UPDATED: HHS extends public health emergency for 12th time
The date for providers to get the promised 60-day notice is February 10.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Three years after the federal government announced the first public health emergency due to COVID-19, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has again extended the PHE for another 90 days. Becerra announced the extension Wednesday morning.
This is the 12th time HHS has extended the public health emergency.
Jonathan Wiik, vice president of Healthcare Insights at FinThrive, believes the PHE was extended due to the latest Omicron variant, XBB.1.5, also called Kraken, which is highly contagious and spreading.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Most people are expecting that the PHE for COVID-19 will not get another extension.
"I think this is the last one," Wiik said.
If it is not renewed, the public health emergency would end on April 11.
The date for providers to get the promised 60-day notice is February 10.
THE LARGER TREND
Former HHS Secretary Alex Azar issued the first declaration on January 31, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning to ramp up in the United States. Azar renewed the PHE on April 21, 2020, July 23, 2020, October 2, 2020, and January 7, 2021.
Becerra continued those renewals on April 15, 2021, July 19, 2021 and October 15, 2021, and on January 14, April 12, July 15 and October 13, 2022.
HHS has promised to give providers 60 days' notice before ending the public health emergency.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
