The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States (Medicare and Medicaid LTC facilities)
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- 42 C.F.R. § 483.80(h) (CMS-3401-IFC, FED-092)
- Issued
- 2020-08-26 Aug. 26, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-08-26 (with the IFC effective Sept. 2, 2020) (read as 2020-08-26)
- End
- revised 2021 and Sept. 23, 2022 (FED-153); expired May 1, 2023 (read as 2022-09-23)
- In force
- Aug. 26, 2020 to Sept. 23, 2022
- Quarters
- 2020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Health care ordersWorkplace rulesQuarantine and isolation
- Addressees
- all Medicare/Medicaid certified LTC facilities; every individual 'providing services under arrangement' and volunteers
- Functions reached
- IC/RS nursing homes (home-care-senior-living)
- HR/WF of every contractor and agency worker serving nursing homes (staffing PL; hospice and home health HC; therapy; physicians CL; personal services SL)
- OF
- Collection
- Federal health, safety and transport layer FED-A
Operative words
Specifically, facilities are required to test residents and staff, including individuals providing services under arrangement and volunteers, for COVID-19 based on parameters set forth by the HHS Secretary. This memorandum provides guidance for facilities to meet the new requirements.... Routine Testing of Staff: Routine testing should be based on the extent of the virus in the community, therefore facilities should use their county positivity rate in the prior week as the trigger for staff testing frequency. [Table: county positivity Low (<5%) - Once a month; Medium (5%-10%) - Once a week; High (>10%) - Twice a week.]... (5) Have procedures for addressing residents and staff, including individuals providing services under arrangement and volunteers, who refuse testing or are unable to be tested.
Enforcement
F-tag F886 citations; civil money penalties
Notes
The routine-testing mandate keyed to county positivity ran on every day of 2021Q3; during the Delta wave of August-September 2021 most counties exceeded 10 percent, requiring twice-weekly testing of all staff and contractors in the affected nursing homes.
Retrieval noteRetrieved from the Wayback Machine raw capture nearest Sept. 15, 2020; header 'DATE: August 26, 2020'. The bracketed table values are from the memo's table (words 'Once a month' and 'Once a week' verified; the percentage bands to be quoted from the exhibit).