State Receives CMS Extension of Temporary Nurse Aide Waiver
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) announced on Oct. 6, 2022 that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved an extension of the temporary nurse aide (TNA) waiver through the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). Specifically, DOH notified associations that CMS has approved "an extension of the 1135 waiver of the requirements contained in 42 CFR §483.35(d) Training and Certification of Nurse Aides." The U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services has renewed the PHE every 90 days and has committed to providing 60 days advance notice of any decision to terminate the PHE. Thus, it is expected to be renewed again at least through Jan. 15, 2023, when it expires this month. According to DOH, “CMS has requested ongoing updates from the Department related to the testing progress of temporary nurse aide candidates beyond 10/6/22.”
The scope of the waiver extension is unclear. At a minimum, it allows TNAs hired on or before June 6, 2022 (the original expiration of the blanket waiver) who have not yet completed their certified nurse aide (CNA) training and testing to continue to work as nurse aides until the end of the federal COVID-19 PHE. However, it is not clear whether the waiver allows aide trainees hired after June 6th to work as aides beyond four months while they are taking the Nurse Aide Training Program (NATP) and waiting to be tested. LeadingAge NY has posed this and other questions to DOH, which has forwarded them to CMS. CMS responded:
New nurse aides can get trained, tested and certified while the waiver is in effect. However, the waiver only applies to staff who would otherwise be ineligible to work because they had been employed four months and was not able to complete training and certification due to an insufficient number of training and testing sites. The waiver allows them to work longer than four months without being certified. Please refer to QSO-22-15-NH & NLTC & LSC, Revised 08/29/2022.
DOH indicated that guidance pertaining to the waiver will be forthcoming. In the interim, members should continue their efforts to enroll TNAs in training programs and schedule them for tests and document those efforts. Questions may be sent to DOH here.
According to reports, New York is one of at least 15 states that sought and received a waiver extension. Background information pertaining to the original waiver and its expiration is available on the LeadingAge NY website here, here, and here.
Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org