Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

But: State and local laws may still be a factor.

If you’re still operating off the old COVID-19 staff vaccination mandates the feds laid out last year, it’s time to refresh your policies with the most recent updates.

In a survey memo dated that same day, CMS noted that it would “soon end the requirement that covered providers and suppliers establish policies and procedures for staff vaccination” and would “share more details regarding ending this requirement at the anticipated end of the public health emergency.”

Now: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule in the June 5 Federal Register, which withdraws COVID-19 vaccination mandates effective Aug. 4, point out attorneys Timothy J. Fry, Kristen H. Chang, Garrison B. Ambrose, Sophie Mouros, and Petra D. Walech with law firm McGuireWoods.

Providers can feel free to drop the mandate, unless it’s required by their state or city. But keep in mind that “CMS will continue to encourage Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers to encourage their staff members, as well as patients and other industry participants, to receive COVID-19 vaccines,” Fry, Chang, Ambrose, Mouros, and Walech note in online analysis.

And don’t be surprised to see “new [quality] metrics in subsequent rulemaking” related to these vaccinations, they add.

If you decide to drop the requirement for your staff, you may not need to wait all the way until August. “Because facilities are no longer operating under [public health emergency] circumstances, and considering the lower policy priority of enforcement within the remaining time, CMS will not enforce staff vaccine provisions that remain effective in the regulations through the final rule’s effective date, Aug. 4, 2023,” the McGuireWoods attorneys predict.

Don’t forget: Just because CMS won’t be enforcing the COVID vax mandate that doesn’t mean providers can sidestep other regulations. “Additionally, other non-health care laws may impact an employer’s standards or vaccination requirements,” remind attorneys Grant Dearborn and Olivia Osborn with law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP. “For example, OSHA requires that most employers provide a generally safe work environment,” Dearborn and Osborn say in online legal analysis.