Update to CRISP Vaccination Data Reporting - New Wording Effective Tomorrow
Effective tomorrow (November 9), the wording surrounding the drop-down box for submitting weekly vaccination information in the CRISP daily reporting will change.
Please note that on Wednesdays you must submit weekly vaccination data per MDH Orders. Select "YES" in the drop-down box on Wednesdays. Other days you may select "No."
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Reminder: CMS and OSHA New Vaccine Mandate
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule (IFR), with comment period, that revises the requirements that most Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers must meet to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The Biden Administration is requiring covered health care workers to be vaccinated through this IFR released by CMS. The IFR requirements will be phased in via two phases. Details of each phase are provided below.
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Phase I - Effective December 5, 2021 - Skilled Nursing Facilities, Nursing Facilities, and ICF-IIDs (CMS notes that this does not apply to assisted living providers) must establish a policy ensuring that all eligible staff have received by December 5, 2021 the first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine prior to providing any care, treatment, or other services, or have requested or been granted an exemption.
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Phase II - Effective January 4, 2022 - Requires that primary vaccination series has been completed and that staff are fully vaccinated, except staff who have been granted exemptions, or those whom COVID-19 vaccination must be temporarily delayed as recommended by the CDC due to clinical precautions and considerations. Staff who have completed the primary series for the vaccine by January 4, 2022, are considered to have met the requirements, even if they have not yet completed the 14-day waiting period required for full vaccination.
CMS makes clear that the IFR issued today does not apply to assisted living.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its vaccine requirement for employers with more than 100 employees (corporation-wide). It appears that this also does not apply to assisted living providers. OSHA specifically excludes the health care employers covered by this past summer’s emergency temporary standards (ETS), which did cover assisted living settings. It is likely that assisted living was unintentionally left out and the language will probably be changed at some point in the future to cover the health care settings not included in the CMS IFR. Additionally, today’s OSHA ETS does not apply to the SNF, NF, and ICF-IID providers that are covered under the CMS rule above.
Highlights of today’s OSHA ETS include:
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By January 4, 2022, employers must ensure that their employees have completed their primary series of vaccination.
- If employees have not completed their primary series at that time, they will need to provide a verified weekly test to their employees on a weekly basis. If an employee tests positive on a COVID-19 test they must be removed from the workplace until it is safe for them to return.
- Employers are not required to cover the cost of this weekly testing.
- Those employees who are not vaccinated will also be required to wear a mask while in the workplace.
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By December 5, 2021, employers must provide employees paid time to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects.
- Employers are required to obtain proof of vaccination and maintain records of each employee’s vaccination status.
These CMS and OSHA rules preempt any inconsistent state or local laws, including laws that ban or limit an employer’s authority to require vaccination, masks, or testing.
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Vaccination Promotion Video
Featuring MD Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones and Healthcare Heroes - Cherie Taylor and Renee Harris!
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In our fight against the COVID-19 virus, vaccines work. The vaccines are highly effective in preventing people from getting sick or seriously ill from COVID-19 and in slowing the spread of the virus. The vaccines are the best tool we have as new, more contagious, and threatening variants of the virus, like Delta, begin to emerge.
Maryland, and our healthcare heroes, have led the nation in vaccination. Skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living campuses, and hospitals in Maryland were prioritized and the first vaccines were getting into the arms of Marylanders in need on December 23, 2020.
Even before any government vaccine mandate and as HFAM issued statements supporting healthcare employers who mandated the vaccine, on average, 79 percent of the staff were vaccinated—today, 86.8 percent of staff are fully vaccinated vaccinated.
All of that said, now is NOT a time for any of us to let down our guard – together, we must continue pushing to increase staff vaccination in the healthcare sector.
That’s why we are eternally grateful to Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Adrienne Jones, as well as Cherie Taylor and Renee Harris of the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington for recording this HFAM public service video to help encourage people living and working in skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers and on assisted living campuses to get vaccinated—and to get the booster!
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Some behind the scenes of the making of this video! |
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