Valley View Care and Rehabilitation
Nursing homes across the nation still don’t know the final outcome of a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health-care workers.
The most recent court ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 15, lifted a nationwide hold on the mandate applied by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty on Nov. 30. The Fifth Circuit allowed the hold to remain in place in the 14 states that sued to block the mandate, but North Carolina was not one of them.
The mandate, issued by President Joe Biden in early November, would have required all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4.
Mark Chandross, administrator of Valley View Care & Rehabilitation Center in Andrews, said he has been following the court decisions but has not received updated guidance from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services.
“In the case of our company, we would prefer that you are vaccinated,” Chandross said. “If you request a religious exemption or medical exemption, we will look at that. I think that’s the way most people are going.”
The Justice Department has requested that the Supreme Court uphold the mandate for all health-care workers across the nation.
According to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services website, Valley View has a 56 percent staff vaccination rate. At Murphy Rehabilitation & Nursing in Peachtree, that number stands at 59.4 percent. Both figures sit below the national average of 77.3 percent.
Murphy Rehab has a resident vaccination rate of 84.7 percent, not far behind the national average of 87 percent. Meanwhile, 70.8 percent of residents at Valley View have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Adam Sholar, president of the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association, told WRAL.com that while there is adequate staffing to take care of residents in facilities, many are restricting or pausing new admissions.
Chandross said Valley View continues to accept new residents, but he has the ability to pause admissions at any time in the interests of patient care. Regardless of how the mandate ultimately plays out in court, he is confident his facility will not experience significant impacts in service.
“We are seeing an uptick in young applicants for care positions,” Chandross said. “This is a welcome sign for our industry and especially Valley View.”
A study published Dec. 8 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that COVID-related death rates among residents in low-vaccination facilities were almost three times as high as facilities with the highest levels of staff vaccination.
The research, from Harvard Medical School and the University of Rochester in New York, is based on data from 81 percent of nursing homes in the United States – 12,364 facilities – collected in summer 2021 during the surge created by the Delta variant. The risks remained even if nursing home residents themselves were vaccinated, according to Brian McGarry, one of the study’s authors.
“Even though the residents are protected with their vaccination, they’re still relying on an additional layer of protection from the staff,” McGarry told NBC News.
The federal requirements would apply to about 76,000 providers and cover more than 17 million health-care workers if implemented across the country. The mandate provides for exemptions based on recognized medical conditions or religious beliefs, observances, or practices. Facilities must develop a similar process or plan for permitting exemptions in alignment with federal law.
“Ensuring patient safety and protection from COVID-19 has been the focus of our efforts in combating the pandemic and the constantly evolving challenges we’re seeing,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said when the mandate was announced. “Today’s action addresses the risk of unvaccinated health care staff to patient safety and provides stability and uniformity across the nation’s health care system to strengthen the health of people and the providers who care for them.”
Calls to Murphy Rehab over the last few weeks seeking comment were not returned.