CMS Continues to Expand Vaccine Support to Long-Term Care Facilities

On May 13th, CMS released the latest in a series of rules intended to support the control of the spread of COVID-19 infections in long-term care (LTC) facilities and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF-IID). The interim final rule with comment (IFC) went into effect on May 21st; however, CMS is accepting comments from interested stakeholders until July 12, 2021.

With the implementation of these new rules, CMS is requiring LTC facilities and ICF-IID to develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that they offer residents and staff vaccination against COVID–19 when vaccine supplies are available. CMS is defining “staff” as those individuals working in the facility in a full-time capacity as well as those individuals who provide weekly services on-site. CMS chose not to extend this requirement to individuals who infrequently enter facilities -- such as service technicians, plumbers and others who may enter the facility only a few times each year. Facilities may choose to use a broader definition of staff to include these individuals and may choose to offer vaccination to these individuals.

In addition to providing vaccinations, CMS is also requiring that LTC facility and ICF-IID staff are educated about vaccination against COVID–19. CMS is using this IFC to encourage broader understanding of the benefits and risks of vaccination, as well as opportunities for vaccination. This broader understanding will allow staff to better educate facility residents and their families.

In the rule CMS also recognizes disparities in accessing quality care amongst certain subpopulations – specifically noting that these disparities have been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. CMS believes that educating all LTC and ICF-IID facility residents, clients and staff about COVID-19 vaccines will help to address some of these disparities.

Finally, CMS is requiring LTC facilities to report the vaccination status of all residents and staff weekly. CMS stops short of requiring ICF-IID to report the same information, citing the likely administrative and financial burden that a new reporting requirement could place on ICF-IID. CMS does however encourage ICF-IID to voluntarily report this information when feasible.

The full rule is available online.

For more information, please contact me at john@policypros.net

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