COVID-19 update for Wednesday, May 6 as of 3:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania Update

Governor Wolf

• The Wolf administration announced that it is establishing a facility in Delaware County that has the capacity to decontaminate “tens of thousands” of N95 respirators a day.  The equipment has been provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the service is free, and among those eligible to use this service are health care facilities, first responders, and others, such as hospitals, urgent care centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, cancer centers, pharmacies, dialysis centers, assisted living facilities, clinical laboratories, emergency medical services, private practice/outpatient facilities, first responder organizations, and others.  Interested organizations must register and information will be available through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, and others.  Read the Wolf administration’s announcement here.
• Governor Wolf announced the creation of a new Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps to “…support efforts this fall to increase testing and contact tracing and provide critical new job opportunities in the public health sector.”  Learn more from the Wolf administration’s announcement, which includes a description of the anticipated areas of endeavor of the new organization.

Department of Human Services

• DHS has circulated a survey requesting detailed information about the financial impact of COVID-19 on hospitals.  It requests responses by May 20.

• DHS’s Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has issued a bulletin with instructions for the delivery of behavioral health rehabilitation services and licensed intensive behavioral health services to Medicaid beneficiaries via telehealth during the COVID-19 emergency.  The bulletin applies to providers enrolled in the state’s fee-for-service and managed care delivery systems, including primary contractors and behavioral health managed care organizations in the HealthChoices program.
• The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has issued a supplemental FAQ about the delivery of Medicaid-covered behavioral health services during the COVID-19 crisis.  This new FAQ supplements a previous FAQ issued on March 25.
• The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services also has issued a memorandum to clarify the ability of providers to use telehealth to provide behavioral health services to Medicaid beneficiaries.  The memo notes that the office is temporarily suspending certain requirements that otherwise govern the provision of behavioral health services using telehealth.
• DHS’s Office of Long-Term Living has published clarification of visitation restrictions in personal care homes and assisted living residences.  This clarification supplements guidance issued on March 29 to explain that the March 29 guidance does not restrict medically necessary visits from essential health care personnel.

Department of Health

The Department of Health has issued a message to its Health Alert Network to reflect that among the various types of COVID-19 tests available, the federal Food and Drug Administration has now authorized some serology tests.

Department of Health Daily Briefing

• Governor Wolf and Secretary Levine participated in today’s briefing.
• The governor discussed the new Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps and said he will provide further information about it in the near future.
• Secretary Levine reported that among the more than 50,000 cases of COVID-19 in the state, more than 3300 are health care workers, more than 2000 work in the food industry in 122 establishments, and more than 10,000 reside in long-term-care facilities.
• 2553 COVID-patients are currently hospitalized and 549 are on ventilators.
• Today marked the fourth straight day of new case counts under 1000, a point that the Secretary described as potentially signifying a promising trend.
• 46 percent of the state’s acute-care beds and 40 percent of its ICU beds are currently unoccupied and nearly 75 percent of its ventilators are idle.
• Governor Wolf described the N95 mask decontamination facility in Delaware County.
• The governor said his administration is not discussing giving civil liability immunity to long-term-care facilities but is discussing some protections for some other health care providers.
• The state’s overall testing numbers are down, the governor said, because as long as the criteria for testing remains showing symptoms of COVID-19 and the number of cases in the state declines, the number of tests administered declines along with it.
• The state wants to expand testing, Secretary Levine elaborated, especially in southeastern and northeastern Pennsylvania.  It also hopes to engage in some population-based and surveillance testing, especially in the parts of the state that are reopening, at which time the number of tests performed in the state will increase significantly.

Federal Update

Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration

• HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration, which is administering the program through which providers can be reimbursed for COVID-19-related services they provide to uninsured patients, has posted information on how to batch enter patient roster information.
• HRSA has posted a list of billing vendors and clearinghouses that have committed to submitting claims as part of the program for providers to seek payment for care provided to uninsured COVID-19 patients.
• HRSA has posted information about timing expectations for COVID-19 claims processing.

Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Civil Rights

• HHS’s Office of Civil Rights has issued guidance to remind covered health care providers that HIPAA does not permit them to give media and film crews access to facilities where patients’ protected health information will be accessible without patients’ prior authorization.  The guidance clarifies that masking or obscuring patients’ faces or identifying information before broadcasting a recording of a patient is not sufficient to satisfy HIPAA requirements.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• The CDC has published a report, “Evidence Supporting Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 While Presymptomatic or Asymptomatic,” that supports the possibility of people who are presymptomatic or asymptomatic for COVID-19 transmitting the disease to others.
• The CDC has posted a guide on the differences between isolation and quarantine for COVID-19.

Food and Drug Administration

• The FDA has approved two generic drugs indicated 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 a specific laboratory’s test for detecting COVID-19.
• The FDA has issued an EUA for a specific commercial product to be used in hospitals for remote monitoring and detection of changes in the QT interval of electrocardiograms in adult patients being treated for COVID-19.

Department of Labor

• The Labor Department has announced that Dislocated Worker Grant funding made available to states and territories to employ workers temporarily to respond to the COVID-19 emergency can be used for contact tracing.  States must apply for these grants.
• The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released a new video and poster for employees and workers on how to properly wear and remove a respirator.

Resources to Consult

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

Main COVID-19 Page

COVID-19 Provider Resources

Press Releases

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Main COVID-19 Page

PA Health Alert Network

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Main COVID-19 Page

FAQ

(To receive this daily update directly, sign up for our mailing list at  info@pasafetynet.org.)