On Monday, November 29, a Federal judge in the Eastern District of Missouri issued a preliminary injunction in the case filed by Missouri and nine other states against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) staff vaccine mandate interim final rule. This ruling applies only to the following ten states: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
There are also three other active cases filed by Texas, Florida, and a different, 14-state group (Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky). The Florida request for a preliminary injunction was denied in District Court last week and an appeal has been filed. We expect rulings in the other two cases before December 6.
What does this mean? The rule is put on temporary hold in the ten-state group led by Missouri and CMS is prevented from taking any enforcement action. There will likely be an appeal of the preliminary injunction and it may be reversed. For other states, the CMS rule is still scheduled to go into effect on December 6. Medicare providers should continue to plan and work toward a December 6 implementation date as the amount of planning and work should not be left to the last minute.
Resources to help with this mandate including template policy and procedures are available in AHCA/NCAL's coronavirus website, located under the vaccine heading at the bottom.