds of thousands of unpaid family caregivers in Colorado who voluntarily provide care to their family and friends to help them remain as safe and happy as possible at home;
- We are thankful for our country’s Veterans and for the opportunity that you have to give back to them, in some measure, for their service and sacrifices;
- We are thankful for both faith and science that help us get through life’s trials, including the ongoing global pandemic;
- We are thankful for eyes to see and hands to help those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 or other infirmities during the last year;
- We are thankful for your support of the work that we do every day on behalf of HHAC members and home care and hospice in Colorado.
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Next Workshop in the 2021 Southwest Virtual Education Series...
Strategic Leadership: Responsive & Impactful Planning for the New Next
When: Thursday, December 9, 2021 | 1:00pm - 2:30pm MT
Join your industry peers for an insightful, interactive workshop with respected leader and strategy expert, Keith Crownover. Take-away actionable tools and resources for a more nimble, responsive, and impactful planning process that establishes meaningful goals while creating agency alignment, allowing you to outlearn and outperform your competition!
Click here for more information & to register. |
On-Demand Precision OASIS Training Available
HHAC partnered with the Home Care & Hospice Association of Utah for this virtual two-day OASIS intensive. This course is designed for field staff, quality reviewers, case managers, clinical supervisors, directors of clinical services, administrators, and anyone who desires to learn the official guidance on how to answer OASIS items with precision.
When: On-Demand Recorded Access Available Until 05/31/22
Credits: 12 Contact Hours / 12 CEUs Pending for PT and OT *
Attendees will learn:
- Purpose of the OASIS data set
- Types of OASIS assessments and timelines for completion
- Eligible patients and those excluded from collection of OASIS data
- Conditions of Participation related to the administration and submission of OASIS data
- Official conventions and item specific guidelines for OASIS items
- Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse guidance for answering integumentary status items
- Best practices for gathering comprehensive assessment information, medication reconciliation, communication with physician/providers regarding discrepancies, possible interactions, or issues
- Care plan and case management implications from the OASIS information
- CMS’s definition of falls and how to answer J items appropriately
- The differences in answering M items and GG functional and mobility items
- CMS definitions of assistance and device types
- Overview of PDGM Payment implications and the OASIS
- Overview of Quality implications: Home Health Compare, Star Ratings, and HHQRP
- A former case manager’s tips on how to combine the professional assessment with the comprehensive assessment, including OASIS items to ensure accuracy of both
Registration Fees
- HHAC Member Individual - $195
- Non-Member Individual - $390
- HHAC Member Agency Access - $975
- Non-Member Agency Access - $1,950
For more information & to register, click here. |
Nationwide Temporary Halt on CMS COVID-19 Vaccination Order
On November 30th, a preliminary injunction was issued by the Louisiana Federal District Court, to temporarily halt CMS’ healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
Read order here
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by the State of Louisiana and joined by the states of Utah, Indiana, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. However, the judge determined that healthcare workers in other states would also be affected by the mandate and applied the preliminary injunction nationwide, except in those 10 states that are already subject to the Missouri Federal District Court injunction which paused the mandate for them earlier this week. That injunction applies to Missouri, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
CMS is expected to appeal both rulings but the timing on further action is unclear, particularly with the original vaccine deadlines and the holidays pending. Though the nationwide CMS and OSHA mandates have been blocked, pending further action, Colorado vaccination orders are still in place.
Stay tuned for additional information.
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