On Wednesday, August 18, 2021, President Biden announced he will require all nursing homes mandate that their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of continuing to receive Medicare and/or Medicaid funding. Nursing homes that fail to comply will risk losing the ability to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The President has directed the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to draw up new regulations making employee vaccination a condition for nursing homes to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. These regulations could take effect as soon as next month (September 2021). These new regulations will apply to nearly 15,000 nursing home facilities and 1.6 million employees throughout the country. Data from both the CDC and CMS indicate a strong relationship between the increase in COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents and the rate of vaccination among nursing home workers.

At this time, it is unclear if employees with specific health conditions or religious beliefs will be exempt from the new vaccination mandate. It is also unclear if the regulations will take immediate effect once released. Thus, it is recommended that nursing homes encourage unvaccinated employees to seek vaccinations as soon as possible.

Conversely, if a nursing home facility does not provide care to any residents receiving Medicare or Medicaid, then these forthcoming regulations seemingly would not apply as there would be no Medicare/Medicaid funding to be withheld from the facility.

For more information, CNN authored an article that can be found online here:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/politics/nursing-homes-federal-funding/index.html

We will issue updates to this report as the new regulations are announced by CMS. Should you have any questions regarding this advisory, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our Post-Acute Care Practice.

Any information included here or through our website is presented solely for general informational purposes and is not in any way intended as legal advice, is not a substitute for getting actual legal advice from an attorney, and should not be acted upon as legal advice without first seeking qualified professional counsel specific to your needs and situation. Additionally, by providing this general information and the information on our website, no attorney client relationship is created.

COVID-19 ALERT – Nursing Home Employees Must Be Vaccinated Or Facility Risks Losing Medicare/Medicaid Funding

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