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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a Fact Sheet (Fact Sheet) providing guidance on the impact of the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on certain regulatory waivers, legislative changes, and flexibilities that have been established during the PHE. The government previously announced that the PHE will expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023. CMS is providing this guidance as part of efforts to ease the transition for health care providers, patients, and other industry stakeholders away from pandemic-era policies and practices tied to PHE authorities. CMS emphasizes that many of the waivers and flexibilities are or will become permanent or extended, and others are intended to end on or soon following May 11, 2023.

Below please find a summary of key guidance provided by CMS in the Fact Sheet and in related CMS PHE guidance documents issued recently:…

Continue Reading CMS Issues Guidance for Providers on Waivers, Flexibilities and End of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

In a per curiam decision issued January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal health care worker vaccine mandate rule, finding that the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was authorized by law to issue the rule.  See our previous analyses of the rule and subsequent litigation here and here for more background information on the stakes of this case.
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Worker Vaccine Mandate

On December 2, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memorandum to state survey agencies indicating that it will not enforce its Interim Final Rule (the “Rule”) regarding health care worker vaccinations while there are court-ordered injunctions against the Rule in place.
Continue Reading CMS Issues Memorandum Stating It Will Not Enforce Its COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate While There are Court-Ordered Injunctions in Place

On November 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued heavily anticipated emergency regulations requiring COVID-19 vaccination of eligible staff at health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. CMS issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) in response to the COVID-19 “Path out of the Pandemic” Action Plan announced by President Biden on September 9, 2021, that per CMS is intended to protect the health and safety of residents, patients and staff at health care facilities. See our previous analysis of the Plan here.

Below please find key takeaways regarding the new COVID-19 vaccination requirements for health care facilities and staff:…
Continue Reading CMS Issues Emergency Regulation Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination for Health Care Facility Workers

On October 14, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the list of telehealth services covered by Medicare during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. CMS also announced it would be providing additional support to state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies in delivering telehealth services. CMS added the telehealth services using, for the first time, an expedited process that does not involve rulemaking which had been established by CMS in May 2020.
Continue Reading CMS Announces New Telehealth Services Covered by Medicare and Provides States with Medicaid and CHIP Telehealth Expansion Assistance

On June 9, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it would distribute up to $25 billion of CARES Act Provider Relief Funds to safety net hospitals and state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers. …
Continue Reading HHS Announces Additional Distribution of $10 Billion to Safety Net Hospitals, and $15 Billion to Medicaid and CHIP Providers Left Out of General Distribution

On April 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule with comment period (the “Rule”) which sets forth additional regulatory waivers and other changes to healthcare regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today’s actions are informed by requests from healthcare providers as well as by the Coronavirus…

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently issued four new executive orders to address the COVID-19 state of emergency (Executive Orders 7CC – 7FF) that contain provisions relevant to health care providers and facilities in the state.  Among other things, the Executive Orders (i) expand access to telehealth services, (ii) expand the available health care workforce, (iii) increase current reporting requirements for long-term care facilities, (iv) allow the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services (DSS) to scale back certain Medicaid program requirements, and (v) update requirements related to out-of-network emergency billing.  A summary of particularly significant changes contained in those Orders follows.
Continue Reading Connecticut Governor Expands Health Care Workforce, Access to Telehealth Services and Issues Other Important Health Care Updates in New Executive Orders

In this article, we highlight additional updates issued by state and federal government authorities for the health care community in Massachusetts related to COVID-19. This post addresses the Section 1135 waivers granted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) related to MassHealth and CHIP, Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) orders and guidance regarding Determination of Need and nurse staffing ratios, and MassHealth guidance for providers and pharmacies.
Continue Reading CMS grants Massachusetts Section 1135 Waiver, DPH issues Guidance regarding Determination of Need and Nurse Staffing Requirements, and MassHealth Issues Provider and Pharmacy Guidance

Rhode Island has issued important updates for health care providers related to COVID-19, available at https://health.ri.gov/diseases/ncov2019/for/providers/.  Providers should be aware of these updates including, among others, the following described below.
Continue Reading Rhode Island Issues Emergency Regulations on Off-Label Prescribing for COVID-19, and Guidance on Telehealth and Reciprocal Licensure