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Washington State DOH Announces End of Secretary of Health Mask Order on April 3, 2023 | AL/ESF/SNF
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has announced they will be ending the Secretary of Health Mask Order on April 3, 2023. Long term care facilities must continue to follow the mask order through April 2, 2023. Once the order is no longer in place, facilities must continue to follow DOH infection prevention and control guidance. That guidance is currently under review for possible revisions. RCS will provide additional guidance in coordination with DOH once their review and updated recommendations are complete. Please contact Katherine Ander with questions.
UPDATE! 1135 Waiver for Skilled Nursing Facility NARs Extended by CMS Until the End of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) May 11, 2023; NARs Have Four Months After the Waiver Expiration to Become Credentialed| SNF
In a Dear Administrator letter dated October 5, 2022, providers were notified that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a statewide 1135 waiver to extend the nurse care aide training and certification deadline to March 29, 2023, or until the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE) (whichever date comes first) for Washington. WHCA was notified by Residential Care Services (RCS) that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have extended the waiver until the end of the PHE on May 11, 2023. Therefore, with the waiver ending on May 11, NARs working beyond the four-month rule on that date will have four months to become trained, tested, and credentialed through the Department of Health as a nursing assistant-certified (NAC) by September 10, 2023.
Previously, it was believed that on March 29, 2023, any NAR that has been employed longer than four months and has not been trained, tested, and received their NAC credentialing from the Department of Health, will no longer be able to work caring for residents or performing tasks of a nursing assistant. However, THAT IS NOT THE CASE. These NARs will have four months from the end of the PHE on May 11 to complete their testing and become credentialed. As of May 11, facilities will revert to the pre-pandemic requirements for a nursing assistant student enrolled in an approved training program to pass both their written and skills testing, and obtain their credentialing from the DOH within four months from date of hire. The requirements can be found in 42 CFR 483.35(d), F Tag 728. Questions? Contact Elena Madrid at WHCA.
Attention Nursing Homes! Critical Information Required to Report to CMS for the Nurse Aide Waiver | SNF
To remain in compliance with the Nurse Aide 1135 waiver, Washington State is required to provide monthly reports to CMS.
As a part of the report process, the state needs to compile information from each CMS certified nursing home on a monthly basis. If you completed this survey last month, please complete this survey again for March. The state is required to compile this information and send it to CMS on a monthly basis.
Please assist in this process by completing the three question survey. If we are unable to provide the requested information to CMS, Washington State may lose this critically important 1135 waiver and the ability to allow NARs to continue working in a nursing home beyond four months while they complete the certification process.
AHCA/NCAL Announces New National Infection Prevention Forum
The National Infection Prevention Forum (NIPF) is a national forum for any infection preventionist (IP) or infection prevention champions in long term care (LTC) to share lessons learned and resources and get questions answered. This national forum will also provide a mechanism to rapidly disseminate federal updates and resources about infections in LTC as they become available from CDC, CMS, or OHSA. The American Health Care Association (AHCA) partnered with the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) with funding from CDC Project First Line to set up the NIPF, which is open to all LTC professionals focusing on infection prevention regardless of their membership in AHCA or APIC.
The goal of NIPF is to foster collaboration and sharing of experiences between IPs in LTC. In addition, APIC subject matter experts will be available to address questions the group are unable to answer. The NIPF uses the "Connect Communities" platform to organize email discussions by threads and allows for sharing and posting of resource and tools in an organized library and ability to look up other IPs participating in the forum. To enroll in this national forum, all you need is an email address and password. Discussions are not moderated, therefore users are asked to follow posting rules and etiquette. Questions? Contact the AHCA, LTC NIPH help desk.
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