Chief Clinical Officer of Trio-Health Care, LLC Melissa Green has generously shared policies and procedures to assist VHCA-VCAL members with testing related to the BD Veritor system and the Abbott BinaxNOW tests. In addition, Abbott has shared resources for skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities who are receiving the Abbott BinaxNOW™ test kits . CMS has also released a flow chart detailing coverage and payment for tests.

Policies and Procedures for Testing (provided courtesy of Melissa Green)

• Utilizing the BD Veritor System
• Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Tests
• Sample Collection Poster – a visual aid for staff when collecting specimens

Abbott BinaxNOW™ Resources 

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is sending 540,000 COIVD-19 test kits made by Abbott to assisted living communities this week. To receive a kit from HHS, a community, by law, must have a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) Certificate of Waiver to perform testing. Read more about how to become a CLIA-Certified assisted living facility and receive Abbott test kits. 

Contact Information

• Report shipping issues / order quality concerns to ARDxUSGovernmentSupport@abbott.com
• For technical usage questions about the BinaxNOW™ test, contact Abbott directly at: Technical support: scr@abbott.com or (800) 257-9525  
• For all other questions related to your distribution, please contact HHSBINAX@hhs.gov, this inbox was established to coordinate the distribution of government procured Abbott BinaxNOW™kits. This inbox should NOT be used to request kits for facilities not currently receiving these tests.  
  

Training Information

• For access to access training videos and documents, please visit the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card and NAVICA™ App Set-Up and Training portal. 
• For CLIA FAQs and information, click here.    
• For policy regarding performance of antigen tests authorized by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) at the point of care or in patient care settings operating under a CLIA Certificate of Waiver, please refer to CMS’s policy here and PREP Act guidance here.  
• For FDA recommendations to health care providers who are ordering authorized tests outside their authorization (e.g., antigen tests for asymptomatic individuals), please see FDA’s FAQ on Testing for SARS-CoV-2.  

Abbott has also indicated that it will be providing a link to the recorded version of their recent webinar for assisted living facilities that was hosted on Friday, September 18, as well as a Q&A list. AHCA/NCAL will share this with members once it becomes available.

Payment Resource for COVID-19 Testing

CMS has released information to help states, nursing facilities, and other providers better understand the sources of Medicare and Medicaid coverage and payment for COVID-19 testing. Among the resources is the Coverage and Payment for COVID-19 Testing in Nursing Facilities flow chart, which details testing coverage for nursing facility residents. AHCA/NCAL has developed a summary of this resource.