HHS announced that the Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 will end on May, 11, 2023. During the PHE, CMS used a combination of emergency authority waivers, regulations, enforcement discretion, and sub-regulatory guidance to ensure easier access to care during the PHE for healthcare providers and their beneficiaries.
Some of the flexibilities created during the pandemic were recently expanded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Others, while critical during initial responses to COVID-19, are no longer needed.
CMS made further updates to its CMS Emergencies Page with useful information for providers – specifically around major telehealth and individual waivers – that were initiated during the PHE.
Provider-specific fact sheets about COVID-19 PHE waivers and flexibilities
Healthcare providers can apply for an 1135 waiver or submit a PHE-related inquiry here.
Waivers and flexibilities for providers include:
• Physicians and Other Clinicians
• Hospitals and CAHs (including Swing Beds, DPUs), ASCs and CMHCs
• Teaching Hospitals, Teaching Physicians and Medical Residents
• Long Term Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities and/or Nursing Facilities)
• Home Health Agencies
• Hospice
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
• Long Term Care Hospitals & Extended Neoplastic Disease Care Hospitals
• Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
• Laboratories
• Medicare Shared Savings Program
• Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies
• Medicare Advantage and Part D Plans
• Ambulances
• End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Facilities
• Participants in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program • Intermediate Ca
