KANSAS, February 15 - TOPEKA – (February 15, 2022) – The federal government’s mandate that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 will be devastating to many rural healthcare facilities, possibly causing some to close for lack of staff, and the State of Kansas should fight for those facilities and their residents by formally seeking a waiver from federal requirements, Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.

In November 2021, Schmidt filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the federal healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccination mandate (CMS mandate) that applies to facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals that receive Medicare or Medicaid funds. The U.S. Supreme Court on January 13 declined to block the CMS mandate from being implemented while the legal challenge continues. Therefore, although Kansas and other states continue to aggressively litigate the legality of the CMS mandate, its current implementation already is causing disruption in the healthcare workforce, particularly in small rural communities.

“While problematic everywhere, this ‘jab-or-job’ choice for healthcare workers is particularly devastating in small facilities in our rural communities,” Schmidt wrote today in a letter asking Gov. Laura Kelly to seek on behalf of the state a waiver from the mandate for rural communities. “Already substantially understaffed before the pandemic began, and having lost more vital workers to fatigue because of their dedicated service through the pandemic, many rural facilities face the very real risk of no longer being able to operate or otherwise having to reduce services if even a small number of employees quit or are terminated rather than receive the shot. This outcome, of course, is devastating not only to the workers, and not only to the facilities, but to all rural Kansans who rely on those workers and facilities for access to care in our rural communities.”

In some states facing significant damage to rural healthcare services because of the CMS mandate, governors are asking the Biden administration for a waiver from the federal mandate for their rural healthcare facilities. Schmidt today asked Gov. Kelly to seek a similar waiver for Kansas. He recommended Kansas seek a full waiver from the mandate but, at a minimum, should insist that the federal government expressly recognize and respect the religious and medical exemptions enacted in Kansas law when the legislature called itself into special session.

“An express requirement by CMS to recognize our state-law protections would relieve any concern that CMS might challenge the state law’s validity or somehow penalize healthcare facilities that comply with the requirements of state law,” Schmidt wrote. “Time is of the essence to protect our healthcare heroes and to ensure continuity of lifesaving care services in rural Kansas communities.”

Schmidt has aggressively fought back against federal vaccine mandates since Sept. 9, 2021, when President Biden announced his “patience is wearing thin” and began ordering federal vaccine mandates. To date, Schmidt has brought legal challenges to four of the Biden mandates, and three of those four are currently blocked from implementation in Kansas by federal court orders Schmidt has obtained: The OSHA mandate for private employers was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal contractor mandate that affects defense contractors and research universities is blocked by a federal appeals court, and the Head Start mandate that requires all staff and contractors in Head Start facilities to be vaccinated and requires toddlers age 2 and older to wear masks is blocked by a federal district court. The fourth federal mandate Schmidt has challenged, the CMS mandate, is currently in effect after the U.S. Supreme Court denied preliminary relief but Schmidt’s legal challenge to it is ongoing.

A copy of the attorney general’s letter requesting that Kansas seek a waiver from the CMS mandate can be found at https://bit.ly/3oMwBeU.