CMS is taking steps to continue to protect nursing home residents’ health and safety by announcing guidance that restores certain minimum standards for compliance with CMS requirements. Restoring these standards will be accomplished by phasing out some temporary emergency declaration waivers that have been in effect throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). These temporary emergency waivers were designed to provide facilities with the flexibilities needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the PHE, CMS used a combination of emergency waivers, regulations, and sub-regulatory guidance to offer health care providers the flexibility needed to respond to the pandemic. In certain cases, these flexibilities suspended requirements in order to address acute and extraordinary circumstances. CMS has consistently monitored data within nursing homes and has used these data to inform decision making.
With steadily increasing vaccination rates for nursing home residents and staff, and with overall improvements seen in nursing homes’ abilities to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks, CMS is taking steps to phase out certain flexibilities that are generally no longer needed to re-establish certain minimum standards while continuing to protect the health and safety of those residing in skilled nursing facilities/nursing facilities. Similarly, some of the same waivers are also being terminated for inpatient hospices, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and ESRD facilities.
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