The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in QSO Memo QSO 22-18-ALL that the agency will no longer require surveyors to be fully vaccinated in order to conduct on-site surveys.

The new memo rescinds previous direction from CMS which said that surveyors who are not fully vaccinated should not participate as a part of on-site survey teams.

The surveyor vaccine requirement lasted less than six months. Nursing facility staff are still required to comply with CMS’s vaccination mandate, but CMS will no longer expect the same standard of their surveyors, who in their professional capacity spend substantial periods of time interacting with residents and staff.

The new CMS memo states that the sudden reversal is due to confusion around the possibility of penalties of noncompliance and to prevent facilities from inquiring about surveyor vaccination status, even though the initial guidance said there would be no penalties and prohibited providers from asking surveyors for proof of their vaccination.