Title: COVID–19 Nursing Home Protection Act of 2021
Policy area: Health

Summary:
COVID-19 Nursing Home Protection Act of 2021
This bill provides funds and establishes requirements for Medicare skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and Medicaid nursing facilities (NFs) to address COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019).
Specifically, the bill provides FY2021 funding for COVID-19 strike teams that can be deployed to these facilities to help with vaccinations, clinical care, infection control, or staffing. The amounts provided by the bill are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) and the Senate PAYGO rule. (This excludes the budget effects from being counted for the purposes of enforcing the PAYGO rules.)
In addition, the bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that, during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19, at least one of its contracts with Medicare quality improvement organizations requires that the organization assist SNFs with COVID-19 infection control (e.g., training materials).
Finally, the bill provides statutory authority for the requirement that SNFs and NFs report data regarding COVID-19 preparedness, testing, infections, and deaths. Additionally, the CMS must publish on the Nursing Home Compare website certain demographic information, aggregated by state, with respect to COVID-19 infections and deaths in such facilities.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 333 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 333

To amend title XI and title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
  funding for State strike teams, technical assistance, and infection 
 control for resident and worker safety in skilled nursing facilities 
            and nursing facilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 22, 2021

 Mr. Casey (for himself, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Blumenthal, 
 Mr. Booker, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Smith, Ms. 
Klobuchar, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cortez Masto, 
 Mr. Reed, Ms. Hirono, and Ms. Hassan) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XI and title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 
  funding for State strike teams, technical assistance, and infection 
 control for resident and worker safety in skilled nursing facilities 
            and nursing facilities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Nursing Home Protection Act 
of 2021''.

SEC. 2. STATE STRIKE TEAMS FOR RESIDENT AND WORKER SAFETY.

    (a) In General.--Part A of title XI of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1150C. STATE STRIKE TEAMS FOR RESIDENT AND WORKER SAFETY.

    ``(a) In General.--From amounts appropriated under subsection (c), 
the Secretary shall allocate funds among the States for purposes of 
establishing and implementing strike teams in accordance with 
subsection (b).
    ``(b) Use of Funds.--A State that receives funds under this section 
shall use such funds to establish and implement a strike team that will 
be deployed to a skilled nursing facility (as defined in section 
1819(a)) or nursing facility (as defined in section 1919(a)) in the 
State with diagnosed or suspected cases of COVID-19 among residents or 
staff for the purposes of assisting with COVID-19 vaccinations, 
clinical care, infection control, or staffing.
    ``(c) Funding.--There are hereby appropriated to the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services Program Management Account, out of any 
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $750,000,000 for the 
fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, to remain available through 
September 30, 2022, for purposes of carrying out this section.''.
    (b) Emergency Designation.--
            (1) In general.--The amounts provided by this section are 
        designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) 
        of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)).
            (2) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, this section is 
        designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 
        4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 
        resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018.

SEC. 3. PROVIDING FOR INFECTION CONTROL SUPPORT TO SKILLED NURSING 
              FACILITIES THROUGH CONTRACTS WITH QUALITY IMPROVEMENT 
              ORGANIZATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1862(g) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395y(g)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting ``(1) The 
        Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2)(A) The Secretary shall ensure that at least 1 
        contract with a quality improvement organization described in 
        paragraph (1) entered into on or after the date of the 
        enactment of this paragraph and before the end of the emergency 
        period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) (or in effect as of 
        such date) includes the requirement that such organization 
        provide to skilled nursing facilities with cases of COVID-19 
        (or facilities attempting to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19) 
        infection control support described in subparagraph (B) during 
        such period.
            ``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the infection 
        control support described in this subparagraph is, with respect 
        to skilled nursing facilities described in such subparagraph, 
        the development and dissemination to such facilities of 
        protocols relating to the prevention or mitigation of COVID-19 
        at such facilities and the provision of training materials to 
        such facilities relating to such prevention or mitigation.''.
    (b) Funding.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
provide for the transfer from the Federal Supplementary Medical 
Insurance Trust Fund (as described in section 1841 of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395t)) and the Federal Hospital Insurance 
Trust Fund (as described in section 1817 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395i)), in such proportions as determined appropriate by the 
Secretary, to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Program 
Management Account, of $210,000,000, to remain available until 
expended, for purposes of entering into contracts with quality 
improvement organizations under part B of title XI of such Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320c et seq.). Of the amount transferred pursuant to the 
previous sentence, not less than $110,000,000 shall be used for 
purposes of entering into such a contract that includes the requirement 
described in section 1862(g)(2)(A) of such Act (as added by subsection 
(a)).

SEC. 4. REQUIRING LONG TERM CARE FACILITIES TO REPORT CERTAIN 
              INFORMATION RELATING TO COVID-19 CASES AND DEATHS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in 
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall, as soon as 
practicable, require that the information described in paragraph (1) of 
section 483.80(g) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, or a 
successor regulation, be reported by a facility (as defined for 
purposes of such section).
    (b) Demographic Information.--The Secretary shall post the 
following information with respect to skilled nursing facilities (as 
defined in section 1819(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-
3(a))) and nursing facilities (as defined in section 1919(a) of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1396r(a))) on the Nursing Home Compare website (as 
described in section 1819(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395i-3(i))), or a successor website, aggregated by State:
            (1) The age, race/ethnicity, and preferred language of the 
        residents of such skilled nursing facilities and nursing 
        facilities with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infections, 
        including residents previously treated for COVID-19.
            (2) The age, race/ethnicity, and preferred language 
        relating to total deaths and COVID-19 deaths among residents of 
        such skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities.
    (c) Confidentiality.--Any information reported under this section 
that is made available to the public shall be made so available in a 
manner that protects the identity of residents of skilled nursing 
facilities and nursing facilities.
    (d) Implementation.--The Secretary may implement the provisions of 
this section by program instruction or otherwise.
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