CMS issues maternal morbidity and COVID-19 worker vaccination reporting requirements

The American Hospital Association is pushing for CMS to continue some COVID-19-related 1135 waivers after the official close of the pandemic to help hospitals recover.

On July 27, AIHA (formerly the American Industrial Hygiene Association) revealed concerns about the federal COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) in a 13-page letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). AIHA urged the agency to closely examine and immediately revise the emergency rule’s provisions dealing with ventilation, physical barriers, and transmission by inhalation of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as OSHA’s use of the hierarchy of controls.

The group also suggested that OSHA remove the mini-respiratory protection program provisions from the emergency rule. AIHA stated that workers are not likely to gain any level of protection from non-fit-tested respirators and argued against allowing the voluntary use of respirators outside a formal respiratory protection program under the requirements of 29 CFR §1910.134.

CMS is adding a maternal morbidity quality measure as well as a reporting requirement on COVID-19 vaccination rates among hospital and long-term care hospital workers as part of a 2,295-page inpatient payment rule released late Monday. The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register August 13, with most elements will be effective October 1. CMS also published a 14-page fact sheet summary.

The Joint Commission (TJC) is hiring almost twice as many new surveyors than usual this year to deal with a backlog of triennial surveys delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal is that all triennial surveys delayed in 2020 will done in 2021, but that may mean moving some upcoming late quarter 2021 surveys to 2022, according to Gayle Nash RN, MPH, president of Nash Healthcare, an accreditation compliance consulting firm headquartered in El Paso, Texas.

While hospitals are reporting that some surveys are running a few weeks to a few months behind the usual triennial window, hospitals can expect follow-up surveys for any Medicare deficiencies will be done within 45 days, says Nash.

Language shouldn’t be a barrier to good healthcare. Hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers are required to offer interpretation services to anyone who walks in their door, be they English as a second language (ESL) patients, Limited English Proficency (LEP) patients, or are hearing or vision impaired. Not accommodating these patients will not only put you on CMS’ bad side, but also open you up to expensive lawsuits.

So what’s really the difference between treating a ESL or LEP patient? We asked Vikki Choate, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPHQ, a healthcare consultant and international speaker with Huron Consulting Group, to go over the basics of working with these patients to achieve the best outcomes.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.