Feds say nursing home staff must get covid vaccine

The new emergency regulation mandating vaccines for nursing home workers is slated to be handed down to facilities by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at some

point next month. CMS “strongly encourages nursing home residents and staff members to get vaccinated as the Agency undergoes the necessary steps in the rule-making process over the course

of the next several weeks,” it said in a statement on Wednesday. "CMS expects nursing home operators to act in the best interest of residents and their staff by complying with these new

rules,” it read. While the rules are yet to be finalized, facilities who do not comply with the new mandate could see their federal Medicare and Medicaid funding, a huge revenue source,

withheld. While estimates vary, Medicaid pays somewhere between 45 and 65 percent of the total nursing home costs in the U.S., while Medicare pays around 20 percent. Biden did not

specifically mention withholding funding for noncompliance but said he is “using the power of the federal government as a payer of health care costs to ensure we reduce those risks to our

most vulnerable seniors.” LeadingAge, a national association representing 5,000 nonprofit aging services providers, including nursing homes, said that while it supports COVID-19 vaccination

mandates for nursing home staff, it does not support withholding or withdrawing funding for noncompliance. "Without Medicaid and Medicare funding, nursing homes cannot provide the

quality care that our nation's most vulnerable older adults need,” said Katie Smith Sloan, the organization's president and CEO, in a statement. Its members “depend on those funds

alone to care for their residents,” she said. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), which represents more than 14,000 senior care

providers, released a statement that appeared to welcome the administration's mandate while criticizing its limited scope. “The government should not single out one provider group for

mandatory vaccinations,” said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO. “Focusing only on nursing homes will cause vaccine-hesitant workers to flee to other health care providers and leave many

centers without adequate staff to care for residents. It will make an already difficult workforce shortage even worse." Several states, including California, New York, Connecticut,

Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington, and some of the nation's largest long-term care chains, including Genesis HealthCare, Brookdale Senior Living and Good Samaritan, had recently

introduced COVID-19 vaccine mandates for nursing home staff, ahead of Biden's announcement.