Included in the Administration’s announcement from last Sunday on regulatory relief was a number of provisions designed to maximize the available resources during the COVID-19 crisis from a health care work force standpoint. Included below is the list of measures the Administration announced that are of interest.
1. Local private practice clinicians and their trained staff may be available for temporary employment since nonessential medical and surgical services are postponed during the public health emergency. CMS's temporary requirements allow hospitals and health care systems to increase their workforce capacity by removing barriers for physicians, nurses, and other clinicians to be readily hired from the local community, as well as those licensed from other states without violating Medicare rules.
2. These health care workers can then perform the functions they are qualified and licensed for, while awaiting completion of federal paperwork requirements.
3. CMS is issuing waivers so that hospitals can use other practitioners, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, to the fullest extent possible, in accordance with a state's emergency preparedness or pandemic plan. These clinicians can perform services such as order tests and medications that may have previously required a physician's order where this is permitted under state law.
4. CMS is waiving the requirements that a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is under the supervision of a physician. This will allow CRNAs to function to the fullest extent allowed by the state and free up physicians from the supervisory requirement and expand the capacity of both CRNAs and physicians.
5. CMS also is issuing a blanket waiver to allow hospitals to provide benefits and support to their medical staffs, such as multiple daily meals, laundry service for personal clothing, or child care services while the physicians and other staff are at the hospital and engaging in activities that benefit the hospital and its patients.
6. CMS will also allow health care providers (clinicians, hospitals and other institutional providers, and suppliers) to enroll in Medicare temporarily to provide care during the public health emergency.
