CMS doubles down: Surveyors do not have to be COVID vaccinated
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has held audiences with skilled nursing providers, made presentations and entertained comments in recent months to assure operators that regulatory actions...
Providers ‘very encouraged’ after meeting with CMS leader on nursing home reform
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Mar 30, 2022
After initial dismay upon hearing the administration’s strategies for sweeping new nursing home reform plans last month, providers were more optimistic after meeting with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
CMS memo: ‘Dramatic staff losses’ not happening due to vax requirements
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 02, 2022
Declaring once again that “Vaccine requirements work,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on Tuesday urged healthcare facility administrators to increase...
Supreme Court denies religious challenge to NY vaccine mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Dec 14, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court has said that New York can proceed with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for nursing home employees and other healthcare workers even though it does not grant religious exemptions.
Not so fast: 10 states suing CMS over healthcare worker vax mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Nov 12, 2021
Despite many legal analysts’ view that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ healthcare worker vaccination mandate will clear legal muster, a group of 10 states have filed suit to stop it.
New guidance affirms providers’ right to reject religious exemptions for COVID vaccinations due to...
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Oct 27, 2021
Long-term care providers shouldn’t read too much into updated COVID-19 vaccination guidance on religious exemptions released this week by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to...
Price-gouging, poaching and thin patience: LTC providers seek fixes for anti-competitive staffing agencies
By
Kimberly Marselas
James M. Berklan
Oct 15, 2021
As the bidding war over frontline workers escalates, provider organizations across the country are seeking government intervention to force temporary staffing agencies to play by similar rules as nursing...
CMS ‘getting pretty close’ to releasing details of COVID-19 vaccination mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Oct 05, 2021
Long-term care providers and other healthcare employers remain in the dark as to what will be required with the federal government’s impending COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees.
COVID-19 vaccinations are essentially at a standstill in U.S. nursing homes and assisted living communities due to federal officials’ call today for a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
‘Confounded’ providers urge mandated COVID-19 testing for hospital workers, surveyors
By
James M. Berklan
Oct 01, 2020
Healthcare stakeholders who regularly come into contact with skilled nursing residents should be subject to COVID-19 testing mandates similar to those for nursing home employees, a prominent long-term...