COVID-19 UPDATE #264

October 4, 2022

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in April 2022 that the waiver for certified nursing assistant training would expire on June 6, 2022; requiring that all NARs hired prior to that date would be required to meet the training and certification requirements in state and federal law within 120 days. With the 120-day deadline (October 6) a mere few days away, it is with great relief to announce that DSHS was notified by CMS that Washington’s 1135 waiver has been approved. The waiver extends the deadline for these NARs to become trained, tested, and credentialed. The waiver is valid until 3/29/2023 (180 Days) or until the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) (whichever date comes first) for Washington. 

While this CMS waiver allows facilities to extend this timeline, facilities must not wait and are strongly encouraged to direct NARs to complete testing and certification as soon as possible. There remains limited access to skills testing in our state and the Department of Health continues to offer mass testing sites to assist with this backlog. For more information regarding the DOH Mass Testing project, dates/locations, and how to register, click here.

Residential Care Services (RCS) will be releasing a Dear Administrator/Provider letter related to this issue soon. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email Elena Madrid, Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs or call at (800) 562-6170, extension 105.

Mass testing is ongoing for all nursing assistants regardless of work setting who need the state skills exam. These tests are open to all nursing assistants, not only those working in nursing homes.  If you are working in a nursing home, you must complete your exam and be certified by October 5, 2022.

You can register for one of the skills exams listed below on the Credentia website. Please note:

• These dates are visible as Regional Test Sites on the Credentia website - you don't need to use codes to find them.
• If space is available, then the dates will appear. Once they are full, they will no longer appear.

Skills Test dates available for Fall 2022:

• Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, WA | November 7, 14, 21 & December 6, 13
• Edmonds Community College, Edmonds, WA | October 3, 5, 10, 12, 19, 24, 26
• Olympic College, Bremerton, WA | October 22, 29, November 5, 19 & December 10, 17
• South Puget Sound Community College, Olympia, WA | October 15, 29, November 5 & December 3
• Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla, WA | November 11, 22 & December 13

For questions, please email nac.exam@doh.wa.gov.

Please join the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 1:00 PM PST, for a National Nursing Home Stakeholder Call. Thomas Tsai, MD, MPH, Senior Policy Advisor for the White House COVID-19 Response Team will be on the call for updates. Long term care providers, facility staff and resident advocates are encouraged to attend. This event is open to the public and registration is required. Please note the date and time change from a previous CMS announcement of this event. 

The archived recording of CDC & CMS COVID-19 Guidance Changes is now available. Click here and log in to your AHCA/NCAL account. Once you are logged in, click View Archived Recording on the right hand side of the page. The presentation will open in a new window. You may click here for the presentation slides or on the handout tab to download your copy and other available materials.

For questions related to guidance changes email covid19@ahca.org. If you need assistance with ahcancalED, email educate@ahca.org. Please note, you must be a AHCA/NCAL member to view this recording.