CANHR COVID-19 News & Resources
CANHR Alerts, News and Resources regarding the COVID-19 Crisis.
Courtesy of Consumer Voice: Consumer Voice has sent a letter, along with other advocacy organizations, to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing granting immunity to nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. AARP also sent a letter on the same topic. Giving immunity to nursing homes strips residents of their right to hold nursing homes accountable for substandard care.
Courtesy of the California Disability-Senior Community Action Network SACRAMENTO, CA [BY MARTY OMOTO, CDCAN LAST UPDATED 04/28/2020 6:04 PM (PACIFIC TIME] The two states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths – New York and New Jersey – issued guidance this month to general acute hospitals that allows for a support person to be with a person with disabilities – including developmental – diagnosed with coronavirus in those health facilities, with certain exceptions.
Forty-five national and state organizations, including CANHR, signed on to a letter that was sent today to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator. The letter calls for immediate actions by CMS to better protect nursing home residents’ rights and safety during the pandemic.
Californians finally got a partial glimpse of COVID-19’s epidemic impact within the state’s nursing homes on April 17th when state officials released an incomplete list of nursing homes that have residents or staff who are infected with the virus. Released on a Friday evening, the list identifies 261 nursing homes that have reported COVID-19 infections involving either a resident or a staff member.
There are phone, text and email scams currently targeting SSI (Supplemental Security Income) recipients to deprive them of their COVID-19 stimulus payment.The call (or text or email) tells them that if they give them their bank account numbers, they’ll then have the stimulus check directly deposited. As soon as the money is directly deposited from the IRS, the scammers take the money.
Courtesy of Justice in Aging This week, the Department of Treasury announced that SSI recipients will automatically receive economic impact payments without being required to file additional forms. Initially, Treasury planned automatic payments only for those who had filed tax returns for 2018 or 2019. These automatic payments were later expanded to include all Social Security recipients, including low-income beneficiaries who did not file tax returns but received SSA-1099 forms from the Social Security Administration.
Updated June 15, 2020 The Department of Health Care Service (DHCS) has instituted extensive changes to the Medi-Cal program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For a complete list of these changes, please visit the DHCS website: https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Pages/DHCS-COVID%E2%80%9119-Response.aspx Below are some highlights for older adults and persons with disabilities on Medi-Cal: Discontinuances: Your Medi-Cal benefits cannot be discontinued during the COVID-19 emergency.
April 13, 2020 Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released additional guidance to states on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Public Law No. 116-127, and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Public Law No. 116-136. This guidance is in the form of a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that addresses enhanced federal Medicaid funding and other topics during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) national emergency. All Medicaid programs are jointly funded between the state and the federal governments where the federal government pays states for a specified percentage of program expenditures, commonly referred to as the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP).
Courtesy of Justice in Aging On March 6th, the Social Security Administration posted a Q&A on enrolling in Medicare. SSA notes that it is working with CMS to provide relief from certain requirements, and is already waiving the requirement to have an employer complete a section of form CMS-L564 as part of the Part B application.
Courtesy of Justice in Aging Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule (IFR) entitled Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The IFR reinterprets and clarifies several Medicare rules and policies for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency period, including further expanding telehealth services to fulfill requirements for visits that usually must be in person (e.g., nursing home admission and discharge visits, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health and hospice); expanding the destinations to which ambulance services can be covered by Medicare; allowing coverage for home testing for COVID-19; stating that someone can be “homebound” in order to qualify for home health coverage if a physician determines that it is contraindicated for the Medicare beneficiary to leave home because they have a condition that may make them more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, or due to suspected or confirmed COVID-19.