The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) have released the following statement regarding the United States District Court in the Western District of Louisiana issuing a nationwide injunction on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.

The statement is attributable to Mark Parkinson, AHCA/NCAL president and chief executive officer.

“We appreciate the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana issuing this injunction. We have always supported vaccinating as many residents and staff as possible. However, we are deeply concerned that the current mandate issued by CMS will cause nursing homes to lose staff at a time when we are already grappling with a historic labor crisis,” Parkinson said.

“We continue to urge CMS to allow a regular testing option for unvaccinated staff and, therefore, support any legal remedy or CMS action that would bring about this solution.”

There are currently four active cases regarding the CMS interim final rule staff vaccine mandate: the Louisiana litigation, which was filed by a 14-state group, the Missouri litigation filed by 10 states, and individual cases filed by the states of Florida and Texas. Florida’s request for a preliminary injunction was denied by the District Court last week and is being appealed. A hearing in the Texas case is scheduled for Dec. 2.

While the interim final rule is, as of Dec. 1, prevented in all states from going into effect, Medicare providers should continue to prepare to have policies and procedures ready so that if the government’s arguments prevail, they can be quickly implemented, AHCA/NCAL said. As employers, providers should consider what policy they want to have in place until a government mandate requires it, which is not certain, the association said.