Part B News: Sandra Cianflone on the Potential End to the COVID-19 PHE & Its Impacts

As speculation looms about an inevitable end to the public health emergency related to COVID-19, providers are curious to know the impact to flexibility allowed under the PHE including Medicare payment and coverage requirements.

Sandie Cianflone, Atlanta-based partner at Hall Booth Smith, told Part B News that one consideration should be the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act. It may lead to controversy and even litigation in states that have their own PHE declarations and keep them after the federal government drops theirs, as those states may argue they are the “Authority Having Jurisdiction” and that their health care providers are still protected with respect to covered countermeasures.

Cianflone said she expects the federal government is already working on ways to facilitate a smooth transition: “Even if they pull the rug out,” she said, “they’re going to have to issue some kind of guidance in the interim to get you back to stasis, or we would hope they would do so given that particular portions of legislation are contingent on the PHE being in place.”

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