Yesterday it was announced that Governor Inslee has asked the federal government for assistance in staffing hospital and long term care facilities. In a letter to the White House COVID-19 coordinator, Inslee requested 1,200 clinical and non-clinical staff under a Government Services Administration (GSA) contract. The request comes nearly three months after WHCA began pressing the state for help with the staffing crisis and eight weeks after WHCA demanded further action, including the creation of rapid response teams to help with staffing.
While WHCA appreciates the Governor’s request for 1,200 clinical and non-clinical staff to help in hospitals and long term care facilities, WHCA members should know that currently these additional staff come with significant financial strings attached. Under the state’s proposed plan, the Department of Health (DOH) would initially pay a contracted agency provider for the cost of the clinical and non-clinical staff. In turn, DOH would seek reimbursement from providers for the cost of the staff. A price list for these services shows that these staff would be prohibitively expensive for most SNF and ALF providers.
DOH reports that there is a possibility that ultimately the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) could cover some or all of these costs if there is a sufficient showing that the staff were deployed to care for COVID residents or to staff COVID units. Given that the state’s stated goal is to free up hospital beds for both COVID and non-COVID patients, we question how providers will prove to FEMA that these additional staff were used “for COVID” residents.
WHCA advises that providers should proceed with caution in requesting, using and deploying staff allocated under this GSA contract. If a SNF or ALF would like to request staffing assistance under the GSA contract, the facility needs to contact their county emergency manager. The county emergency manager will put the request into the “WebEOC” database to formally request the assistance. If the facility does not have a relationship with the county emergency manager, the local health jurisdiction should also be able to assist.
WHCA continues to encourage the state to explore additional and more affordable opportunities to deploy and allocate much needed staffing. Progress is being made on this front and we hope to provide additional information within the next ten days. As soon as we have additional information, we will let you know.
