White House Announces Vaccination Distribution Program for LTC Residents
Today, the White House announced the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program–a national vaccine distribution program for long term care residents.
The COVID-19 vaccine will likely become available in phases over the coming months. To prepare, the federal government has partnered with CVS and Walgreens to distribute and administer the vaccine to residents in long term care facilities. This program is free of charge and covers all of the reporting requirements associated with the vaccine. Vaccination for health care workers will be handled by states, and likely take place in early phases of distribution.
Starting on Monday, October 19, long term care facilities (nursing homes, assisted living communities, ICF/IIDs and other congregate settings for older adults) will have two weeks to register with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on how they want to receive and administer the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.
Nursing homes will be able to register through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) website, while assisted living communities and other congregate settings can register through an online survey.
CDC has developed a communication toolkit to assist providers with registration and also share information in emails, newsletters, and social media. These resources include [a] Pharmacy Partnership Overview , Pharmacy Partnership FAQs , Partner Packet for SNFs, [and] Partner Packet for ALs .
We strongly encourage all long term care facilities to participate and register as soon as the portals open. This is critical to ensuring our vulnerable residents are among the first to receive a vaccine when it becomes available.
AHCA/NCAL has offered an overview. To prepare, we encourage you to review these materials, as well as:
– Compile the necessary information for the nursing home and assisted living portals, to inform CDC about your resident population
– Register now for one of the AHCA/NCAL “Office Hours” on ahcancalED – multiple days and times are available over the next two weeks with CDC staff to help answer questions about this vaccination program
HCAM will share additional information as it evolves and becomes available.
– hcam.org