June 22nd COVID-19 Update
New updates pertaining to the COVID-19 emergency continue to be announced by both the state and federal government on a regular basis. The latest developments for providers of long-term/post-acute care (LTPAC) and senior services are reviewed below.
As a reminder, LeadingAge NY continues to convene weekly webinars on Mondays at 11 a.m. to address emerging questions on COVID-19. A recording of our most recent webinar, held on June 21st, is available here. If you have questions for next week’s update, please send them to Ami Schnauber, and be sure to check your email for the access information, or contact Jeff Diamond.
Cross-Sector Updates
Register Now: LeadingAge NY to Present Free Webinar on Successful Long Term Care Staff Vaccination Uptake
LeadingAge NY/Foundation for Long Term Care (FLTC) will present a FREE, LIVE webinar entitled Successful Strategies to Promote Vaccination Among Long Term Care Staff on Tues., June 29th from 1 to 3 p.m. Join us to learn about strategies your facility can put into practice to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates of your long term care staff members. The webinar will be modeled on LeadingAge NY’s Monday COVID-19 update webinars, with a live panel and Q&A to follow. Click here to register and here for more details.
First Distributions of Provider Relief Funding Must Be Used by June 30th
We remind members that organizations that received Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Provider Relief Funds (PRF) prior to July 1, 2020 must use those funds by June 30, 2021. Organizations that received more than $10,000 in PRF before July 1, 2020 will have 90 days to report on the use of funds through the dedicated reporting portal starting July 1, 2021.
New reporting requirements issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 11th extended some of the timeframes for recipients of PRF to both use and submit reports on the use of the funds they receive. The new guidance sets out four “payment received periods,” each with its own deadline for spending the funds received during the period and each with its own 90-day window to report on the use of the funding to HHS. Each of the four reporting periods has its own $10,000 test – providers need only report in a specified payment received period if the total funding they received during the period exceeds $10,000.
For member reference, the following are the PRF distributions made prior to July 1, 2020 (i.e., those in the first of four payment received periods):
- Phase 1 General Distribution based on Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) billing (around April 10th)
- A second Phase 1 General Distribution based on Medicare cost report data that sought to ensure that Medicare providers receive 2 percent of annual revenue in Phase 1 funding (around April 24th)
- For nursing homes, a targeted Nursing Home distribution (around May 22nd)
- Potential additional Phase 1 distributions based on individual applications – varying dates
Some general information with links to the reporting portal and other resources is here. The second in a series of articles from LeadingAge National on PRF reporting is available here.
OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard Published in Federal Register – Effective Dates in July 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for health care employers. It applies to most long term care providers, but some home care and hospice settings and off-site health care support services are exempt. Employers must comply with all requirements except for requirements associated with physical barriers, ventilation, and training by July 6, 2021. Employers must comply with the requirements associated with physical barriers, ventilation, and training by July 21, 2021. Click here for more information.
Nursing Home and Adult Care Facility (ACF)/Assisted Living Updates
DOH Answers Questions on Personal Caregiving Regulations and Contractor Testing
The Department of Health (DOH) has responded to some questions regarding routine testing of fully vaccinated contractors and regarding the personal caregiving visitation regulations. The full text of the questions and answers sent via email on June 18th, as well as an earlier email, is set forth here.
Test Positivity and Vaccination Rates
A document showing the most recent 14-day test positivity rates for each county in New York State based on both federal and state figures is available here. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-computed test positivity rates (that exclude point-of-care tests) are below 5 percent for all of New York’s counties, while the state-calculated rates (that include all tests) are below 2 percent in all but a handful of counties. The county positivity data posted by CMS are lagged by a week and are updated each Monday or Tuesday. They are available for download in raw format here. We will continue to extract the CMS-calculated rates for New York State counties and post them here, along with positivity rates calculated on state data covering the same two-week period.
Current daily county-level data for New York State are here, 7- and 14-day regional data are here, and ZIP code-level data for New York City showing infection rates during the most recent four weeks are available here. The State’s regional COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring Dashboard showing new infections, severity of infections, and hospitalization data is available here.
DOH posts daily COVID-19 vaccination rates for staff and residents of both nursing homes and assisted living facilities on their website. The site shows county and regional average vaccination rates and contains links to provider-specific listings. The statewide nursing home staff vaccination rate has reached 64 percent. The ACF staff vaccination rate has hit 71 percent, with 94 percent of ACF residents vaccinated. The nursing home resident vaccination rate is 86 percent. The rates are based on daily Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) reporting and can be accessed here.
Avoiding NHSN Reporting Citations
Nursing homes should ensure that they are reporting complete COVID-19 vaccination data for residents and staff on a weekly basis through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Complete data must be submitted at least once per week to avoid penalties.
Detailed reporting instructions and the list of vaccination data points are posted here in the “Data Collection Forms and Instructions” section. A recording of the educational session recently provided by the CDC is available here. Links to the training presentation slides as well as a helpful set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available on the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination site. Helpful vaccination tracking materials are available on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) page here. Instructions for the other mandatory reporting pathways, including Therapeutics, are on the main LTCF COVID-19 Module page.
Affordable Housing/Independent Living Updates
CDC Releases Considerations for Restaurant and Bar Operators
On June 14th, the CDC released Considerations for Restaurant and Bar Operators, guidance that may assist independent living operators with restaurants or bars as they navigate the reopening process. Click here for more information.