On April 3, at the direction of President Trump, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued critical recommendations to state and local governments, as well as nursing homes, to help mitigate the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in nursing homes. The recommendations build on and strengthen recent guidance from CMS and CDC related to effective implementation of longstanding infection control procedures.

Press Release

Guidance

The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) and Small Business Administration (SBA) released an interim final rule on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). While SBA still needs to confirm some administrative details, loans will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis and producers can get started on the application now.

• For a top-line overview of the PPP program CLICK HERE
• Information for prospective borrowers can be found HERE
• The application for borrowers can be found HERE

Below please find additional details about the PPP program. We will answer outstanding issues once SBA provides further guidance.

1. Program Eligibility
   1. All businesses (including farm and ranch businesses) are eligible for a PPP loan if they (1) have fewer than 500 employees; (2) meet the definition of a “small business concern”; and (3) are subject to SBA’s affiliation rules (unless those rules were specifically waived in the CARES Act).
2. Waiting on SBA to clarify the definition of “small business concern” – do not anticipate any undue restrictions.
3. Waiting on SBA to confirm whether H2A workers are counted as “employees” for the purposes of determining size.

1. 1. Financial institutions, including the Farm Credit system, will be responsible for processing loan applications and administering the loan.
2. Loan Terms
   1. Loan amounts are calculated based on the payroll costs for all employees whose “principal place of residence” is in the U.S. Please note that this definition excludes H-2A workers, which will likely reduce the loan amount available to some agricultural producers.
   2. This loan has a maturity of 2 years and an interest rate of 1%. Loan payments will be deferred for the first six months.
   3. The loan will be fully forgiven if at least 75% of the funds are used for payroll costs, and the remainder is used for interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities.

1. Forgiveness is based on the employer maintaining or quickly rehiring employees and maintaining salary levels.  Forgiveness will be reduced if full-time headcount declines, or if salaries and wages decrease.

1. The best POC for questions on the Paycheck Protection Program is the Lender Relations Specialist in your local SBA Field Office.  The local SBA Field Office may be found at https://www.sba.gov/tools/local-assistance/districtoffices.

While teleworking has become a routine way of doing business in many industry sectors and
government, teleworking during wide-scale public emergencies such as what we are experiencing with
the emergence of the COVID-19 virus introduces significant management, technology and bandwidth
challenges to ensuring uninterrupted and efficient workflow and provision of services to the public.
Added strain on the public telecommunications infrastructure over the “last mile” to the home, in
particular, requires critical healthcare entities to assess risk, prioritize tasks and apportion bandwidth
resources to ensure continuity of mission-essential functions that may migrate off premises to the home
office environment. Continue reading.

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today
announced important changes to the Rural Health Care (RHC) and E-Rate programs that will
make it easier for broadband providers to support telehealth and remote learning efforts during
the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has waived
the gift rules until September 30, 2020 to enable service providers to offer, and RHC and ERate program participants to solicit and accept, improved connections or additional equipment
for telemedicine or remote learning during the coronavirus outbreak.

Read more

With the U.S. experiencing a record number of initial unemployment claims, WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus, along with accompanying videos.

To identify which states have experienced the largest unemployment increases, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key metrics. These metrics compare initial unemployment claim increases for the week of March 23, 2020 to both the same week in 2019 and the first week of 2020. Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released interim guidance for responding to COVID-19 among people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The guidance provides information and actions for health departments, homeless service organizations, housing authorities and others serving people without homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also access resources on the National Health Care for the Homeless website.

The U.S. Department of Education announced on March 20 that the Office of Federal Student Aid is providing student loan relief to tens of millions of borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency. All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to suspend their payments for at least two months to allow them greater flexibility during the national emergency. This will allow borrowers to temporarily stop their payments without worrying about accruing interest. Sec. DeVos has directed all federal student loan servicers to grant an administrative forbearance to any borrower with a federally held loan who requests one. The forbearance will be in effect for a period of at least 60 days, beginning on March 13, 2020. To request this forbearance, borrowers should contact their loan servicer online or by phone. The Secretary has also authorized an automatic suspension of payments for any borrower more than 31 days delinquent as of March 13, 2020, or who becomes more than 31 days delinquent, essentially giving borrowers a safety net during the national emergency. See the Department of Education website for more information.

The Pennsylvania Department of State issued a directive indicating that due to COVID-19, additional healthcare practitioners will be needed to treat ill Pennsylvanians. This need may extend beyond the capacity of the professionals currently licensed by Pennsylvania’s health-licensing boards. To increase the available number of practitioners, the Department of State requested from Gov. Wolf a suspension to several provisions that create barriers to temporary licensure. Click on the links below for detail on the suspensions granted by the Governor and additional information for healthcare professionals on how to obtain temporary licenses:

• Pennsylvania to Allow Retired Health Care Professionals to Bolster COVID-19 Response
• Pennsylvania Expands Access to Pharmacy Services
• Some License Requirements for Qualified Physicians Assistants Are Suspended During Coronavirus Emergency
• Pennsylvania Suspends Certain Licensure Requirements for State Board of Psychology, and State Board of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Professional Counselors
• Some Continuing-Education Restrictions Suspended for Licensed Professionals
• Pennsylvania Waives Some Nurse Licensing Requirements to Aid Coronavirus Response
• Medical Doctors’ Two-Facility Institutional License Limit Suspended During Coronavirus Emergency
• Certain Regulations Suspended for Nurse-Midwives
• Issuance of Temporary Licenses to HealthCare Practitioners Not Licensed In Pennsylvania to be Expedited During Coronavirus Emergency
• Application for a Temporary License for Physicians Not Licensed in Pennsylvania
• Licensed HealthCare Practitioners Can Provide Telemedicine Services to Pennsylvanians During Coronavirus Emergency