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CMS Issues Blanket Waivers for Long Term Care Providers

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid has issued several blanket waivers for long term care providers with a retroactive effective date of March 1 through the end of the emergency declaration. The waivers address the following to help contain the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities:

• Relaxing training and certification requirements for Nurse Aides to address the shortage during the emergency
• Waiving resident in-person group requirements and certain resident roommate and group requirements
• Waiving physical environment requirements for providers who are implementing surge plans, but not for daily operations:
  • Allowing a non-SNF building to be temporarily certified — and approved by the state — for isolation processed for COVID-19 positive residents if necessary
  • Temporarily use rooms not normally used for resident rooms to be used for beds and care in emergencies to help surge capacity
• Waiving some transfer and discharge requirements for COVID-19 related circumstances
• Expanding availability of end-stage renal disease for nursing home residents
• CMS Facility Without Walls (Temporary Expansion Sites) Transfers of COVID-19 Patients

AHCA, in its COVID-19 Update 26, gives a complete synopsis of the blanket waivers here:  AHCA_NCAL_COVID-19 – Update 26

Complete list of CMS COVID-19 Waivers