Wyden Applauds CMS Rule on Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccination Reporting

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued a statement after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an interim final rule revising COVID-19 vaccine education, delivery and reporting requirements in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF-IID):

“Today’s announcement is an important step towards ensuring nursing homes are safer for residents and workers, who have been hit hard by COVID-19,” Wyden said. “COVID-19 vaccines have been driving down the number of infections and deaths in the United States, and it is imperative that families have access to nursing home vaccination data so they can make informed choices about their care. I will continue pushing for COVID-19 vaccination information to be made available in the most consumer-friendly way possible.”

The rule, which will go into effect later this month, requires facilities to educate staff and residents about COVID-19 vaccines, offer COVID-19 vaccines to residents and staff when available, and report the vaccination status of residents and staff to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a weekly basis. These requirements are in line with existing rules that require facilities to report vaccination status of nursing home residents for influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia vaccines, as well as the publication of this data.

Nursing home residents and workers have made up a disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths. According to CMS data, more than 133,000 nursing home residents and have died from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. CMS estimates that there will be over 1 million residents and staff of nursing homes and ICF-IIDs who will need COVID-19 vaccination in the next year, according to the rule.

In March, Wyden and a bipartisan group of senators called for CMS to collect and report nursing home COVID-19 vaccination data. Wyden first called for such collection and reporting in December of 2020.

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