Interim Final Rule Summary: COVID-19 Public Health Emergency – Additional Provider Reporting Requirements

This document summarizes the CMS interim final rule with comment (IFC) revising prior COVID-19 regulations and requiring more reporting of COVID-19 results. Among other provisions, the IFC requires hospitals, critical access hospitals and laboratories to report COVID-19 test results, requires Medicare and Medicaid long term care facilities to conduct testing of residents and staff, makes updates to extraordinary circumstances exceptions for value-based purchasing programs, clarifies premium reporting for issuers in the individual and small group markets for insurers, modifies application of the extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy for calculation of the 2022 Part C and D Star Ratings, makes certain Merit-based Incentive Payment System updates, and revises its prior policy to limit COVID-19 testing without an order to one test of each type.