Dispatch: Three Important Administration Updates

We encourage our members to read the three regulatory updates linked below to ensure compliance with new federal requirements during the pandemic. Two of these updates pertain to emergency funding distributed through the CARES Act, and the other to workplace safety. While ANCOR will be releasing more materials on these topics to assist our members, the initial announcements provide useful summaries.

• The Department of Labor’s Occupational and Health Safety Administration released new COVID-19 specific workplace safety rules specific to health care settings. The requirements include providing masks, physical barriers, social distancing and proper ventilation. Access the full text of the rule, fact sheets and more resources here.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updated its reporting requirements for funding received from the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). This update supplants the initial guidance from January 15, 2021. This press release offers a brief summary of the changes and links to the PRF portal.

• Also related to the PRF but in a more limited context, there is still $24 billion left unspent in the PRF that remains to be allocated in a future tranche. HHS has announced that any future recipients of that remaining PRF funding (once allocated) will not have to spend it by the June 30th deadline. However, anyone who has already received funding from previous tranches does still have to comply with the June 30th deadline. Learn more from this Inside Health Policy article.

As a benefit of ANCOR membership, we will be sharing more detailed content on these issues as it becomes available through the ANCOR Connected Community Forum.