DCMedical News: Tuesday, April 21, 2020
DCMedical News-DCMN
Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
DCMedical News is published every day both the House and the Senate are in session, now expected by May 4. DCMN publication will follow the CQ 2020 Calendar of Regularly Scheduled Sessions (below).
THE BIG STORY IN HEALTH CARE
Coronavirus
Tracking by Johns Hopkins shows on 4-20 at 8:00 p.m. EST worldwide 2,472,259 confirmed cases; 169,986 deaths; 4,003,551 tests in the U.S. Testing becomes a politicized challenge, The Hill reports here. The Senate meets at 4:00 p.m. today to consider a $450 billion bailout with additional testing, hospital support.
Public Health Resource Pages on Coronavirus (this section moved below, under “Readings and References)
Coronavirus News:
From the front page: Sketchy results from antibody testing (New York Times, here), related to apparent lack of FDA testing of new detection kits, and scrum for testing supplies, organization and evidence of effectiveness (Wall Street Journal, here).
Hospital revenue losses from absent elective admissions and from decline in surgery cases (e.g., New York hospitals, here) threaten financial integrity of the industry. Bailouts complicated by HHS announcement (here) that the first $100 billion will be used for uncompensated care, furloughing and pay cuts for front line hospital providers (here and here) including cutbacks in staffing companies, here, FEMA role in commandeering supplies (here). Kaiser Family Foundation surveys insurance plans, medical groups, on Coronavirus policies, here. Alternative use facilities include Fangcang hospitals, here, temporary enrolling of ambulatory surgery centers as hospitals (CMS rules, here).
Reopening:
Staff from the Federal Reserve publish “Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu,” (NBER, here). “We find that cities that intervened earlier and more aggressively do not perform worse and, if anything, grow faster after the pandemic is over. Our findings thus indicate that NPIs [non-pharmaceutical interventions] not only lower mortality; they also mitigate the adverse economic consequences of a pandemic.”
HOSPITALS, NURSING HOMES AND OTHER HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
Some media attention (here and here) and studies (here) put a focus on rural hospitals, rural health and the relative dearth of hospital beds, compared to, for example, Germany (here).
MEDICARE, MEDICAID AND COMMERCIAL HEALTH INSURANCE
ACO Future in COVID Times
MedPAC recommends (here) that CMS throw in the towel on ACO measurements during COVID time.
HCPCS Coding Conference June 1-2
Background, here. “Health and Human Services Department; Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services (F.R. Page 21859) holds a meeting by teleconference on public requests for revisions to the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Coding for Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and Accessories, Orthotics and Prosthetics (O&P), Supplies and Other Non-Drug and Non-Biological Items. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Coding/MedHCPCSGenInfo/HCPCSPublicMeetings
READINGS AND REFERENCES
Coronavirus References:
AMA resource page for physicians here. AMA guide to medical education and COVID-19, here. American Public Health Association information here. Association of American Medical Colleges Clinical Guidance Repository, here. CDC information page here. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) Current Emergencies website, here. Council of State Governments, here. JAMA Network’s COVID-19 resource center here. Library of Congress Coronavirus Research Guide, (here) from the In Custodia Legis blog of the Library of Congress (LoC), with links to Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports. NIH information page here. National Library of Medicine Coronavirus page here, New England Journal of Medicine update here, New England Journal of Medicine Journal Watch here. The Lancet COVID-19 Resource Centre here. State actions, Kaiser Family Foundation, here. The White House open research dataset (CORD-19) here. World Health Organization COVID-19 page here.
Kaiser Family Foundation presentation on state health care capacities for COVID-19 treatment, here.
U.S. House of Representatives:
Members at https://www.house.gov/representatives
Committees and Members at https://www.house.gov/committees
U. S. Senate:
Committees and Members at https://www.senate.gov/committees
CQ 2020 Calendar of Regularly Scheduled Sessions, here.
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE FOR DCMEDICAL NEWS
April 22, 27, 28, 29, 30
May 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21
June 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26
Notes to: Fred Hyde, MD, JD, MBA; fredhyde@aol.com.