Stay Centered and Carry On: PHE likely to persist through 2021!

By Steve MacArthur, Hospital Safety Consultant

As any of the Peanuts gang might opine: AAUGH!

In a letter to the governors, Norris Cochran, the acting secretary of HHS, indicated that it had been determined that the Public Health Emergency (PHE) will likely remain in place for the entirety of 2021, but there would also be a 60-day notification prior to the termination or expiration of the PHE.

Ostensibly, this removes at least some of the uncertainty of the quarterly updates of the PHE status and appears to provide a 60-day window for organizations to attain compliance with any regulatory requirements covered under the 1135 waiver process, including the blanket waivers currently in effect. I suspect this also means that support at the federal level will remain in place relative to response activities—the letter also indicates that this should be considered evidence of the government’s commitment to ongoing response to the pandemic.

Presumably, there is a cross-section of folks in the field who either didn’t adopt any of the waivers or have been able to move things back to “business as usual” in terms of inspection, testing and maintenance activities, so this may not mean that much from a practical standpoint. That said, if there are any of you out there who have been able to make good use of, you probably need to start thinking about a turnaround within 60 days. Maybe you start to reach out to your vendors—there’s probably going to be a queue for services once this whole thing breaks loose—and the indication is that the accreditation organizations are not going to be flexible once the PHE expires/terminates. I’m trying to think of what processes would take longer than 60 days to get back on track and nothing is springing to mind. Again, I suspect that scheduling the work is going to be the “sticky wicket” if there’s going to be any issue, so if there’s anything you can do to pre-load that process, it’s probably time well-spent.

Until next time, hope you are well and staying safe!

About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.