Understanding the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program
CDC is partnering with CVS, Walgreens, and Managed Health Care Associates, Inc. (MHA; see pharmacies participating through MHA below) to offer on-site COVID-19 vaccination services for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care (LTC) Program is facilitating on-site vaccination of residents and staff at more than 75,000 enrolled long-term care facilities (LTCFs) while reducing the burden on LTCF administrators, clinical leadership, and health departments. At no cost to facilities, the program provides end-to-end management of the COVID-19 vaccination process, including cold chain management, on-site vaccinations, and fulfillment of reporting requirements. LTCF staff can also be vaccinated as part of the program. This program is being implemented in close coordination with jurisdictions; LTCFs; federal partners, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); and professional organizations, including American Health Care Association (AHCA) and Leading Age, which include members across both nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Vaccine administration through the federal program launched nationally on December 21, 2020, for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and on December 28, 2020, for the Moderna vaccine. As of December 29, 2020, a total of 52 jurisdictions had started the program. Program start dates varied based on the jurisdiction.
Additional information about vaccine distribution through this program can be found on the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker.
Learn more about The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care (LTC) Program with these simple FAQ’s.
Participating Pharmacies
- CVS
- Walgreens
- Select pharmacies that are part of the MHA network:
- Absolute Pharmacy (in Ohio)
- Community Pharmacy (in Iowa and Nebraska)
- Consonus Pharmacy (in Oregon and Nevada)
- HealthDirect/Kinney Drugs (in New York and Vermont)
- Pharmscript (in Indiana, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas)
- Senior Care Pharmacy (in Alabama)
- Thrifty Drug Stores (in Minnesota and North Dakota)
In November 2020, LTCFs had the opportunity to sign up for the program and select a pharmacy partner. Sign-up for the program has closed. CDC has worked with jurisdictions to match facilities with their requested pharmacy partners. In some instances, CDC and jurisdictions reassigned pharmacy partners to facilities to account for logistics and program needs. Pharmacy partners have reached out to participating LTCFs they were matched with to coordinate vaccination efforts, and clinics have begun at participating facilities.
As part of this program, which is free of charge to facilities, pharmacy partners are:
- Scheduling and coordinating on-site clinic date(s) directly with each facility
- Ordering vaccines and associated supplies (e.g., syringes, needles, personal protective equipment)
- Ensuring cold chain management for vaccine
- Obtaining consent from facility staff and residents prior to vaccination and ensuring participants receive the vaccine EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) Fact Sheet
- Providing on-site administration of vaccine to all residents and any staff not already vaccinated
- Reporting required vaccination data to the local, state/territorial, and federal jurisdictions within 72 hours of administering each dose
- Adhering to all applicable CMS COVID-19 testing requirements for LTCF staff
CDC expects the program services to continue on-site at participating facilities for approximately two months from the date of the first vaccination clinic. After the initial phase of vaccinations, facilities may continue working with the federal pharmacy partner they were matched with or shift to another pharmacy provider that is enrolled with the jurisdiction to provide ongoing COVID-19 vaccination.
For information and resources to help you answer questions and build vaccine confidence among staff and residents, please see the Long-Term Care Facility Toolkit.