COVID Vaccine Requirements for Vendors
A regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and recently upheld by the Supreme Court, requires that all Medicare and Medicaid certified providers require their staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This mandate also includes vendors who provide or assist with care, treatment, or other frequent (1 hour or more in aggregate each week) non-health care services for the facility and/or its patients under contract or other arrangements. Importantly, this CMS federal mandate is intended to take precedence over Montana House Bill 702.
With the Supreme Court decision, Logan Health must comply with the mandate or risk losing funding from CMS. Each year, more than 400,000 visits to Logan Health facilities are attributed to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, some of whom are our most vulnerable patients. If we do not comply, CMS can terminate Logan Health’s participation in the program, which will threaten its ability to care for those patients.
As the law currently stands, all Logan Health employees and certain vendors will be required to be fully vaccinated (2 doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or 1 dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) against COVID-19 or have an approved medical or religious exemption. Logan Health is currently relying on each vendor to screen its own employees and exercise its own good faith discretion in granting vaccination exemptions for medical or religious/spiritual reasons. Exemption standards should, at a minimum, comply with the standards set out in the ADA for medical accommodations and the EEOC for religious accommodations. Vendors or their employees should be prepared to provide proof of vaccination (or exemption) if requested by Logan Health.
Before February 15, your company must submit an attestation stating that it acknowledges and will comply with this regulation. If your company is subscribed to the Symplr Vendor Credentialing System, then your representatives who visit Logan Health facilities may submit individual attestations through that system. If your company is not subscribed to the Symplr Vendor Credentialing System, then please designate one of your employees to submit your company’s attestation online.
Because of the CMS regulation, the employees of vendors who have not submitted the required attestation or received an approved exemption will not be allowed to work on-site as of February 15, or until such time as the attestation is received or exemption is granted by the vendor’s company.
COMPLETE THE ONLINE ATTESTATION FORM NOW
