COVID-19 Update: April 28, 2020

COVID-19 update for Tuesday, April 28 as of 4:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania Update

Department of Human Services

DHS has sent a memo to the HealthChoices physical health managed care organizations advising them on the use of the CR modifier and the DR condition code for COVID-19-related claims.

Department of Health Daily Briefing

After three days of declines in the number of new COVID-19 cases, the total increased yesterday.
More than 2500 of the state’s 43,000 positive tests for COVID-19 are for health care workers and more than 7300 are residents of 452 long-term-care facilities.
2777 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 611 of them are on ventilators.
47 percent of the state’s hospital beds and 40 percent of its ICU beds are currently unoccupied and 70 percent of its ventilators are not in use.
Governor Wolf has indicated that the state will be looking at both counties and regions when deciding which parts of the state to reopen.
The current plan is to announce the first openings on May 1, with those openings to take effect on May 8.
The state has not developed benchmarks for testing capacity when counties or regions reopen but will provide further information about this on Friday.
Secretary Levine agrees with Philadelphia’s health commissioner that the COVID-19 peak has probably passed in Philadelphia but cautioned against future outbreaks and spoke of the need to be prepared for them if they occur.

Federal Update

White House

The Trump administration has released two new documents to support its plan for reopening the country and its economy: a testing overview and an accompanying testing blueprint.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC has updated its COVID-19 guidance for different types of clinical facilities.

Food and Drug Administration

After questions arose about its April 18 emergency use authorization (EUA) about the uses of non-surgical face masks, the FDA has re-issued that EUA to manufacturers of face masks, health care personnel, hospital purchasing departments, distributors, and other stakeholders to clarify that face masks, including cloth face coverings, that are authorized by the EUA are only authorized for use by the general public and health care personnel as “source control.” See the FDA’s FAQ about its clarification on the use of non-surgical face masks and its letter to stakeholders on the authorized uses of non-surgical masks.
The FDA’s Small Business and Industry Assistance office will hold a webinar on conducting clinical trials during the COVID-19 emergency on Thursday, April 30.
The FDA has issued an EUA for the use of a specific commercial monitoring system to be used for the remote monitoring of changes in cardiac activity among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who are being treated with drugs such as hydroxychlorine and chloroquine that may cause life-threatening arrhythmias.
The FDA has issued EUAs for the use of four new specific commercial tests for detecting COVID-19. Find those EUAs here, here, here, and here.