One way or another, CMS is promising states that it will enforce its recent interim final rule requiring hospital and other healthcare staff caring for COVID-19 patients to be fully vaccinated.
CMS published a warning to states today that if they are contracted with the federal agency to carry out health and safety surveys that failure to carry out their responsibilities, including enforcing the new vaccine requirement, will result in a reduction of federal funds to the state’s survey offices.
Federal funds will be used then to “address any gaps” in implementing requirements under the Medicare Conditions of Participation, said CMS. Funds will be used, says CMS, to enforce the requirement through other means.
To that end, CMS is reducing the state of Florida’s survey and certification funding by more than $1.2 million, according to a statement issued by CMS in reply to a query from the Accreditation & Quality Compliance Center, a sister organization of DecisionHealth. Florida’s governor said last month he will not allow the vaccine mandate to be enforced.
In a Quality, Safety & Oversight Group memo, QSO-22-12-ALL, published February 9, CMS reminded its state survey agencies that funding for their offices was a result of an agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services and each state under Section 1864 of the Social Security Act.
The agreement “stipulates the functions of the State to, among other things, certify whether or not providers and suppliers within the state comply with all applicable definitions and requirements under the Act and implementing regulations,” which the memo said included “surveying for the purpose of certifying to the Secretary the compliance or non-compliance of providers and suppliers of services and resurveying such entities, at such times and manner as the Secretary may direct.”
That includes enforcing the interim final rule set out late last year and earlier this year that mandated all healthcare personnel who might be exposed to COVID-19 be fully vaccinated.