Latest funding deal sidesteps fiscal cliff

Stricter infection-control regulations, as well as more generous COVID-19 relief funding for long-term care providers could be coming, if President Joe Biden has his way. Biden unveiled his pandemic response plan and an unprecedented national strategy late last week. 

The expansive plan comes after Biden revealed his coronavirus rescue plan about a week earlier. The new 200-page document calls on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Department of Health and Human Services to “strengthen long-term care facility guidance, funding and requirements around infection-control policies.”

The agencies also will “support long-term care staffing levels sufficient to ensure patient safety, and support the accelerated distribution of vaccines to residential care settings.” 

Biden’s plan also calls on the heads of multiple agencies, in coordination with the president’s office, to provide targeted surge assistance to long-term care facilities and implement an effective vaccination campaign. It would ensure that seniors in congregate settings are among the administration’s immediate actions. 

“To increase incentives to vaccinate Medicare beneficiaries, CMS will evaluate how to incorporate quality measures for COVID-19 immunizations into its value-based purchasing programs, including Medicare Advantage Star-Ratings, the physician quality payment program, and accountable care programs,” the plan states. 

“CMS will also use Medicare data to identify beneficiaries at the highest-risk and work with states and localities to operationalize vaccination plans. The Administration will also build on the CDC Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program to ensure that long-term care residents and staff can receive vaccinations in as streamlined and effective manner as possible,” it adds.