The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 5.
The White House
COVID-19
- The White House has posted a transcript of the April 5 press briefing provided by its COVID-19 response team and public health officials.
Provider Relief Fund
- HHS has removed the following question and answer from its Provider Relief Fund FAQ.
Are there any restrictions on how hospitals that receive Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments can use Provider Relief Fund General and Targeted Distribution payments? (Added 2/24/2021)
Yes. Providers may not use PRF payments to reimburse expenses or losses that have been reimbursed from other sources or that other sources are obligated to reimburse. Therefore, if a hospital has received Medicaid DSH payments for the uncompensated costs of furnishing inpatient and/or outpatient hospital services to Medicaid beneficiaries and to individuals with no source of third party coverage for the services, these expenses would be considered reimbursed by the Medicaid program and would not be eligible to be covered by money received from a General or Targeted Distribution payment.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
COVID-19
- CMS has updated its list of hospitals participating in its Acute Hospital Care at Home Program.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
COVID-19
- The CDC has updated its guidance for fully vaccinated people and its background rationale and evidence supporting this guidance.
- The CDC also has updated its guidance on how individuals can protect themselves and others after they have been fully vaccinated.
- As understanding of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of vaccines continues to grow, the CDC has updated its information and guidance about travel during the pandemic with the following new and updated resources:
- A news release announcing updated guidance for travel by fully vaccinated people.
- Guidance on domestic travel for those who are and who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
- Guidance on international travel during the pandemic.
- An updated FAQ on domestic and international travel.
- Guidance on what to do after international travel for those who are and who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
- Information about travel-related exposure to COVID-19.
- The CDC has updated its information about COVID-19 variants.
- The CDC has updated its information about when to clean and disinfect facilities to protect against the spread of COVID-19 and how to do such cleaning.
Food and Drug Administration
COVID-19
- The FDA has announced two revisions regarding the number of doses per vial available for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The first revision clarifies the number of doses per vial for vials that are currently available: a maximum number of extractable doses of 11, with a range of 10-11 doses per vial. The second revision authorizes the introduction of a new multi-dose vial in which each vial contains a maximum of 15 doses, with a range of 13-15 doses that can potentially be extracted from each vial. To reflect this change, the FDA has revised its Moderna vaccine fact sheet for providers.
- The FDA has posted a web page with information about the impact of viral mutations on COVID-19 tests, recommendations for clinical laboratory staff and health care providers, and information about certain tests for which the FDA has identified a potential impact on performance due to COVID-19 genetic mutations.
- The FDA has posted translations of its “Learn More About COVID-19 Vaccines From the FDA” document in five new languages: Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.