COVID-19 Update: May 28, 2020

Coronavirus update for Thursday, May 28 as of 2:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania Update

State Budget

Harrisburg, PA capital building Today the Senate passed the interim state general fund budget bill, House Bill 2387, by a vote of 44-6. The Senate also approved a package of supplemental appropriation bills for the 2020-21 state fiscal year. The bills will be signed in the House and the governor is expected to add his signature. The Senate also passed an amended House Bill 2510, a fiscal code bill appropriating a portion of the $3.9 billion in federal CARES Act funding for COVID-19 relief. The House is expected to concur in the amended fiscal code bill and the governor is also expected to sign. Another fiscal code bill appropriating state general funds for FY 2020-21, House Bill 1083, is also expected to be enacted this week.

Department of Health – by the numbers

Today’s new COVID-19 case and death counts were similar to yesterday’s.
Four more long-term-care facilities now report cases of COVID-19 among patients or staff.
Nearly 5300 health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19.
1476 Pennsylvanians are hospitalized because of COVID-19.
314 of them are on ventilators.
45 percent of acute-care beds, 38 percent of adult ICU beds, and 24 percent of pediatric beds are currently unoccupied, as are 53 percent of Pennsylvania hospitals’ isolation rooms.

Department of Human Services

Beginning May 28, DHS resumes annual renewal inspections in alignment with the governor’s plan to reopen parts of the state. These inspections apply to programs and facilities regulated by DHS’s Office of Developmental Programs; Office of Children, Youth and Families; Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; and Office of Long-Term Living/Bureau of Human Service Licensing. Learn more here.

Department of State

The Department of State has automatically extended certain temporary licenses for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. This extension applies to all temporary licenses that were valid and active as of March 6 and any temporary licenses issued during the COVID-19 emergency. These temporary licenses will expire no earlier than 90 days following the end of the COVID-19 emergency.

Federal Update

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS has updated its COVID-19 FAQs on Medicare fee-for-service billing with additional or revised answers to the following sections:

Expansion of Virtual Communication Services for FQHCs/RHCs – questions 11-23
Medicare Telehealth (please note that these FAQs do not include flexibilities that might be exercised under the CARES act) – questions 23-33
General Billing Requirements – questions 2 and 3
Diagnosis Coding under International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) – question 1
Chronic Care Management Services – question 1
Outpatient Therapy Services – questions 1-3

Department of Health and Human Services

HHS has redesigned its CARES Act Provider Relief Fund web page. The new layout maintains the previous section for timely alerts but separates additional information about the Provider Relief Fund into the following categories that each redirect to their own, more detailed pages: For Providers; About the Provider Relief Fund; Data, and FAQs. The updated web page also included nuanced changes in the language describing the distribution of CARES Act money.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC has published information about screening clients for respiratory infections associated with COVID-19 when they seek admission to homeless shelters.
The CDC has shared forecasts for COVID-19 hospitalizations over the next four weeks. Included are state-by-state forecasts.

Food and Drug Administration

The FDA has announced that it now offers a new tool to aid in the development and evaluation of diagnostic tests to detect COVID-19. This tool is a COVID-19 reference panel, which can be used as an additional step to ensure the quality of tests, validation of new assays, test calibration, and monitoring of assay performance.
The FDA issued a letter to health care providers to remind reprocessing staff in health care facilities to use the correct sterilization cycle associated with certain models of the Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP) STERRAD Sterilization Systems and to only decontaminate compatible N95 or N95-equivalent respirators for reuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FDA has issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for a specific commercial product for use in decontaminating compatible N95 respirators for multiple-user reuse by health care personnel.
The FDA has revised its enforcement policy for face masks and respirators during the COVID-19 crisis.The FDA will hold a virtual town hall meeting for clinical laboratories and commercial manufacturers that are developing or have developed diagnostic tests for COVID-19. The purpose of the event is to help answer technical questions about the development and validation of new tests. This town hall will be held on Wednesday, June 3 at 12:15 p.m. (eastern) and additional meetings will be held on June 10, June 17, and June 24 at the same time and for the same purpose. Go here for further information.
The FDA has issued recommendations for sponsors requesting emergency use authorization for decontamination and bioburden reduction systems for surgical masks and respirators during the COVID-19 emergency.