By Michelle Price
Special to the UCBJ
CROSSVILLE – Covenant Health has announced that it has paused their requirement for its employees to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. This includes those employed at Cumberland Medical Center.
This action is in response to the nationwide injunction issued by the Federal Judge Terry A. Doughty in the U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana that temporarily pauses President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers nationwide.
More than 55% of the healthcare system’s patients rely on Medicare, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was requiring compliance with the previous mandate as a condition for payment for the services provided to these patients.
Currently 90% of the employees and medical staff of Covenant Health are in compliance with the previous mandate.
Covenant Health continues to strongly urge all employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and are currently offering vaccinations to employees who have not received them.
