CMS Releases List of First Nursing Homes to Receive Devices Under COVID-19 Testing Initiative

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 22 released the list of the first skilled nursing facilities to receive point-of-care COVID-19 testing devices under an initiative announced last week. The nursing homes identified by CMS will be receiving Quidel Sofia and Sofia 2 Instruments and BD Veritor Plus Systems, along with the respective antigen diagnostic tests that go with each device. Priority is being given to nursing homes in COVID-19 hotspots, as determined by data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and to facilities ​“whose data indicate an elevated risk for COVID-19 transmission,” according to an FAQ document on the initiative.