July 8, 2020
Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities
Total Number of Staff for Curative Testing
ESS Entry Required by July 9th
________________________________________________
In conjunction with the AHCA mandatory staff testing, Curative is preparing to mail the next test kits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Facilities should have already received enough tests for two rounds of bi-weekly testing.
Action Needed by July 9th:
To ensure you have the correct number of test kits for the third and fourth testing cycles, please ensure you update the Emergency Status System (ESS) and enter the total staff to test into the following ESS question:
Total number of employees (i.e. clinical, housekeeping, nutrition, maintenance, administration, and contract): (
enter total staff to be tested with Curative test
)
All staff should be counted, including staff contracted by a resident or the facility (such as home health/hospice).
Mailing Test Kits to Curative
Please make sure you include your facility name on test kits returned to the Curative Lab for processing – place the name on the package and inside with the collected test samples. See complete instructions for returning test kits at:
https://sites.google.com/curativeinc.com/florida-resources
.
Background:
On June 15, 2020, the Agency adopted
Emergency Rule 59AER20-4
and
Emergency Rule 59AER20-5
. These rules require nursing home and assisted living facility staff to be tested for COVID-19 prior to entry into the facility. After July 10th, all staff will need to be tested every two weeks.
To alleviate the financial burden on providers associated with testing, the Division of Emergency Management has contracted with a single testing vendor, Curative Labs, Inc., to distribute the self-administered testing kits by mail and/or courier directly to all facilities for staff testing.
In addition, ensure the “Facility Contacts” section of ESS is up-to-date and accurately reflects the current Administrator and email address as the Administrator is the designated point of contact for all testing.
If you require additional assistance with ESS, please contact your AHCA licensing unit during normal business hours:
- Long Term Care Services Unit, at 850-412-4303
- Assisted Living Unit, at 850-412-4304
