This COVID-19 memo includes the following updates: President Biden Expands Vaccination Requirements for Health Care Settings and DPH Announces a New CNA Testing Provider

The Biden-Harris Administration today announced that it will require COVID-19 vaccination of staff within all Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities to protect both patients and staff. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), indicated that emergency regulations requiring vaccinations for nursing home workers will be expanded to include hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies, among others, as a condition for participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Commonwealth’s nursing facility providers are making significant progress in vaccinating staff and residents against the COVID-19 virus. Massachusetts ranks 4th in the Nation with 79.6% of nursing facility staff fully vaccinated and 12th in the Nation with 90.1% of nursing facility residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Weekly data from National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccination Data Dashboard show Massachusetts consistently leads the Nation in vaccination rates.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) announced that this week the Committee will begin consideration of the Build Back Better Act legislative proposals under the budget reconciliation instructions. On September 9th and 10th, the Committee will mark up measures including nursing home resident protection, universal paid family and medical leave, access to child care and strengthening retirement savings. Learn more.

Yesterday on the DPH Provider call, Stephen Davis, Deputy Director and Acting Interim Director announced that Prometric LLC has been selected as the vendor to provide CNA certification testing in Massachusetts.

The DPH next monthly call is scheduled for Thursday, September 23, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. These calls will continue to include members of DPH’s Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, and Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management. Learn more.

The DPH has released information on implementing a streamlined oversight process for nursing home residents to safely receive hemodialysis in their nursing home. Dialysis facilities and nursing homes can partner to create dialysis spaces within the nursing home. In order to provide dialysis in this manner, the nursing home and dialysis facility must request approval for home dialysis in the nursing home as a special project and demonstrate in their application how they will meet space, staffing, and quality monitoring requirements. Learn more.

The 2021 National Assisted Living Week (NALW) will be observed on September 12-18, 2021 and this year’s theme is “Compassion, Community, Caring". National Assisted Living Week provides a unique opportunity for residents, their loved ones, staff, volunteers, and the surrounding communities to recognize the role of assisted living in caring for America’s seniors and individuals with disabilities.