• CDC Key Points as of April 15, 2020
• Fiscal Year 2021 Hospice Payment Rate Update Proposed Rule 
• Instructions for Healthcare Facilities: Preparation and Collection of Compatible N95 Respirators for Decontamination by the Battelle Memorial Institute Using the Battelle Decontamination System
• FEMA Fact Sheet: COVID-19 PPE Preservation
• FEMA Rumor Control
• GEMA: Georgia Situation Report COVID-19
• National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care: Resource Page
• Trainings: 
• 2X2 Webinar Series: Daily Self-Care Tips and Support for Health Care and Emergency Response Workers DBHDD
• NETEC Emerging Pathogen COVID-19 Webinar Series Training
  
• Provider Relief Fund Dilemma: Keep the Money or Send it Back?: Acevedo Consulting
  

• Notifiable Disease: Condition Reporting
• Interim Guidance for Clinicans Evaluating, Reporting, and Requesting Diagnostic Testing for Possible COVID-19 Cases
• Resource Request Process for Healthcare Staffing
• GA DPH: Interim Guidance for Long-Term Care (LTC) Facilities Admitting Residents from a Hospital as of April 14, 2020

• President Trump signs the CARES Act into law allowing tele-health for hospice face-to-face.
• Risk of Spending Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund Payments: Hush Blackwell

• CMS announced additional 1135 blanket waivers on April 30. See the updated version of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers that lists the blanket waivers that apply to hospice, updated as of May 1, 2020.
• Hospice-specific fact sheet on COVID-19 Flexibilities 
• Press Release
• Additional Background Information
• More Information

• CMS has extended the cost report date to June 30, 2020 for providers with a fiscal year ended 10/31/2019 or 11/30/2019
• CMS has extended the cost report due date to July 31, 2020 for providers with a fiscal year ended 12/31/2019.
• Palmetto GBA posted a notice of this extension HERE. 
• CMS Summary Update: March 23, 2020

Palmetto GBA Statement: ADR’s and TPE’s

Medical Review Administrative Relief Related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has authorized nationwide waivers under §1812(f) of the Social Security Act retroactive to March 1, 2020, for those impacted by COVID-19. Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) operations will implement the following policies and procedures for all claims, not just for the COVID-19 diagnoses.

Additional Documentation Requests (ADRs)

1. For ADRs that have already been issued, Medicare contractors will release the claims for payment and not issue claim denials 
2. Any claims auto-denied for non-response of an ADR from March 1, 2020, until March 26, 2020, will have the denial reversed and allow payment if an appeal has not been filed. If an appeal has been filed, normal appeals processes will be followed. 
3. As of March 26, 2020, future ADRs will not be sent until further notice from CMS 

1. All current TPE reviews and associated edits are suspended and selected claims released for payment 
2. MACs will allow TPE medical review education sessions to be rescheduled upon provider request 

Palmetto GBA's Commitment To The Community During COVID-19

Emergency and Disaster Instructions

Employer Curfew Letter:

As you and your staff continue to navigate the COVID – 19 Crisis on the front lines of healthcare it has come to our attention that maneuvering through the various counties and their curfew restrictions can be challenging for your staff.  Please note that our colleagues in other states, along with GHPCO board and legal support, GHPCO has crafted two letters for you to consider customizing on your letterhead and sharing with your field to carry with them as they travel caring for hospice and palliative care patients.  Please also remind them to carry their employer ID at all times. In the event they are stopped after hours by law enforcement, they can share their ID along with a copy of one of the attached letters and our partners at the state government assure me there should be no issues.

Law Enforcement Letter

Verification of Employment

• Non-Hospital Clinical Providers
  
• Hospital
• We ask that you submit your forms by noon on the following days: Saturday for Tuesday deliveries; Monday for Thursday deliveries; Wednesday for Saturday deliveries

•  PPE Resource Request Process Update from the Georgia Department of Public Health as of March 24, 2020 
• Strategies to Optimize PPE!
• There is an EMORY website HERE offering processes to conserve and reuse PPE.  
• Tips: Maximizing Nursing Home Visits During COVID-19
• Here is a PPE site that is a resource for those who need PPE, have PPE to donate, and can sew/make/manufacture PPE. We are not endorsing or recommending the site – but since PPE is so hard to come by, we are passing it along: www.getusppe.org
• Instructions for Healthcare Facilities: Preparation and Collection of Compatible N95 Respirators for Decontamination by the Battelle Memorial Institute Using the Battelle Decontamination System

DCH Criminal Background Fingerprint Check Requirements:

Attached is a variance notice for the fingerprint criminal background check requirements that will provide some flexibility during this challenging period. For now, the language is for the period of the State of Emergency, bu the DCH may update the notice if needed based on when the providers begin to re-open so that organizations have a sufficient grace period to comply with the requirement. Please click here. 

Free Palliative Care Resources in This Time of Crisis:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, our hearts are with healthcare professionals like you who are struggling to treat illness, manage symptoms, and ease suffering for patients with serious illness and their families. To support you amid this crisis, we are immediately making more than 20 high-quality palliative care courses and resources available at no charge.

• Choose From Select Courses and Use This Code: PC4COVID(Good only on registrations through June 30)
• These resources are free to anyone caring for patients and families. They are focused on skills needed now at the frontlines: communication, advance care planning, palliative care skills for generalists, crisis intervention strategies, self-care, and more.
• Explaining the Role of Palliative Care in COVID-19
• Tips: For Health Care Workers During Extraordinary Times

POLST:

• Completing POLST Forms in Crisis Standards of Care
  
• Critical Conditions Planning Guide: Emory Healthcare Ethics Consortium
  
• A guide for POLST and EMS
  
•  Current Georgia POLST form as a resource.