Pennsylvania’s Department of Health announced Thursday that it expected all of the state’s nursing homes to have at least 80% of its staff vaccinated by Oct. 1.
Though not presented as a mandate, the state’s public health agency stated that SNFs who do not meet the expectation will be subject to more frequent testing for unvaccinated employees.
State data show only 12.5% of facilities have staff vaccinated at or above the needed threshold. Staff vaccination sits at 60.4% for Pennsylvania, according to data updated by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Aug. 12.
From a public health perspective, that’s not enough to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19, Pennsylvania DOH said in a press release.
“Getting 80 percent of nursing home staff vaccinated is aggressive, but achievable,” Keara Klinepeter, executive deputy secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said in a statement announcing the goal.
While the announcement stopped just short of mandating the effort, a stipulation confirmed via email to Skilled Nursing News, SNFs that do not meet the 80% goal will have to submit to more frequent testing for unvaccinated employees — regulatory action will be taken for non-compliant facilities, the agency said.
“We agree with DOH that 80% is aggressive, but achievable,” Adam Marles, president and CEO of LeadingAge PA said in a statement. “Testing is our most effective weapon to protect unvaccinated residents, so more frequent testing of that population makes sense.”
The Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA) sees the move as unnecessary regulatory overlap with no real solutions to getting more staff vaccinated.
“Instead of proposing solutions to increase vaccine acceptance rates in long-term care, the Department of Health, today, threatened providers and issued a punitive mandate on nursing homes if 80% vaccination rates are not achieved,” Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of PHCA, said in a statement.
PHCA represents nearly one-third of all Pennsylvania nursing homes.
Shamberg noted in the statement that nursing home workers are currently tested on a monthly, weekly, or biweekly basis, depending on the county’s positivity rates — a directive issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) last year.
Facilities that meet expectations will have support from the state agency for “surveillance testing” as well as outbreak testing via federal Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant funding.
In tandem with the new vaccination goal, the state agency brought a self-reported vaccine data dashboard online, presenting weekly vaccination stats submitted to the federal government.
“We want families to see the vaccination rates where their loved ones are living and working,” Klinepeter said in a statement, adding that the new format is more usable for the public. “If you don’t like what you see, contact the facility and encourage them to take the necessary steps to increase staff vaccination rates to keep COVID-19 out.”
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Pennsylvania Department of Health, Pennsylvania Health Care Association
