CMS on Wednesday released updated Covid-19 vaccination requirements for nursing home staff, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Maryland, and North Carolina.

• California: Fosters Farms has recalled roughly 148,000 pounds of fully cooked frozen chicken products that may contain hard clear pieces of plastic, according to a statement from Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service. The agency said it "believes the hard plastic pieces could be sharp and possibly cause an injury." According to the announcement, the recall involves 80-ounce plastic bag packages with 20 pieces of breaded chicken breast patties with a best by date of "08/11/23," establishment number "P-33901" and lot code "3*2223**" printed on the back of the package, and "7527899724" printed under the barcode. Foster Farms recalled the products after receiving "consumer complaints reporting hard clear plastic embedded in fully cooked, frozen, breaded chicken breast patty products." The recall, which has been classified this as a "class I recall" with a "high risk," represents a "health hazard situation in which there is a reasonable probability that eating the food will cause health problems or death," USDA said. The recalled products were sent to Costco distribution centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington. However, USDA noted that they "may have been further distributed to Costco retail locations." (Tyko, Axios, 10/30)

• Maryland: CMS on Wednesday released updated Covid-19 vaccination requirements for nursing home staff. Under the new requirements, Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers must achieve a 100% staff vaccination rate. All staff members will be required to have the required number of doses to be compliant. Any facility that does not achieve a 100% vaccination rate will be flagged as noncompliant. Those that remain noncompliant will potentially face financial penalties and termination. Compliance reviews will only be conducted as part of the initial certification, standard recertification, or reaccreditation surveys. (Taylor, Becker's Hospital Review, 10/27)

• North Carolina: Cape Fear Valley Health communications coordinator Roxanna Ross on Thursday announced that the health system is eliminating 200 positions, including 42 non-direct patient care positions and 158 unfilled positions. The health system also recently eliminated 56 positions from Harnett Health. The health system said it is offering outplacement services to impacted employees. According to Cape Fear Valley Health CEO Michael Nagowski, the positions are being eliminated because of the unprecedented costs and revenue challenges. "Eliminating these positions was a difficult decision as we realize these are challenging times across our country. This decision will allow us to increase efficiencies to help offset the unprecedented financial challenges that we are seeing with historic increases in premium labor expenses and supply costs due to inflation, decreased inpatient volume, reductions in reimbursements (particularly with Managed Medicaid)," Nagowski said. According to Nagowski, the layoffs will not have an impact on patient care or safety. (Tucker, Becker's Hospital CFO Report, 10/28)