Biden Wants all Employees of Nursing Homes to be Vaxed but Exempts Hospitals
August 25, 2021 in News by RBN Staff
source: needtoknownews
President Biden announced that all nursing homes should require their staff members to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to continue receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. The new mandate could take effect as soon as next month. Nursing homes are being singled out while hospitals, clinics, home health agencies and others that get Medicaid and Medicare funds were not threatened. Some nursing home administrators are worried the decision will cause workers to head for the exits at facilities already struggling to keep employees. Others have applauded Biden’s decision, calling it a way to help protect elderly nursing home residents, who have fragile health. -GEG
Across the country, nursing homes are faced with a choice: mandate that staff members get vaccinated or lose funding.
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that all nursing homes should require their staff members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to continue receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. The new mandate could take effect as soon as next month.
Some nursing home administrators are worried the decision will cause workers to head for the exits at facilities already struggling to keep employees. Others have applauded Biden’s decision, calling it a way to help protect elderly nursing home residents, who are among the most vulnerable to severe effects of the virus.
Nursing homes have been at the frontlines of the outbreak since the start of the pandemic, and their workers were among the first to be eligible for the vaccine. But hundreds of thousands of nursing home workers nationwide still are not vaccinated, according to federal data. Staff vaccination rates nationwide range from 44% to 88%, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Many of the recent outbreaks in nursing homes, driven by the emergence of the highly contagious delta variant, areas that have low staff vaccination rates, according to CMS.
Experts warn few nursing homes can survive without Medicaid and Medicare funding, which pays for care at more than 15,000 nursing homes nationwide, according to CMS.
