Mandated COVID-19 testing for nursing home surveyors and ombudsmen was “under active consideration” by federal health officials, a top figure told providers in early October.
Operators raised the question to Admiral Brett Giroir, M.D., assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services, at a LeadingAge coronavirus update call with providers. Surveyors and ombudsmen can visit multiple facilities in a day, making them a danger of being potential “super spreaders” of the coronavirus, providers pointed out.
“It’s under active consideration right now. I can’t get ahead of [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services]. Your idea is noted and they’re well aware and considering options,” Giroir said, adding he raised the issue with the agency directly.
CMS in late August announced that nursing homes would be required to test staff members for COVID-19, with the frequency of that testing being based on the disease’s prevalence within the surrounding community.
“We are confounded by what seems to be an inconsistency in testing policy and approach,” LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan wrote in a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma before Giroir’s comments to her group.
From the November 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
