Coronavirus update for Thursday, May 28 as of 2:30 p.m.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS has updated its COVID-19 FAQs on Medicare fee-for-service billing with additional or revised answers to the following sections:

• Expansion of Virtual Communication Services for FQHCs/RHCs – questions 11-23
• Medicare Telehealth (please note that these FAQs do not include flexibilities that might be exercised under the CARES act) – questions 23-33
• General Billing Requirements – questions 2 and 3
• Diagnosis Coding under International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) – question 1
• Chronic Care Management Services – question 1
• Outpatient Therapy Services – questions 1-3

Department of Health and Human Services

HHS has redesigned its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund web page.  The new layout maintains the previous section for timely alerts but separates additional information about the Provider Relief Fund into the following categories that each redirect to their own, more detailed pages:  For Providers; About the Provider Relief Fund; Data, and FAQs.  The updated web page also included nuanced changes in the language describing the distribution of CARES Act money.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• The CDC has published information about screening clients

Coronavirus update for Wednesday, May 27 as of 2:30 p.m.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS has published a fact sheet for state and local governments on how to seek payments from CMS programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP for outpatient services and acute inpatient care provided at alternative care sites established in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Department of Health and Human Services

ASPR TRACIE, sponsored by HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to provide Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) services, in collaboration with the HHS/FEMA COVID-19 Healthcare Resilience Task Force, is hosting the webinar “Ensuring Healthcare Safety Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic” to share experiences and lessons learned from innovators in the field. Learn more here.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• The CDC has posted interim guidance with suggested goals and strategies for outpatient and ambulatory care settings in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
• The CDC has updated a number of its contact tracing web pages, including one on contact tracing for COVID-19 and another on investigating COVID-19 cases.

Food and Drug Administration

The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for a specific commercial software …

Coronavirus update for Tuesday, May 26 as of 2:30 p.m.

Department of Health and Human Services

• HHS has submitted its required report to Congress detailing its COVID-19 strategic testing plan.
• HHS announced a 45-day extension for providers that are receiving grants from the CARES Act’s Provider Relief Fund to accept the terms and conditions for those payments. This means providers have now been granted 90 days from the date they received a payment to accept the terms and conditions or return the money.
• ASPR TRACIE, sponsored by HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to provide Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) services, has announced that a presentation from and a recording of its webcast on “Funding Sources for the Establishment and Operationalization of Alternate Care Sites” are now available. Find them here.
• HHS announced $400 million in payments from the CARES Act’s Provider Relief Fund to Indian Health Services and tribal hospitals, clinics, and urban health centers to support the tribal response to COVID-19.

Department of Health and Human Services/Office of the Inspector General

HHS’s Office of the Inspector General has announced the release of its strategic plan …

Coronavirus update for Friday, May 22 as of 3:30 p.m.

Department of Health and Human Services

• HHS has updated its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund page, adding a new section on allocations for skilled nursing facilities.
• That new section is the foundation for HHS’s announcement that it has begun distributing nearly $4.9 billion in relief funds to skilled nursing facilities to help them respond to the effects of COVID-19. Each SNF will receive a fixed distribution of $50,000 plus $2500 per bed.  All certified SNFs with six or more certified beds are eligible for this targeted distribution.
• HHS has updated its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund FAQ, adding several new questions and answers about reporting for related entities (see pages 11 and 12).

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

In the past week CMS issued seven section 1135 waivers to give states greater flexibility to serve their Medicaid beneficiaries during the COVID-19 public health emergency.  It issued three such waivers to Rhode Island, two to Texas, and one each to North Dakota and Virginia.

CMS Weekly Stakeholder Calls

COVID-19: Lessons from the Front Lines Calls — May 29

Friday, May 29 from 12:30 to 2 pm ET…

Coronavirus update for Thursday, May 21 as of 3:30 p.m.

Department of Health and Human Services

• HHS has again updated its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund FAQ.
• HHS has announced that it is collaborating with Astra Zeneca to make available at least 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine called AZD1222, with the first doses delivered as early as October of this year.
• HHS has notified skilled nursing facilities of its intent to distribute additional Provider Relief Fund grants to them.  According to email communication directly from HHS to those providers, “Each SNF will receive a fixed distribution of $50,000, plus a variable distribution ranging between $2,000 per bed for the smallest SNFs (between 5 and 25 beds) and $1,800 per bed for the largest SNFs (more than 200 beds).”
• HHS has issued an advisory opinion stating that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act preempts state licensing laws that restrict the ability of pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 diagnostic tests where HHS has authorized pharmacists to order and administer such tests.
• HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response has established a new web page featuring its portfolio of COVID-19 medical countermeasures under investigation