CMS Guidance on the Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule

On January 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance on its Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination Interim Final Rule that was published on November 5, 2021. The emergency regulation requires vaccinations for eligible staff at healthcare facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The staff vaccination requirement applies to Medicare and Medicaid-certified provider and supplier types including Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Critical Access Hospitals, Hospitals, Intermediate Care Facilities for Rural Health Clinics/Medicare Federally Qualified Health Centers, Long Term Care facilities and others. Unlike the OSHA rule, which allows for masking and weekly testing as an alternative to vaccination, this rule does not. ASCP policy supports vaccination requirements in health care settings. 

Previous guidance issued by CMS noted that CMS implementation and enforcement of this regulation was suspended in certain states pending legal review. However, with the U.S. Supreme Court validating CMS’s requirement that healthcare staff must be vaccinated (See related ePolicy story here.) CMS has moved forward with implementation of the rule, with one exception: Texas.

The rule currently applies to facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Facilities covered by this regulation (but not in the enjoined states) must establish a policy ensuring all eligible staff have received the first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine prior to providing any care, treatment, or other services within 30 days following the publication of the guidance. All eligible staff must have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated – either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson within 60 days following the publication of the guidance.