On August 24, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that healthcare providers are eligible for additional payments for administering vaccines to multiple residents in one home setting or communal home setting. This reimbursement is intended to boost COVID-19 vaccinations among Medicare beneficiaries who have ...
Modern Healthcare is reporting that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrators said this week that CMS will not immediately remove nursing homes from Medicare and Medicaid if they do not adhere to the employee staff vaccination requirement that was announced last week. CMS will take a step approach, first notifying nursing ...
On August 11, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance recommending COVID-19 vaccination for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or may become pregnant. The CDC cites to increasing evidence showing that the benefits of receiving a ...
On August 16, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a special edition MLNconnects providing that effective August 12, CMS will pay to administer additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines consistent with the FDA emergency use authorizations at the same rates as the initial doses. More information on COVID-19 vaccination ...
By. Kathie McDonald-McClure
On August 18, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop an emergency regulation to require staff at Medicare and Medicaid-participating nursing homes be vaccinated against COVID-19. CMS ...
On August 18, 2021, the White House announced that the federal government will continue to fully reimburse states for some COVID-19 emergency response costs through the end of 2021. Covered services include emergency medical care, vaccination operations, and housing at-risk populations. This coverage is an extension of the January 2021 ...
By: Dan Burke and Laura Caty
OSHA updated its workplace COVID guidance last week to align with CDC's recent recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals. This development presents a further wrinkle for businesses wrestling with whether to reinstate an across-the-board mask mandate in the workplace, regardless of vaccination status.
Written by: Stephen C. Hall
Under U.S. law, an inventor on a patent or patent application owns the patent rights, unless there is a contract assigning the rights to another owner. Against this framework, a recent case before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals hinged on whether an employment contract, executed at the beginning of a University ...
By: Laura Caty & Liam McMillin
Let’s talk about handbooks. Yeah, we know. You’re probably thinking, “The sun is shining, kids are out of school, and everyone is on vacation; why talk about handbooks? Heck, we haven’t even looked at ours in decades?”
But with school looming on the horizon, there is no better time to return to the ABCs ...
On August 12, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement that it had amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow for the use of one additional dose in certain immunocompromised individuals—specifically, solid organ transplant recipients and ...
On August 12, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will require more than 25,000 members of its healthcare workforce to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Citing the heightened transmissibility of the Delta variant, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said that “vaccines are the best tool we have to protect people ...
On August 10, 2021, Governor Andy Beshear announced that in response to the COVID-19 Delta variant and recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, all vaccinated and unvaccinated teachers, staff, students and visitors must wear face coverings when indoors in all public and private schools (preschool through grade 12 ...
Modern Healthcare reported on August 10, 2021 that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is issuing citations to healthcare employers who fail to follow standards for N95 masks. Healthcare employers must ensure their workforce, and particularly new and temporary employees, are properly fitted for N95 masks and wear them ...
On August 9, 2021, the Supreme Court of Kentucky issued a new Order strongly encouraging the use of masks in compliance with current CDC guidelines while noting that all court facilities remain open. Judges continue to retain discretion in operating their court rooms. Judges may tell individuals in their courtrooms to use facial coverings and ...
On August 5, 2021, Governor Andy Beshear announced that executives from eleven health care systems in Kentucky pledged to require COVID-19 vaccinations for their health care workforce no later than September 15, 2021. These new policies will help health systems respond to a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant. These systems echoed ...
With the rise in COVID-19 cases around the state, both state and federal courts have issued new mask mandates. The Jefferson County Circuit Court issued an order effective July 30, 2021 that requires all employees and visitors to wear a face covering regardless of their vaccination status. Other counties across Kentucky, including Fayette ...
By: Laura Caty & Kiley Barnard
To foster a healthy workplace environment and protect from liability, employers must have a formal process for conducting a workplace investigation for any complaints presented by employees. Consider the following scenario:
Sarah’s boss has consistently asked her to get drinks after work and she always says no ...