On January 21, communications from health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), were halted. According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to “pause all external communications,” including health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites, and social media posts.
The pause, according to multiple news reports, is in effect until February 1.
When visiting the CMS newsroom website, all posts were removed except for one from January 10. The CMS newsroom serves as a crucial source for fact sheets on federal rules and policy decisions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) also appeared to be immediately affected, with error messages replacing charts on the COVID-19 nursing home dashboard. The NHSN data has been a key tool for tracking cases among residents and staff over time.
While external communications may be impacted, there is no indication that the reporting requirements for nursing homes, such as submitting data to various platforms, have been relaxed. LeadingAge has been advocating for relief from NHSN reporting due to concerns about duplicative and time-consuming reporting. We will continue to stay abreast of the communications halt and engage with CMS and CDC to answer questions regarding requirements and data.
