COVID-19 Update: June 10, 2020

Coronavirus update for Wednesday, June 10 as of 3:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania Update

General Assembly

Harrisburg, PA capital building This week the General Assembly passed a concurrent resolution that seeks to end the governor’s COVID-19 emergency disaster declaration; on June 4 the governor extended that declaration for an additional 90 days. During a press conference today, Governor Wolf said he will defend in court his right to veto the resolution. The measure’s proponents believe the resolution, having passed both chambers, is effective and does not require the governor’s consideration.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has issued an order requiring hospitals to implement measures to protect their staff and patients. The policies and procedures must, at a minimum, include distribution of respirators to hospital staff providing direct patient care to COVID-19-positive and suspected cases and hospital staff assigned to provide direct patient care in COVID-19 units. Respirator distribution must occur prior to the beginning of the hospital staff member’s shift and respirators must be replaced as soon as practical if the hospital is notified by a staff member that their mask has become soiled, damaged, or otherwise ineffective. The policies and procedures also must include access to testing upon request for staff members who have been exposed to patients with or suspected of having COVID-19, measures for notifying staff members who have been in contact with such patients, and a requirement that all hospital visitors over the age of two wear masks. See a news release summarizing the order here.

Department of Health – by the numbers

Today’s new COVID-19 case and death counts are comparable to what they have been in recent days.
More than 5800 Pennsylvania health care workers have contracted COVID-19.
986 Pennsylvanians are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 and 206 of them are on ventilators.
40 percent of state hospitals’ acute-care beds, 39 percent of their ICU beds, 57 percent of their pediatric beds, and 30 percent of their pediatric ICU beds are currently unoccupied.

Department of Human Services

CMS has approved a section 1135 waiver request from DHS’s Office of Medical Assistance Programs. The waiver permits the state to temporarily allow payments for section 1905(a) personal care services to be rendered by legally responsible individuals and gives the state the ability to modify deadlines for face-to-face encounters required for home health services. These waivers will remain in effect until the official end of the current public health emergency.

DHS’s Office of Medical Assistance Programs has written to local education agencies participating in its School-Based ACCESS Program to inform them of temporary flexibilities in the program’s usual practices and requirements that it has authorized in response to the COVID-19 emergency.

DHS’s Office of Developmental Programs has published an announcement that provides additional guidance to individual support planning teams on the criteria for requesting a cap exception for the Person/Family Directed Support and Community Living Waivers. It also has posted a template for applying for such waivers.

Federal Update

Department of Health and Human Services

On Tuesday HHS announced that it will be distributing $15 billion to clinicians and facilities that participate in state Medicaid and CHIP programs and/or Medicaid and CHIP managed care organizations that have not yet received any general distribution grants from the Provider Relief Fund.

This funding is intended to supply relief to Medicaid and CHIP providers experiencing lost revenues or increased expenses due to COVID-19. Examples of providers serving Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries that may be eligible for this funding include pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists, dentists, opioid treatment and behavioral health providers, assisted living facilities, and other home and community-based services providers.

Providers that believe they may be eligible for this funding may submit their annual patient revenue information to a new provider relief portal to seek a distribution equal to at least two percent of their reported gross revenues from patient care; that portal is supposed to be established today but was not up at the time this update was written.

Learn more from:

HHS’s news release announcing this distribution;
its Provider Relief Fund web page;
its Provider Relief Fund general information page; and
its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund FAQ, which has been updated more than two dozen times in the past 48 hours to reflect changes related to yesterday’s announced distributions (additions and modifications are marked within this FAQ).

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS has published recommendations for health care providers reopening facilities to provide non-emergency non-COVID-19 services.
CMS has published a guide with information about what patients should know about seeking health care as health care providers begin restoring services.

Food and Drug Administration

The FDA approved an abbreviated new drug application for succinylcholine chloride injection USP 200 mg/10 mL, which is indicated in addition to general anesthesia to facilitate tracheal intubation and to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation.
The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test using next generation sequence technology.
The FDA has issued an EUA for a new commercial diagnostic test for COVID-19.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention