On Wednesday, officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) provided updates on several changes impacting nursing homes including resident isolation and quarantine guidance, resident testing strategies, visitation guidance, healthcare personnel source control recommendations, and new rapid test kits being sent to nursing homes. These updates can be found in the following webpages:
Evan Shulman with CMS announced that facilities can apply for civil monetary penalty (CMP) funds to be used to improve air flow quality. A facility may request the use of Civil Money Penalty (CMP) Reinvestment funds to purchase portable fans and portable room air cleaners with HEPA filters to increase or improve air quality. A maximum use of $3,000 per facility including shipping costs may be requested. Additional recommendations on air quality can be found in the FAQ document. CMS also informed nursing homes that they will be receiving Celltrion rapid antigen tests. Charlotte Jaeun Kang provided a brief overview of the test kits during the call.
Kara Jacobs Slifka with the CDC announced several changes to the nursing home infection control guidance including:
Frequently asked questions were answered during the call. Evan Shulman with CMS confirmed that facilities can ask visitors to be tested prior to visit, but stated that the test needed to be offered by the facility AND that the testing must be completed with a rapid test allowing the visit to commence then in 15 minutes. CMS confirmed visits to residents who have roommates should be arranged when the roommate is not in the room or in another designated space, but the visit could occur when the roommate was present if distancing was able to be maintained. CDC confirmed in relation to quarantine, that a healthcare worker who is two weeks following completion of their primary vaccination series – and, therefore, not had long enough time to have received the booster shot – is considered “up to date” but a healthcare worker that is past the timeframe to obtain the booster would not be considered “up to date”.
The updated CDC language for testing HCP is below:
Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic webpage guidance:
Perform SARS-CoV-2 Viral Testing
Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Spread in Nursing Homes webpage guidance:
Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 webpage guidance:
CMS confirmed for LeadingAge that although it is CDC’s recommendation to have Health Care Personnel (HCP) whom are not up to date with the booster to be routinely tested according to the QSO 20-38-NH memo, CMS confirmed facilities can continue to follow this existing CMS memos which only require unvaccinated staff to be routinely tested until a new memo or guidance is released by CMS. So if a HCP has completed their primary series of vaccinations and have not had their booster, at this time they do not require routine testing. This does not preclude a facility from choosing to move forward with the new CDC recommendation.
The full transcript of the call will be available here.