​Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked OSHA from enforcing a vaccine mandate for large private employers. This ruling essentially stays the OSHA ETS until further legal appeals can be resolved at the Sixth Circuit and perhaps again at the U.S. Supreme Court. This means that the January 10 and February 9 deadlines have been stayed pending further legal proceedings. 

​HCAOA encourages all members, before they begin holiday celebrations with family and friends, to please take just a minute this week to send a message to Senators asking them to support the expansion of Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) in the Build Back Better plan. In the news this week, it seems that this proposal might not have the votes it needs to pass. However, the Senate is set to vote when they return after the holiday, and HCAOA wants to make sure they are flooded with messages from home care providers on this issue.

​Late last week, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on the OSHA rule requiring covered employers to ensure workers have received the COVID vaccine or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Employers with at least 100 employees will need to determine the COVID-19 vaccination status of their employees and develop a written vaccine-or-testing policy under the OSHA rule.

To give employers time to comply, OSHA will not enforce any requirements under its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) until Jan. 10. Additionally, the agency "will not issue citations for noncompliance with the standard's testing requirements before Feb. 9, so long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good-faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard," according to an OSHA update.
 
The U.S. Supreme Court could decide to block this directive again.
 
Also last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a nationwide injunction put into place on Nov. 30, ruling that the injunction halting enforcement of the CMS vaccine mandate nationwide should apply only to the 14 states involved in that lawsuit. Eleven other states had previously challenged the CMS Rule in separate actions.
 
The end result is that the CMS vaccine mandate remains in place in the 14 states who were parties to the original litigation: Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The CMS vaccine mandate is also enjoined for the time being in the 10 states litigating in the District of Missouri: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
 
HCAOA will provide up-to-the-minute updates as they become available. Click here for an updated memo from Polsinelli with the latest information about the mandates.

​A reminder that as of November 1, 2021, all providers of Personal Support Services (PSS) or Community Living Supports (CLS) through SOURCE, CCSP, NOW, COMP, ICWP, and / or GAPP should be regularly using EVV and submitting claims through the State EVV solution, Netsmart. The Georgia Department of Community Health reminds providers that there are three exceptions to the November 1 deadline:

The HCAOA Georgia Chapter learned last week from DCH that the 10% Medicaid rate increase has received a preliminary approval pending a CMS request to conduct a rate study.  DCH is working on preparing the strategy for the rate study and will be involving providers in the rate study.  In the interim, DCH is working with CMS to get approval to go ahead with the rate increase while the rate study proceeds.  The HCAOA Georgia Chapter realizes that our Medicaid providers need this rate increase to cover the shortfalls since the last PSS rate increase in October 2014.  Stay tuned for updates. 

​At the same time OSHA released its ETS on vaccine mandates last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule requiring vaccines for all health care workers participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The rule comes just weeks after CMS’ new rule requiring vaccinations for nursing home employees, and extends similar requirements to a wide array of healthcare industry employees.

The deadline to comply is January 4, 2022 – the same as the compliance requirement for the OSHA ETS.
 
Click here to learn more from Littler.

​Last week, President Biden announced that a compromise was reached for the framework for his “Build Back Better Plan.”

​Sadly, the Credit for Caring Act, which would have provided a tax credit to families caring for loved ones at home, was not included as the White House and Democratic Leadership were forced to trim more than $1.5 billion from the plan. The provision was included in the House Ways & Means Committee plan passed by the Committee in early September. 

HCAOA urges all members to send a message right now to their Representatives and Senators telling them it’s time to support the 43 million family caregivers in the U.S. by providing a tax credit for caregiving expenses. Click here to visit the HCAOA online legislative action center, enter your address, and the message is already written – just click send.

​Last week, CMS launched a new website outlining every state’s plan for how they’ll use new Medicaid funding made available by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) to enhance, expand, and strengthen home and community-based services.