The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, April 8.
Provider Relief Fund
- The Provider Relief Fund web page has been updated to announce a webinar next Tuesday, April 13 about the HRSA COVID-19 uninsured program under which participating providers are reimbursed at Medicare rates for testing, treating, and administering COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured individuals. Go here for further information (in the shaded box labeled “update”).
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
COVID-19
- CMS has added 24 new audiology and speech language pathology services to its list of telehealth services covered during the COVID-19 emergency. Go here to find the updated list of telehealth services authorized during the pandemic.
Proposed Rules
- CMS has published its proposed FY 2022 skilled nursing facility prospective payment system rule. Learn more about the proposed rule from this CMS fact sheet and from the proposed rule itself.
- CMS has published its proposed FY 2022 hospice wage index and payment update, hospice conditions of participation updates, and hospice and home health quality reporting program requirements. Learn more the CMS fact sheet from this Federal Register notice.
Health Policy News
- CMS will hold a webinar titled “Building Capacity in the Direct Service Workforce: Moving Forward from the Summit” on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The purpose of the webinar is to advance learning and recommendations from the “Quality Jobs Equal Quality Care: Building Capacity in the Direct Care Workforce” event that was held at Advancing States’ HCBS Conference on December 3, 2020. The webinar will highlight capacity-building strategies shared by states during the HCBS conference, is open to the public, and will focus on strategies for state Medicaid agencies, state agency partners, managed care plans, and home and community based services providers. Go here for more information and here to register.
Department of Health and Human Services
Federal Funding Opportunity
- HHS’s Administration for Community Living has published a notice about a funding opportunity. The notice is titled “Aging and Disability Resource Center/No Wrong Door System COVID–19 Vaccine Access Supplemental Funding” and it states that “This funding opportunity is to support a new effort to get the nation’s most vulnerable and at-risk seniors and people with disabilities vaccinated.” The notice was published today (April 8) and applications are due at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 9. The notice also states that “Eligible Applicants for this award are existing ADRC/NWD COVID–19 CARES Act grantees that received funding on April 1, 2020.” Learn more from the Federal Register notice.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
COVID-19
- The CDC has published research on death certificate-based ICD-10 diagnosis codes for COVID-19 mortality surveillance. The CDC explains that “These findings support the accuracy of COVID-19 mortality surveillance in the United States using official death certificates. High-quality documentation of death certificate diagnoses is essential for an authoritative public record.”
Health Policy News
- The CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced that federal funding may now be used to purchase rapid fentanyl test strips in an effort to help curb the dramatic spike in drug overdose deaths largely driven by the use of strong synthetic opioids, including illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Learn more about the new policy and the federal grantees to which it applies in this CDC news release.
Congressional Research Service
- The Congressional Research Service has published a new report titled “State and Federal Authority to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccination.” Find it here.