As the seasons change and operators brace for a potential “tripledemic” this winter, the nursing home industry’s largest trade group is calling on the federal government to extend the public health emergency beyond its January 2023 end.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra this week, urging the department to help ensure that long-term care and other health care providers have the necessary infrastructure in place to weather the storm.
“Coming out of the holiday season, we need to ensure our health care infrastructure can quickly adapt, especially in the midst of a historic labor crisis in long term care brought on by the pandemic,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson wrote in the letter.
HHS has said it would give stakeholders 60 days notice if the PHE is not continued.
Parkinson also implored the administration to maintain the related enhanced Medicaid FMAP to states and state Medicaid policy flexibilities, including the waiver for Medicaid redeterminations.
“We are gravely concerned that states are not prepared for this historic influx of Medicaid redeterminations and that millions of seniors and individuals with disabilities will experience coverage disruptions for the lifesaving care they desperately need,” the letter stated.
AHCA/NCAL cited research from Georgetown University which found that 22 states do not have an unwinding PHE plan, while an additional 10 have cursory presentations on what their plans will contain when developed.
Since redetermination for the elderly, blind, and disabled populations takes longer than other beneficiaries, long term care providers, under the pressure of rising labor costs and inflation, may struggle to absorb additional losses due to delayed Medicaid redeterminations or beneficiaries being found ineligible.
“Extending the PHE will allow these states to continue developing their plans and prepare Medicaid beneficiaries for the redetermination process,” Parkinson wrote in the letter.
While not on a large scale, some providers are already starting to see upticks in Covid cases in certain geographic areas.
“When we entered into the third quarter, we experienced quite a large step up in Covid cases that affected both our patient population as well as our employees … when you’ve got a situation like that, you tend to go backwards on your progress with agency,” Ensign CEO Barry Port said in the company’s latest earnings call.
Roughly 86.9% of residents and 86.7% of staff have completed their primary vaccinations, however, only 39.5% of residents and 25.2% of staff are up to date per facility with their vaccines, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Companies featured in this article:
Ensign Group, The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living
