On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which included $250 million allocated Medicare and Medicaid funding for the implementation of nursing home strike teams. AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services on June 11, 2021, urging …
On May 26, 2021, The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services posted an update regarding the use of Bamlanivimab and Etesevimab monoclonal antibody therapy. Distribution for these products have been paused in Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Oregon, and Washington until further notice. Please read the full update below for more information. May 26, 2021 Update- Office of …
On June 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services posted a notice of reporting requirements concerning post-payments. Has your facility received one or more payments exceeding $10,000 though the Health Resources and Services Administration Provider Relief Fund? This notice may apply to you! Please note that this update replaces the last requirements updated on January 15, 2021. …
In a recent podcast posted on NPR, the practice of mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines was discussed. Typically, if you get a COVID-19 vaccine that requires two doses, you should get two of the same vaccine. Two Pfizer shots, or two Moderna shots, not one and then the other. “In the U.K. at the moment, we’re sort of calling …
“The FDA is reminding the public of the limitations of COVID-19 antibody, or serology, testing and providing additional recommendations about the use of antibody tests in people who received a COVID-19 vaccination.“ Antibody tests can play an important role in identifying individuals who may have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and may have developed an adaptive immune response. However, …
In an article published in Forbes magazine, three companies are currently leading the way to develop a vaccine that will be effective against all variants of COVID-19. The goal of this research is to possibly prevent a future pandemic from variants of the COVID-19 virus. The current providers of COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna and J&J) are focusing their attention on …
On June 10th, 2021, OSHA issued an emergency temporary standard for healthcare and updated guidelines for all industries. Please visit the below links to learn how this affects you and your facility. June 10, 2021 • Volume 20, Issue 13 • A twice monthly newsletter with information about workplace safety and health. OSHA Issues Emergency …
In case you haven’t heard, regulatory surveys are back with a vengeance! Federal data indicates that the number of surveys conducted nationwide has risen 132% since 2020, leaving some wondering how fairly standards are being applied when COVID-19 is already forcing facilities to deal with staffing shortages, aging infrastructure, profit loss and increased scrutiny over everything from infection protocols to …
Reported in a Medical Press article, a team of infectious disease modelers at Northeastern University has been answering the question “when will the pandemic be over” since January. The group has been developing a set of predictive models to project the future of the outbreak in various scenarios for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of …
In a study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine on April 15th, more than 3,000 young, healthy members of the U.S. Marines found that “reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 in healthy young adults is common,” said Stuart Sealfon, MD the Sra B. and Seth M. Glickenhaus Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Despite a prior COVID-19 …
