The newly installed Trump administration late Tuesday prompted federal health agencies, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), to pause external communications through Feb. 1.
That includes regular scientific reports, updates to websites and health advisories – communication that those in the nursing home industry regularly rely upon.
Nursing home associations including the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and LeadingAge are currently monitoring the pause on communications and assessing how this impacts long-term care.
“This pause is a bit disarming. It truly validates the importance of maintaining good internal processes and situational awareness,” LeadingAge Senior Director of Nursing Home Quality and Health Regulation Jodi Eyigor said in an email to Skilled Nursing News. “It is important to note that though communications from federal agencies are frozen, communications among local systems are not.”
While the freeze is happening, providers should stay abreast of local situations and continue their own internal monitoring, Eyigor said. Constant communication with local public health, emergency officials, ombudsman, area agencies on aging and other providers will help with nimbleness and making adjustments to internal systems and processes as needed, she noted.
The communications freeze intersects with a Monday executive order temporarily freezing regulatory changes, added Eyigor.
“Some of the regulatory compliance is or may be under review, but because of the communications halt, we don’t know with certainty, nor do we know what to expect or when to expect an answer,” said Eyigor.
While the communications halt and regulatory freeze are separate, they’re interacting in a very frustrating way, she said. Meanwhile, AHCA/NCAL hopes an efficient process for health agency nominees will impact the communication freeze.
“We will continue to encourage lawmakers to swiftly consider nominees for health agencies, such as HHS and CMS, to accelerate the transition and support providers in being able to efficiently and effectively deliver care,” Rachel Reeves, senior vice president of public affairs for AHCA/NCAL, said in a statement.
As of press time, CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) didn’t respond to Skilled Nursing News’ requests for comment on the matter.
At the beginning of Trump’s first term in 2016, administration officials asked federal officials at multiple agencies overseeing environmental and scientific policy to cease communicating with the public, according to the Washington Post.
Acting Health Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink said the directive is in effect through Feb. 1, in a followup memo obtained by CNN on Wednesday.
“As the new Administration considers its plan for managing the federal policy and public communications processes, it is important that the President’s appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any regulations, guidance documents, and other public documents and communications (including social media),” Fink said in the memo.
Agency employees were told to notify of any documents or communications that should be exempt, including information released that would either be required by law or is critical for health and safety.
In terms of the effects on the nursing home industry, it all depends on scope and length, Cascadia Healthcare Director of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel Steve LaForte told Skilled Nursing News.
“I’m going to assume that it’s short term. I’m going to assume it’s related to the transitional dust settling, and that the impact will ultimately end up being very small, if anything. But again, it’s hard to predict if it will go longer than Feb. 1,” said LaForte.
The move was initiated by Stephanie Spear, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) deputy of staff appointed to the role this week. Spear is a longtime ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to lead the agency.
“Expect the unexpected. I have a feeling it’s probably somewhat tied to nominations and appointments and getting their designated leaders into the various agencies that they’ve targeted for the communication freeze,” said LaForte.
Other health agencies affected by the pause include HHS, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
CDC’s nursing home dashboard, used to track resident and staff cases over time, remained inactive since the freeze went into effect.
The first Trump administration also pushed to lightly control agency communications during the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, seeking to change the CDC’s reports to better align with Trump’s own messages, the Washington Post reported.
Other officials said the pause may have been implemented to help newly installed Trump health officials to understand the vast flow of information coming out of the agencies. If the pause lasts more than a week or two, that would be cause for concern, officials told the Washington Post.
Companies featured in this article:
AHCA/NCAL, American Health Care Association, Cascadia Healthcare, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, HHS