ARTICLE
TO: Florida Hospital Association CEOs, CFO, HR and Government Relations Executives FROM: Mary C. Mayhew, President and CEO, Florida Hospital Association SUBJECT: CMS/OSHA Vaccine Mandates to be Released today DATE: November 4, 2021 This morning the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released their new rules concerning mandatory vaccination of employees. The CMS rule can be found here. A fact sheet provided by the administration provides the following summary of the CMS rule: Clinical or non-clinical employees, students, trainees, and volunteers who work at a covered facility that receives federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid must be fully vaccinated (one dose J&J, two doses Pfizer or Moderna) by January 4, 2022. The facility types covered by the rule are hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis facilities, home health agencies, and long-term care facilities. A news release from CMS does indicate the rule will provide exemptions for employees with medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs. The OSHA rule (ETS) will not be applied to workplaces subject to the federal contractor requirement or CMS rule, so employers will not have to track multiple vaccination requirements for the same employees. This one regulatory scheme provision is consistent with a request FHA made of CMS in September. FHA is currently analyzing the rule and will schedule a call to discuss further as we gain a greater understanding of its content and its implications on hospital operations. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly or Michael Williams, FHA SVP of Federal Affairs and General Counsel. He can be reached at mikew@fha.org. [[UNSUBSCRIBELINK]] from all FHA e-communications. 306 East College Avenue | Tallahassee, FL 32301 | Website
November 4, 2021
[[UNSUBSCRIBELINK]] from all FHA e-communications. 306 East College Avenue | Tallahassee, FL 32301 | Website