One hundred million doses of the experimental vaccine will be stockpiled. The deal increases the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe, effective vaccine by 2021, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said.
The Department of Health and Human Services would have to develop strike teams that would help nursing homes test residents for COVID-19 and assist with infection control practices under the GOP’s newly unveiled $1 trillion coronavirus relief package.
Nursing homes will be required to have Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waivers to perform COVID-19 point-of-care tests. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working to expedite the review of applications.
The federal government’s plan to provide “point-of-care” COVID-19 tests to every single U.S. nursing home is “welcome news for long-term care residents, staff and providers.”
Nursing home residents and workers may be among the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine, depending on what a federal committee decides.
Residents and healthcare workers in long-term care settings should receive top priority for a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available, the nation’s largest nursing home association urged in a letter to a top health official.
A bipartisan group of senators is seeking information from top federal health officials on permanent changes to Medicare telehealth rules that are currently being considered.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday announced the distribution of $15 billion in coronavirus relief funding to Medicaid providers that have not yet received any such payment.
Bipartisan members of Congress are urging the Department of Health and Human Services to quickly distribute COVID-19 relief funding to Medicaid providers following delays.
The Department of Health and Human Services will now be basing its entire distribution of $50 billion in COVID-19 relief funding on providers’ 2018 net patient revenues.
