COVID-19 Update August 25, 2022: CMS Signals End of PHE Waivers and Flexibilities

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are signaling that the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is near.

Last week, CMS published a blog post called “Creating a Roadmap for the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency,” to help providers prepare for the end of the waivers and flexibilities that arrived with the PHE.

To minimize any disruptions, including potential coverage losses, following the end of the PHE, HHS Secretary Becerra has committed to giving States and the health care community writ large 60 days’ notice before ending the PHE. In the meantime, CMS encourages health care providers to prepare for the end of these flexibilities as soon as possible and to begin moving forward to reestablishing previous health and safety standards and billing practices.

CMS notes that some of the waivers and flexibilities should remain in place following the end of the PHE, such as the reporting requirements for nursing homes for which an interim final rule has been published for comment. Some of the flexibilities require acts of Congress, as with the telehealth services access expansion, which was made law in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

CMS  has also terminated flexibilities that have not been needed since the initial phases of the pandemic.

As the agency identifies opportunities for improvement, the needs of each person and community served will be considered with a health equity lens to ensure our analysis, stakeholder engagement, and policy decisions account for health equity impacts on members of underserved communities and health care professionals disproportionately serving these communities.

According to RevCycle Intelligence, CMS is in the process of considering making other flexibilities permanent, such as waiving the requirement that a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or certified nurse-midwife be available to provide patient care at least half the time at federally qualified health centers.

CMS has published a number of fact sheets to support providers with the end of PHE transitions and include information about flexibilities related to Medicaid.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) reports that hospitals will transition to reporting COVID-19 data via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network. The agency will take over responsibility for collecting data when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contract with TeleTracking expires on December 31. The CDC will provide training webinars beginning this week.

In Arizona this week, COVID-19 cases fell sharply, with only 8,505 new cases reported. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) COVID-19 Data Dashboard, there were 65 newly reported deaths related to the coronavirus.