Some GOOD news that can help during Covid-19 Pandemic – Long Term Care Facilities Waiver

 (Skilled Nursing Facilities and/or Nursing Facilities): CMS Flexibilities to Fight COVID-19

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the Trump Administration has issued an unprecedented array of temporary regulatory waivers and new rules to equip the American healthcare system with maximum flexibility to respond to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These temporary changes apply across the entire U.S. healthcare system for the duration of the emergency declaration.  One of the most important waivers for seniors is the waiving of a 3 day hospital stay for entrance into a Skilled Nursing Facility.

• 3- Day Prior Hospitalization: Using the waiver authority under Section 1812(f) of the Social Security Act, CMS is temporarily waiving the requirement for a 3-day prior hospitalization for coverage of a skilled nursing facility (SNF) stay. This waiver provides temporary emergency coverage of SNF services without a qualifying hospital stay. In addition, for certain beneficiaries who exhausted their SNF benefits, it authorizes renewed SNF coverage without first having to start and complete a 60-day “wellness period” (that is, the 60-day period of non-inpatient status that is normally required in order to end the current benefit period and renew SNF benefits). This waiver will apply only for those beneficiaries who have been delayed or prevented by the emergency itself from commencing or completing the 60-day “wellness period” that would have occurred under normal circumstances. By contrast, if the patient has a continued skilled care need (such as a feeding tube) that is unrelated to the COVID-19 emergency, then the beneficiary cannot renew his or her SNF benefits under the Section 1812(f) waiver, as it is this continued skilled care in the SNF rather than the emergency that is preventing the beneficiary from beginning the 60-day “wellness period.”