On May 10, 2023, the Oregon Health Authority (“OHA”) announced that, effective May 11, it is suspending the statewide rule requiring that health care workers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have an approved medical or religious exception. The news coincides with the end of the federal public health emergency on May 11, along with the anticipated end of the federal COVID-19 vaccination mandate for health care facilities certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”).

The OHA stated that immediate suspension of the rule is necessary “to align with the end of the federal public health emergency and elimination of other COVID-19-related control measures, and because there is no longer a significant public health need for this rule.”

The OHA also stated:

The rationale for the rule when it was adopted was that COVID-19 was likely to be transmitted in these congregate settings, placing vulnerable persons at risk. [The Oregon mandate] is now being suspended, because immunity from the primary series is known to wane over time, such that 2 booster vaccinations have since been recommended for most persons. Moreover, the virus that causes COVID-19 has mutated such that the original series provides little longer-term protection against infection by currently circulating strains. Finally, at this point most people have been infected by the virus (94% by one estimate), giving survivors a degree of immunity at least equivalent to that provided by the original vaccination series for some period of time.Continue Reading Oregon Health Authority Suspends COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers

Though much of U.S. government-sponsored pandemic relief has expired as the country approaches it third new year since its first reported cases of COVID-19, pandemic-related law changes exist that continue to impact employee benefit plans, and it is important that plan sponsors and administrators pay close attention to these changes as the new year approaches.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notification of relief, effective immediately, that extends certain critical deadlines in health, disability, and other welfare plans (Deadline Relief).[1] This Deadline Relief requires that these plans extend certain deadlines that affect plan participants, beneficiaries, claimants and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) qualified beneficiaries, by disregarding days during the COVID-19 “Outbreak Period” from counting toward statutory and regulatory timeframes.

The Outbreak Period began on March 1, 2020 and lasts until 60 days after the announced end of the “National Emergency” period for COVID-19 that was declared by the President.

These deadline extensions will impact employer plan sponsors, administrators and insurers.
Continue Reading Important Deadlines Delayed for Health and Welfare Plans due to COVID-19 Emergency: Impacts for Employer Plan Sponsors, Administrators, and Insurers

In an effort to conserve the state’s medical supplies and equipment, specifically personal protective equipment (PPE), Washington and Oregon (among other states) have banned non-urgent, elective procedures.[1] A move that the states hope will help ensure adequate supply of PPE and other medical equipment (e.g., ventilators) to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is a comparative chart summarizing the prohibitions promulgated by Washington and Oregon:
Continue Reading Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Elective Medical Procedures Banned, PPEs at Risk of Confiscation

On March 13, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation declaring a national emergency concerning the novel coronavirus disease (the “Emergency Declaration”).  The president framed the emergency declaration as empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to waive “laws to enable telehealth,” which gave providers hope that the administration would remove some of the primary regulatory barriers to the broad implementation of telehealth services. In the days since the declaration, the administration has taken increasingly significant steps to do just that.

The Emergency Declaration authorized the Secretary of HHS to exercise his waiver authority under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1320b–5). Section 1135 empowers the Secretary to waive or modify only certain provisions under Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) during a national emergency.  Congress broadened these waiver authorities in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill, signed into law on March 6, which gave the Secretary additional authority under Section 1135 to loosen Medicare’s telehealth billing standards. It also specifically allowed the Secretary to waive the requirement that the beneficiary live in a rural area and receive the services at an approved remote site, such as a rural hospital.Continue Reading CMS Takes Significant Action to Spur Use of Telehealth Services for Duration of COVID-19 Emergency