CMS Offers Guidance on COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule

January 6, 2022

On Dec. 29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance on the Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule that was published last November. 

The emergency regulation requires vaccinations for eligible staff at healthcare facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The staff vaccination requirement applies to the following Medicare and Medicaid-certified provider and supplier types: Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Community Mental Health Centers, Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, Critical Access Hospitals, End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities, Home Health Agencies, Home Infusion Therapy Suppliers, Hospices, Hospitals, Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Clinics, Rehabilitation Agencies, and Public Health Agencies as Providers of Outpatient Physical Therapy and Speech-Language Pathology Services, Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs) Programs for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly Organizations (PACE), Rural Health Clinics/Medicare Federally Qualified Health Centers, and Long Term Care facilities.
 
Currently, the implementation and enforcement of this regulation is enjoined in the following 25 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Facilities in these states are not required to comply with the rule, pending future developments in the litigation.  

The rule currently applies to facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the remaining 25 states (including Minnesota), the District of Columbia, and the territories. 

Facilities covered by this regulation (but not in the enjoined states) must establish a policy ensuring all eligible staff have received the first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine prior to providing any care, treatment, or other services by Jan. 27, 30 days following the publication of the guidance. All eligible staff must have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated – either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – by Feb. 28, 60 days following the publication of the guidance.

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