Digital Debut

CMS Withdraws COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate for Healthcare Personnel

ASCs still must report this data for the ASCQR Program

BY KARA NEWBURY | JUNE 2023

On May 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that withdrew the regulations that mandated COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare personnel. This action, however, does not affect the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program measure ASC-20: COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Health Care Personnel. ASCs that participate in the ASCQR Program are still required to report this measure. Under the mandate, if healthcare personnel in a surgery center were not vaccinated or did not have an approved exemption, CMS could cite that ASC or shut it down for noncompliance. Now, with the withdrawal of the mandate, surgery centers will not face these enforcement measures.

ASCA has opposed the inclusion of ASC-20 in the ASCQR Program since the beginning and will continue to oppose this measure if it is proposed for continued inclusion in the program. It will request its members to send in comments in response to the proposed rule opposing the measure.

Any changes to the ASCQR Program must go through the annual payment rule process, and the ASC proposed rule is typically released in early July. The 2024 inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule is already out, however, and CMS is proposing to maintain the COVID-19 vaccination measure for inpatient hospitals. So, ASC-20 most likely will remain in the ASCQR Program in 2024 as well. It is similar to ASC-8: Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel, which was previously part of the ASCQR Program even though the federal government does not mandate all healthcare workers to receive the flu shot.

CMS will no longer enforce the COVID-19 vaccination mandate effective immediately. The agency had added this regulation in a new section to the ASC Conditions for Coverage at 42 CFR §416.51(c) in the interim final rule with comment period (IFC) “Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination” published in the November 5, 2021, Federal Register. The regulation required ASCs to establish and implement policies and procedures “for COVID-19 vaccination of all staff (includes employees; licensed practitioners; students, trainees, and volunteers; and other individuals) who provide care, treatment, or other services for the provider or its patients.”

Write Kara Newbury with any questions.