Florida Federal Judge Says CMS Vaccine Mandate Remains in Effect For Now

A Florida federal judge will not temporarily pause the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate while the case is being litigated.

This is the first time the CMS requirement for health care workers, including nursing home staff, has been weighed in on by the courts.

Florida officials asked a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida judge to prevent CMS from enforcing the mandate following its lawsuit filed against the agency mandate on Wednesday.

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Judge M. Casey Rodgers wrote in her ruling that the state did not show it would be irreparably injured if the mandate wasn’t suspended before Dec. 6 — the date of the first mandate deadline.

“The affidavits express opinions of agency heads who ‘estimate’ that they ‘may’ lose a certain percentage or a number of employees, or speculate as to the consequences they will suffer ‘if widespread resignations were to occur,’” Rodgers wrote in the ruling, referring to statements from the Florida Department of Health (DOH), warning of staffing issues tied to the impending mandate.

“However, such opinions, absent supporting factual evidence, remain speculative and may be disregarded as conclusory,” she added.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month signed into law anti-mandate COVID reforms as well, effectively banning federal vaccine mandates. That includes the CMS mandate first announced by the Biden administration in September, which would withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding for nursing homes that don’t get their staff fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022.

The mandate had initially singled out the skilled nursing industry before the administration opened up the requirement to other parts of the care continuum.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration on Tuesday officially voiced its support of the state’s challenge against the CMS vaccine mandate, claiming the rule will damage an already “stretched” health care industry and in turn negatively impact residents.

“Tying Medicare and Medicaid funding to a vaccination mandate – funding that pays for medical care for elderly, disabled, and low-income individuals – is a blatant overreach of power that must be challenged,” Secretary Simone Marstiller said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of Governor DeSantis and Attorney General [Ashley] Moody, Florida is doing just that, to protect Florida jobs, ensure access to care, and empower individuals in making personal health care decisions for themselves and their families.”

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody believes the state is in the right to push back against what she considers unlawful federal outreach.

“I filed a challenge to end the CMS vaccine rule — to protect doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, as well as the stability of the entire health care industry, against this power-hungry administration’s unlawful mandate that forces Floridians to choose between providing for their families and their health care autonomy,” Moody said in a statement issued Nov. 18.

Florida stands to lose millions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare payouts as a result of the rule, the Florida AG’s office argued. In the ruling, Judge Rodgers said the mandate can’t be suspended because of economic loss — this type of loss is not irreparable. 

“An injury is ‘irreparable’ only if it cannot be undone through monetary remedies,” the ruling states.

Despite its state-led challenge of the CMS rule, Florida was not among 10 states attorneys general to challenge the CMS mandate; these other states filed a lawsuit on Nov. 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Plaintiff states include Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire.

Judges handling the 10-state lawsuit, along with other lawsuits challenging the mandate in Texas and Louisiana, have not yet decided whether to halt the mandate pending litigation.

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