AAAHC Issues COVID-19 Risk Prevention Guidelines
Following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has released recommendations to help organizations safely navigate the evolving stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on steps to identify, isolate, and inform.
How Patient Matching Can Help Eliminate COVID-19 Disparities in Care
During the first months of the pandemic, these breakdowns in data capture prevented officials from directing lifesaving resources to populations most at need during a public health crisis, such as people who lack stable housing, certain racial and ethnic groups, and those who live in high-risk ZIP codes.
ECRI Provides Lessons Learned on COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
The vaccines are extremely sensitive to temperature. In addition, they will come in multi-dose vials that must be diluted and then slowly mixed by inverting the bottle back and forth, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for COVID Shots
Even as the federal Food and Drug Administration engaged in intense deliberations ahead of Friday’s authorization of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID vaccine, and days before the initial 6.4 million doses were to be released, hospitals across the country have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots.
Discuss Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations Carefully
May an employer covered by the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 compel all of its employees to take the influenza vaccine regardless of their medical conditions or their religious beliefs during a pandemic? Quick answer: No.
Dr. Fauci Addresses Vaccination Rollout, Masking Challenges, At-Home Testing
As the FDA reviews the emergency use authorization requests from both Pfizer and Moderna for their respective potential vaccines, Fauci urged the public to trust the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
Virtual Hospital Expands Inpatient Capacity During Coronavirus Pandemic
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Atrium Health features 50 hospitals and other healthcare facilities in three states. The health system launched a virtual hospital at home program for COVID-19 patients in March and recently published a study about the initiative in Annals of Internal Medicine.
As Hospitals Fill With COVID Patients, Medical Reinforcements Are Hard to Find
Beds and space aren’t the main concern. It’s the workforce. Hospitals are worried staffing levels won’t be able to keep up with demand as doctors, nurses and specialists such as respiratory therapists become exhausted or, worse, infected and sick themselves.
OSHA Let Employers Decide Whether to Report Healthcare Worker Deaths. Many Didn’t.
Workplace safety regulators have taken a lenient stance toward employers during the pandemic, giving them broad discretion to decide internally whether to report worker deaths. As a result, scores of deaths were not reported to occupational safety officials from the earliest days of the pandemic through late October.
HHS is Looking for Your Pandemic Success Stories
CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a request for information on “Effective and Innovative Approaches/Best Practices in Health Care in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.”