Sincerely,

CMS published an Interim Final Rule on COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements. This rule applies to residents, clients, and staff of long term care facilities (LCTFs) and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICFs-IID). CMS also published a QSO-21-19-NH on how to operationalize this new requirement.

The rule is scheduled to go into effect on May 21, 2021, 10 days from its publication for inspection in the Federal Register. 

This rule specifies that LTCFs must develop and implement policies and procedures to: 

Additionally, ICF-IID facilities must educate all clients and staff about COVID-19 vaccines and offer vaccination to all clients and staff. Reporting is not required for ICFs-IID; however, CMS strongly encourages voluntary reporting. 

 

The comment period for this interim final rule closes July 12, 2021. CMS is also requesting feedback on the feasibility of implementing similar requirements in other LTC settings that accept Medicare or Medicaid payments, including assisted living.

AHCA and VHCA will provide further analysis and guidance on implementing this rule in the coming days.

VHCA-VCAL obtained clarification from VDH regarding the Abbott BinaxNOW testing cards reagent solution. Members had questions about the expiration on the reagent solution as a follow up to the extension of the expiration dates for the testing cards.

Abbott advised VDH that the expiration date to use is the one on the outside of the kit (a kit contains 40 test cards, the bottle of reagent, the control swab, the 40 nasal swabs, etc.). For all the components inside the box, the kit's expiration date supersedes all the expiration dates on items inside the box. 

Regarding the bottle of reagent, as long as it is the original bottle that came with the kit, its new expiration date would be the new expiration date for the entire kit. However, if a new bottle of reagent was purchased separately and added to the kit, then the expiration date for that bottle of reagent would be whatever is on the bottle.

Candida auris Cases are on the Rise in Virginia

State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver has written a clinical letter on the rising cases of Candida auris, an emerging fungus that is often resistant to antifungal drugs. Of note, patients at highest risk for C. auris are those who reside in or who have had prolonged admissions to high-risk health care facilities, particularly long term acute care hospitals or ventilator skilled nursing facilities.

The letter describes the threat C. auris poses and outlines actions for infection prevention and control, communication, and testing. In addition to the letter, more resources can be found on the CDC and VDH C. auris webpages.

National Skilled Nursing Care Week     

COVID-19’s Impact on Recruitment and Retention: Four-Part Webinar Series