County medical staff brace for CMS vaccine mandate

WASHINGTON — County staff for departments accepting Medicare and Medicaid payments expect to face a vaccine mandate in the near future after the Supreme Court declined to overturn clauses of a rule enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS.)

Washington County Public Health Nursing Director Karri Fisher said staff had until March 15 to get fully vaccinated, regardless of their department’s size.

“As long as you take federal funding from CMS, you fall under this,” she said. “As a Medicare-certified department, we fall under this.”

Board of Health Member Jack Seward Jr. said the order would apply to the public health department and the county ambulance service. Ambulance Director Jeremy Peck declined to comment on the issue.

While the CMS mandate is legally binding for now, Seward said it could still be overturned later.

“They can move forward with the plans that they are making, however, there is still a lawsuit that is in play,” he said. “All the Supreme Court was asked to do was rule on the temporary stay, and they refused to stay it, so that means that the court case itself continues, but in the meantime, we have to abide by what CMS says.”

Public Health Director Emily Tokheim differentiated the CMS rule from the OSHA mandate, which the Supreme Court did reject in a 6-3 decision.

“The mandate that we’re talking about is not the same as the OSHA, ‘Vaccinate or test’ mandate,” she said. “The CMS mandate is, ‘Vaccinate or get an exemption,’ … testing as a mitigation effort (is) not required.”

While there are several paths to exemption, Fisher said it took more than simply getting a doctor’s note.

“Exemption requires paperwork, you can have either a religious or medical exemption,” she said. “I’m working to develop an instruction sheet for people that want to pursue the medical exemption part. What CMS is instructing their surveyors is that they need to see on those exemptions the clinically-accepted contraindications for that vaccine, and it must address all the vaccines available.”

Fisher said the Board of Health would have to outline its own vaccination rules to comply with the mandate soon, but not immediately.

“I will bring a policy for you, I will send it out beforehand because it’s pretty lengthy,” she said. “We had a lot of docket today and I think this deserves some attention by itself because of the import and the ramifications of this.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com