MHA Today | April 8, 2022

Staff Contact: Dave Dillon

Thursday, Gov. Mike Parson visited Clinton, Mo., to speak with Golden Valley Memorial Hospital leaders about the hospital’s new radiology oncology facility expansion. Parson spoke with nurses, administrators, a cancer patient advocate and local community leaders about what this expansion would mean for health care in the region. Pictured is GVMH President and CEO, Craig Thompson, speaking with Gov. Parson and First Lady Teresa Parson.

Staff Contact: Brian Kinkade

The House passed its version of the SFY 2023 budget on Thursday. The historically massive $46.2 billion spending plan is $11 billion above the current year’s budget, and is driven by federal COVID-19 relief funds and robust growth in state general revenue collections.

The House budget includes $2.5 billion to fully fund the Medicaid expansion, but the budget is otherwise devoid of significant increases or decreases in Medicaid hospital program funding. The House budget generally adopted the significant increases in funding for state mental health services recommended by Gov. Parson.

The 14 appropriation bills that comprise the state budget now will be reviewed and amended by the Senate. The Missouri Constitution requires the House and Senate to agree on a final budget by Friday, May 6.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

CMS announced that Medicare beneficiaries with Part B or Medicare Advantage will have access to FDA-approved, authorized or cleared over-the-counter COVID-19 tests at no cost. CMS is allowing people with Medicare to obtain up to eight tests per calendar month for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated, “this is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests for free of charge. Since we took office, we have more than tripled the number of sites where people can get COVID-19 tests for free, and we’re also delivering close to 250 million at-home, rapid tests to send for free to Americans who need them.”

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

CMS announced that it will pay for a second COVID-19 booster vaccination of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccinations without cost sharing. The CDC recently updated its eligibility recommendations to include certain immunocompromised individuals, and people ages 50 years and older who received an initial booster dose at least four months ago. CMS announced that both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who are eligible to receive the second dose may do so without applicable copayment, coinsurance or deductible.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

CMS issued a proposed rule that would further delay the Radiation Onoclogy Model to a date to be determined through future rulemaking. The model was to begin Jan. 1, 2022. Comments about the proposed rule are due Tuesday, June 7. MHA published an issue brief with additional information.

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson and Kara Amann-Kale

DHSS issued a Health Alert to health care providers and laboratories indicating they are no longer requiring or accepting negative SARS-COV-2 test results. However, guidance recently issued by the Secretary of HHS still requires moderate and high complexity CLIA-certified laboratories performing Nucleic Acid Amplification testing to report both positive and negative results. Entities conducting all other SARS-COV-2 testing, except antibody and self-administered testing, must report positive test results. Laboratories should document their attempts to report NAAT negative test results to the state health agency. MHA will continue to monitor test reporting requirements and provide additional information as it becomes available.

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson

CMS announced the end of numerous waivers for long-term and non-long-term care facilities. The guidance specifies waivers that will end in 30 and 60 days from the date of publication. Most expiring waivers pertain to life safety, quality, physician visits and documentation requirements. The waivers, put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, are being reinstated due to safety concerns.

Staff Contact: Kara Amann-Kale or Keri Barclay

The FDA Vaccines And Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met this week to discuss future COVID-19 booster doses, as well as how to address vaccination and future variants. This meeting was an initial planning meeting and the committee did not vote. The advisory panel indicated that a framework currently is not in place for both additional boosters and variant-specific vaccines, but supported the need to develop a plan before the fall and winter months when the U.S. could experience a potential surge in cases. Future meetings are expected to be held to continue these discussions.

Staff Contact: Mat Reidhead

In celebration of National Public Health Week, MHA refreshed its health equity dashboards to include the following.

More recent HIDI claims data from FYs 2019-2021. A new Social Vulnerability Explorer Module that correlates the CDC’s SVI with health and social factors at the county- and census tract-levels. A new measurement domain focused on maternal and child health outcomes. New variables on dental caries disease, sickle cell disease and diabetes mellitus, stratified by type. A new set of regional health equity infographics highlighting data from the dashboards and definitions adopted by MHA’s Health Equity Committee.