COVID-19 Update: June 4, 2020

Coronavirus update for Thursday, June 4 as of 2:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania Update

SNAP Advocacy

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo Today SNAP wrote to Pennsylvania senators Robert Casey and Pat Toomey to ask them to pursue legislation with five major COVID-19-related policy initiatives that Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals need:

A 14-point increase in the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP).
An additional $100 billion for hospitals.
Another delay in implementation of Affordable Care Act-mandated cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share (Medicaid DSH) allotments.
Prevention of implementation of the Medicare fiscal accountability regulation (MFAR).
Reduced interest rates and a longer payback period for Medicare payments advanced to hospitals through the CARES Act’s Accelerated and Advance Payment Program.

See SNAP’s letter here.

Governor Wolf

Governor Wolf announced that the Office of State Fire Commissioner will be working to enact recent legislation to provide $50 million in direct financial relief to fire and emergency medical service (EMS) companies hurt by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. $6 million of this money is targeted for EMS companies.

Governor Wolf and Secretary of Health Levine signed amended yellow phase orders to include 10 counties (including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties) moving to the yellow phase at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow, June 5 and signed amended green phase orders to include 16 counties moving to the green phase at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow. With these orders, there are no counties in the red phase. In total, on June 5, there will be 34 counties in the green phase and 33 in the yellow phase. See the announcement here.

Department of Health – by the numbers

Yesterday’s new case and death totals are very similar to those of the previous day.
The number of health care workers who have contracted COVID-19 now exceeds 5600.
1174 Pennsylvanians are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 257 of them are on ventilators.
45 percent of acute-care beds, 38 percent of ICU beds, and 24 percent of pediatric ICU beds are currently unoccupied, as are 53 percent of hospital isolation rooms.

Department of Human Services/Office of Long-Term Living

The Office of Long-Term Living has issued guidance for modification to nursing facility bed increase requests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With many of its employees working at home, OLTL has introduced a temporary change in the processing of 180-day claims exception requests.
OLTL has posted a notice explaining that due to COVID-19, it cannot access information necessary to calculate the healthcare-associated payments for MA-11 cost reports with acceptance letters normally mailed in March.

Department of Aging

The Department of Aging has published guidance for the reopening and operation of adult daily living centers during the COVID-19 crisis in counties that have transitioned to the green phase.
The department has created an older adult daily living center reopening checklist for facilities reopening in green phase areas.
The department also has created a staff and participant COVID-19 wellness check screening tool for older adult daily living centers that are reopening.
The department also clarified that OLTL is requiring LIFE Centers to follow adult daily living center guidance for reopening.

Federal Update

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS has published a compendium of Medicare physician fee schedule changes implemented in recent months in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
CMS has posted a table that describes COVID-19 adjustments announced yesterday for CMMI model programs.
CMS announced that the Nursing Home Compare web site now provides data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in individual nursing homes. Accompanying this announcement is publication of an FAQ on this nursing home data and a memo to state Medicaid programs about the data.

Department of Health and Human Services

HHS has updated its CARES Act’s Provider Relief Fund FAQ with additions on pages 3, 20, and 21. Hospitals should review these changes carefully.
HHS announced new lab data reporting guidance that specifies what additional data must be reported to HHS by laboratories along with COVID-19 test results. This guidance standardizes reporting. See HHS’s announcement, the guidance itself, and an FAQ for the guidance.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC has updated its web page on COVID-19 in racial and ethnic minorities.

Food and Drug Administration

The FDA has introduced a new web-based resource, Testing Supply Substitution Strategies, that includes detailed information to help support labs performing authorized COVID-19 tests.
The FDA has updated the question-and-answer appendix in its guidance Conduct of Clinical Trials of Medical Products during COVID-19 Public Health Emergency with new information about compliance for electronic systems used to generate electronic signatures on clinical trial records.
The FDA has issued an alert to providers about the temporary absence of the “paralyzing agent” warning statement on the vial caps of the neuromuscular blocking agents vecuronium bromide and rocuronium bromide, both of which are often used for patients requiring medical ventilation.
The FDA has issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for five new commercial diagnostic tests for COVID-19. Find them here, here, here, here, and here.