A federal court judge in the Western District of Louisiana has issued an order enjoining and restraining CMS from implementing the Interim Final Rule (IFR) with the vaccine mandates for Medicare and Medicaid providers. The scope of this injunction is nationwide except for the 10 states already covered under the decision issued yesterday by a court in Missouri.
So, with these two orders in place, the CMS IFR is stayed nationwide. This means that providers may halt activity related to the CMS IFR, including collecting religious and medical exemptions, planning and implementing accommodations and terminating staff without an approved exemption.
The Biden Administration has already filed an appeal of the Missouri decision with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. There is no timeline on when that appeal will be heard. It is likely that the Administration will also appeal the Louisiana ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
LeadingAge will address the injunction later today on its twice-weekly update call. To register for the call, click here.