Administration Ends Waiver of Medicare Supervision Rule

On Thursday, May 11, the Public Health Emergency (PHE) related to the COVID-19 expired. The PHE was declared by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) starting in January 2020 and renewed until now. 

The PHE includes emergency waivers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of a full range of existing Medicare and Medicaid regulations, including the CMS Medicare anesthesia supervision requirement. ASA met with senior officials throughout the PHE to highlight the patient safety implications of removing the Medicare supervision requirement and submitted formal comments.   

ASA applauds the Administration’s commitment to patient safety in concluding the waiver of the Medicare supervision requirement for nurse anesthetists.