First few Article Sentences
Disasters such as the California wildfires, the North Dakota flooding, H1N1 pandemic, and Hurricanes Michael, Harvey, and Irma have had a tremendous impact on health care providers. When disaster strikes, resources are often stretched thin – and delivering quality care to patients while juggling an understaffed facility due to displaced employees and federal regulatory requirements can present significant challenges. Section 1135 of the Social Security Act provides relief to health care providers by authorizing the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“the Secretary”) to grant waivers from compliance with Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program requirements after either the President has declared an emergency or disaster or the Secretary has declared a Public Health emergency. These Section 1135(b) waivers relieve health care providers from the added burdens of technical compliance with federal health care programs during declared emergencies; but, they do not affect state law requirements.