On Aug. 18, more than two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program as well as works with states to administer Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance portability standards, announced a cross-cutting initiative aimed at evaluating CMS-issued public health emergency blanket waivers and flexibilities to prfpare providers for post pandemic operations. It may be found at CMS.gov. It is worth the read.

A public health emergency (PHE) declaration by the federal government releases resources meant to handle a public health crisis. In 2020, the president issued an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207 (Stafford Act). The Secretary of the HHS is authorized to waive certain Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP program requirements and conditions of participation under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act once the president has declared an emergency through the Stafford Act. As a result, effective March 1, 2020, under Section 1135, as well as, where applicable, under Section 1812(f) of the Social Security Act in the effort to help health care providers to contain the spread of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the CMS enacted certain PHE waivers and flexibilities. They were designed to enable health care providers of various levels to rapidly respond to COVID-19-impacted patients by modifying, and in some cases relaxing, certain requirements in a wide range of areas within the public assistance programs, as well as relative to private carriers to allow for less stringent regulation aimed at streamlining patient services, providing much-needed improved access to care, reducing administrative burdens, and providing certain liability immunities to practitioners who administer these services, among other things

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