It has actually happened. The Biden administration on Thursday imposed a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination mandate across all healthcare settings — including home health.
The move comes after a steady drumbeat calling for a universal mandate grew almost deafening. It started with organizations like LeadingAge and the American Medical Association advocating for mandates. It ended with groups like the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization arguing that the government forcing Medicare- and Medicaid-funded nursing homes to vaccinate their staffs “does not go far enough.”
Biden’s move was inevitable. With COVID-19 rates worsening, the fall season projected to be severe and many workers still relentlessly reluctant to get vaccinated, such an extreme action, the administration felt, had to be taken to curb the pandemic once and for all.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule, in a way, helps to solve another problem: It levels the playing field for healthcare. A business that imposes a COVID-19 mandate now does not have to be concerned about its workers flocking to another business in another area of healthcare that does not have a mandate. Home health can take solace that it now joins the rest of healthcare, from hospitals to nursing homes to ambulatory surgical centers, in requiring vaccinations in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid compensation. Biden’s action takes the dilemma of whether to impose a mandate out of the discussion; there frankly is not a choice if an agency wants to stay in business.
And the administration took another major step Thursday in forcing the vaccination issue. The president announced a rule requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated. Any unvaccinated workers must produce negative COVID tests at least once a week. The requirement could carry a $14,000 fine per violation.
Given the political polarity around the issue of vaccinations, these actions likely were not easy ones for the Biden administration to take. They were born out of necessity and hopefully, ones that will deal lethal blows to COVID-19.
Liza Berger is editor of McKnight’s Home Care. Email her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on McKnight's Senior Living
