Declaration of Blanket Waivers for SNFs

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On 7th April 2022, in response to the COVID-19 PHE and under section 1135 of the Social Security Act, CMS passed several temporary emergency declaration blanket waivers which were intended to provide healthcare providers with extra flexibilities required to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the waivers of regulatory requirements have provided flexibility in how nursing homes may operate, they have also removed the minimum standards for quality that help ensure residents’ health and safety are protected. 

Declaration of Blanket Waivers

Recently, CMS conducted some surveys that revealed significant concerns with resident care that are unrelated to infection control (e.g., abuse, weight loss, depression, pressure ulcers, etc.). Waiver of certain regulatory requirements may have contributed to these outcomes and raised the risk of other issues. For example, by waiving requirements for training, nurse aides and paid feeding assistants may not have received the necessary training to help identify and prevent weight loss. Similarly, CMS waived requirements for physicians and practitioners to perform in-person assessments, which may have prevented these individuals from performing an accurate assessment of the resident’s clinical needs, contributing to depression or pressure ulcers. As a result, CMS has terminated certain waivers.

Terminated Waivers

CMS is ending the specific emergency declaration blanket waivers for SNFs/NFs, inpatient hospices, ICF/IIDs, and ESRD facilities. The termination of these blanket waivers will have no effect on other blanket waivers that remain in places such as those for hospitals and CAHs. Providers are expected to take immediate steps so that they may return to compliance with the reinstated requirements according to the mentioned timeframes.