Funds Related to Federal COVID-19 Testing Guidelines
DSHS sent out the following message this morning.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provided interim guidance (CMS-3401-IFC) for COVID-19 testing requirements in nursing homes. This guidance requires nursing homes to test all staff and residents every 3-7 days until no new cases are found for 14 days. Due to this guidance, Washington State Nursing Facilities will be receiving a one-time payment of approximately $680 per licensed bed to help pay for increased testing, as required by CMS. Licensed bed days as of November 2, 2020 were used for this calculation. This payment will be made through the ProviderOne system if that is an option for your facility. You do not need to do anything special to receive this money. If your facility does not have a ProviderOne account ALTSA will work with you directly.
DSHS is not establishing new testing requirements, this money is to help with the current CMS testing guidelines. The testing requirements stated above are for outbreak testing.
If you do not receive these funds in the next week, or you believe that the amount you receive is incorrect, please reach out to David Carter at dcarter@leadginagewa.org.