White House Announces Vaccine Mandate for Medicaid/Medicare Providers

September 09, 2021

In a speech this evening where President Biden let his frustration over the ongoing devastation of the pandemic show and which he called “a pandemic of the un-vaccinated,” he released a six step agenda.  Though several of the provisions may impact VNPP members, the one most obvious is below: 

“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including but not limited to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies. This action builds on the vaccination requirement for nursing facilities recently announced by CMS, and will apply to nursing home staff as well as staff in hospitals and other CMS-regulated settings, including clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers, and staff who are not involved in direct patient, resident, or client care. These requirements will apply to approximately 50,000 providers and cover a majority of health care workers across the country. Some facilities and states have begun to adopt hospital staff or health care sector vaccination mandates. This action will create a consistent standard across the country, while giving patients assurance of the vaccination status of those delivering care.”

While we will wait for the CMS Guidance, it appears that as “Medicaid/Medicare” providers we will be included in a vaccine mandate (EEOC exceptions, of course, permitted).