On January 5, 2022, the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and the Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning (OMPP) announced that the temporary 6% increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for Indiana nursing facilities that attest to being COVID-19 Ready has been extended through January 31st, 2022.
On November 24, 2021 Indiana Medicaid announced to restart the COVID-19 Ready Nursing Facility Reimbursement. Those nursing homes that qualify will obtain a 6% rate increase for all Medicaid residents. The reimbursement was initially available for dates of service between November 22 and December 31, 2021 but has been extended through Jan. 31, 2022
- Nursing Facilities that have already attested to being COVID-19 Ready in 2021, do not need to sign another attestation form. Instead those facilities need to confirm status by updating EMResources regarding status and admissions capacities.
- Nursing facility providers that had previously attested to being COVID-19 Ready should let IDOH/OMPP know if their status has changed and update their status in EMResource accordingly. If a Nursing Facility is no longer COVID-19 Ready, please contact Derris Harrisonat Indiana Medicaid.
- If your facility does not anticipate being able to accept COVID-19 patients from the hospital in the next 30 days due to current capacity, admissions holds, or because you are in staffing crisis – you should NOT sign up to be COVID-19 Ready. If you were previously a COVID-19 ready facility, you should update your status in EMResource.
- For facilities needing to attest, complete the attestation form on Myers & Stauffer’s website (posted under the 11/24/2021 announcement).
- Currently, the attestation that was used in September is still on the website under announcements. Providers that had not previously attested can use the September form until the November form is uploaded
Qualifying as a COVID-19 Ready Facility
Each nursing facility desiring to become COVID-19 Ready must follow and attest to the below COVID-19 Ready requirements. The COVID-19 Ready Attestation Statement is linked above.
- Follow IDOH COVID-19 Long-Term Care (LTC) Standard Operating Procedures and IDOH COVID-19 Infection Prevention (IP) Toolkit, located on the Professional Resources page at coronavirus.in.gov.
- Follow IDOH LTC hospital transfer guidance or have developed a mutually agreed upon plan with local hospitals for admission and readmission of COVID-19 patients.
- Follow IDOH, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) communication guidelines.
- Accept COVID-19 new admissions, readmissions and transfers.
- Share complete COVID-19 status information with transportation providers serving residents.
- Follow IDOH, CMS and CDC reporting requirements for new COVID-19 cases and deaths involving residents and staff.
- Provide daily updates of COVID-19 bed capacity and changes in admission status (for example, admissions hold) in the EMResource system at emresource.juvare.com.
- When making the first entry, enter the facility’s current admissions status and capacity.
EMResource Assistance
- Click here for EMResource Account Request
- Click here for the EMResource COVID-19 Ready Reporting Instructions
- Click here for EMResource Login Guide
- Facilities that already have an EMResource account should follow the instructions for resetting their password if they have trouble logging in.
- EMResource Troubleshooting – Email Eric Shelley at the Indiana Department of Health – eshelley1@isdh.in.gov