(a) Staffing.
(1) The clinic or center has a health care staff that includes one or more physicians. Rural health clinic staffs must also include one or more physician's assistants or nurse practitioners.
(2) The physician member of the staff may be the owner of the rural health clinic, an employee of the clinic or center, or under agreement with the clinic or center to carry out the responsibilities required under this section.
(3) The physician assistant, nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, clinical social worker or clinical psychologist member of the staff may be the owner or an employee of the clinic or center, or may furnish services under contract to the clinic or center. In the case of a clinic, at least one physician assistant or nurse practitioner must be an employee of the clinic.
(4) The staff may also include ancillary personnel who are supervised by the professional staff.
(5) The staff is sufficient to provide the services essential to the operation of the clinic or center.
(6) A physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, certified nurse-midwife, clinical social worker, or clinical psychologist is available to furnish patient care services at all times the clinic or center operates. In addition, for RHCs, a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or certified nurse-midwife is available to furnish patient care services at least 50 percent of the time the RHC operates.
(b) Physician responsibilities. The physician performs the following:
(1) Except for services furnished by a clinical psychologist in an FQHC, which State law permits to be provided without physician supervision, provides medical direction for the clinic's or center's health care activities and consultation for, and medical supervision of, the health care staff.
(2) In conjunction with the physician assistant and/or nurse practitioner member(s), participates in developing, executing, and periodically reviewing the clinic's or center's written policies and the services provided to Federal program patients.
(3) Periodically reviews the clinic's or center's patient records, provides medical orders, and provides medical care services to the patients of the clinic or center.
(c) Physician assistant and nurse practitioner responsibilities.
(1) The physician assistant and the nurse practitioner members of the clinic's or center's staff:
(i) Participate in the development, execution and periodic review of the written policies governing the services the clinic or center furnishes;
(ii) Participate with a physician in a periodic review of the patients' health records.
(2) The physician assistant or nurse practitioner performs the following functions, to the extent they are not being performed by a physician:
(i) Provides services in accordance with the clinic's or center's policies;
(ii) Arranges for, or refers patients to, needed services that cannot be provided at the clinic or center; and
(iii) Assures that adequate patient health records are maintained and transferred as required when patients are referred.
(d) COVID-19 vaccination of staff. The RHC/FQHC must develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that all staff are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. For purposes of this section, staff are considered fully vaccinated if it has been 2 weeks or more since they completed a primary vaccination series for COVID-19. The completion of a primary vaccination series for COVID-19 is defined here as the administration of a single-dose vaccine, or the administration of all required doses of a multi-dose vaccine.
(1) Regardless of clinical responsibility or patient contact, the policies and procedures must apply to the following clinic or center staff, who provide any care, treatment, or other services for the clinic or center and/or its patients:
(i) RHC/FQHC employees;
(ii) Licensed practitioners;
(iii) Students, trainees, and volunteers; and
(iv) Individuals who provide care, treatment, or other services for the clinic or center and/or its patients, under contract or by other arrangement.
(2) The policies and procedures of this section do not apply to the following clinic or center staff:
(i) Staff who exclusively provide telehealth or telemedicine services outside of the clinic or center setting and who do not have any direct contact with patients and other staff specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section; and
(ii) Staff who provide support services for the clinic or center that are performed exclusively outside of the clinic or center setting and who do not have any direct contact with patients and other staff specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section.
(3) The policies and procedures must include, at a minimum, the following components:
(i) A process for ensuring all staff specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section (except for those staff who have pending requests for, or who have been granted, exemptions to the vaccination requirements of this section, or those staff for whom COVID-19 vaccination must be temporarily delayed, as recommended by the CDC, due to clinical precautions and considerations) have received, at a minimum, a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or the first dose of the primary vaccination series for a multi-dose COVID-19 vaccine prior to staff providing any care, treatment, or other services for the clinic or center and/or its patients;
(ii) A process for ensuring that all staff specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, except for those staff who have been granted exemptions to the vaccination requirements of this section, or those staff for whom COVID-19 vaccination must be temporarily delayed, as recommended by the CDC, due to clinical precautions and considerations;
(iii) A process for ensuring that the clinic or center follows nationally recognized infection prevention and control guidelines intended to mitigate the transmission and spread of COVID-19, and which must include the implementation of additional precautions for all staff who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19;
(iv) A process for tracking and securely documenting the COVID-19 vaccination status for all staff specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section;
(v) A process for tracking and securely documenting the COVID-19 vaccination status of any staff who have obtained any booster doses as recommended by the CDC;
(vi) A process by which staff may request an exemption from the staff COVID-19 vaccination requirements based on an applicable Federal law;
(vii) A process for tracking and securely documenting information provided by those staff who have requested, and for whom the facility has granted, an exemption from the staff COVID-19 vaccination requirements;
(viii) A process for ensuring that all documentation, which confirms recognized clinical contraindications to COVID-19 vaccines and which supports staff requests for medical exemptions from vaccination, has been signed and dated by a licensed practitioner, who is not the individual requesting the exemption, and who is acting within their respective scope of practice as defined by, and in accordance with, all applicable State and local laws, and for further ensuring that such documentation contains;
(A) All information specifying which of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are clinically contraindicated for the staff member to receive and the recognized clinical reasons for the contraindications; and
(B) A statement by the authenticating practitioner recommending that the staff member be exempted from the clinic's or center's COVID-19 vaccination requirements for staff based on the recognized clinical contraindications;
(ix) A process for ensuring the tracking and secure documentation of the vaccination status of staff for whom COVID-19 vaccination must be temporarily delayed, as recommended by the CDC, due to clinical precautions and considerations, including, but not limited to, individuals with acute illness secondary to COVID-19, and individuals who received monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma for COVID-19 treatment; and
(x) Contingency plans for staff who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
[57 FR 24983, June 12, 1992, as amended at 61 FR 14658, Apr. 3, 1996; 68 FR 74817, Dec. 24, 2003; 71 FR 55346, Sept. 22, 2006; 79 FR 25480, May 2, 2014; 79 FR 27156, May 12, 2014; 86 FR 61626, Nov. 5, 2021]