Supreme Court Upholds Vaccine Rule, Blocks OSHA Vaccine-or-Test Rule
On January 13, the Supreme Court, in separate opinions:
a) Ruled that CMS is not prohibited from implementing its vaccine mandate for Medicare-funded facilities.
b) Held that OSHA may not enforce or implement its vaccine-or-test Emergency Temporary Standard for employers with 100 or more employees.
The rulings reversed decisions by the federal Courts of Appeal in the Fifth and Eighth Circuits, which had blocked CMS’s requirements, as well as the Sixth Circuit, which had lifted prior injunctions on OSHA’s vaccine-or-test ETS.
Under the CMS rule, home health agencies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities must ensure staff are fully vaccinated or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Stay tuned for more information about the availability of COVID tests and payment from private insurance companies.