October 15, 2020
Renewal of the Public Health Emergency (PHE)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has notified CGS, pursuant of the Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, that Secretary Azar of the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) signed a renewal of the determination that a public health emergency (PHE) continues to exist, effective October 23, 2020. This renewal authorizes providers to continue to use waivers and flexibilities issued under Section 1135 and Section 1812(f) of the Social Security Act in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Note: Providers must resume compliance with normal Medicare fee-for-service rules and regulations as soon as they are able to do so and, in any event, the waivers or modifications a provider was operating under are no longer available after the termination of the emergency period.
COVID-19 Questions and Answers (Q&As), which allow flexibilities based on the PHE, are available on the CMS website at https://www.cms.gov/files/document/03092020-covid-19-faqs-508.pdf.