Newswire Archives
An analysis by Altarum finds the health care workforce shrunk 3.5 percent over the course of the pandemic, with hospital employment holding steady overall and increases in ambulatory settings, but a sharp 9.3% drop in assisted living facilities.
Altarum’s latest monthly analysis may be accessed here.
President Biden made a primetime address on Thursday evening in which he announced that every American adult will be eligible to sign up for the COVID-19 by May 1 and that small groups should be able to celebrate by July 4. The Administration also announced new efforts to allow more individuals to administer vaccinations. Through an amendment to the PREP Act, newly eligible vaccinators include: Dentists, Emergency Medical Technicians (Advanced and Intermediate EMTs), Midwives, Optometrists, Paramedics, Physician Assistants, Podiatrists, Respiratory Therapists, and Veterinarians. This amendment also authorizes qualified recently retired members of the above professions, pharmacists and pharmacy interns to serve as vaccinators. The amendment authorizes students of eligible health care professions with proper training and professional supervision to serve as vaccinators. This important expansion of qualified persons opens the door for almost one million skilled students to administer COVID-19 vaccines with supervision. A fact sheet is available here. Vaccinators may check eligibility and volunteer with their state here. ASAHP and Students Assist America have been working with HHS on this issue. ASAHP joined a stakeholder call with HHS on the matter this afternoon. HHS is working on a FAQ document to be released soon.
On Tuesday, the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing entitled, "The Future of Telehealth: How COVID-19 is Changing the Delivery of Virtual Care." The hearing will take place at 10:30am and will be livestreamed.
The livestream and a memorandum from Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. may be accessed here.
House Committees are considering their respective portions of the latest $1.9 trillion COVID-19 response package this week. On Wednesday morning the House Education and Labor Committee advanced their portion of the package, amounting to $357 billion, including $39.6 billion for colleges and universities. The House Budget Committee is expected to take up the package next week and it is expected to be on the House floor the week after that. The Senate has yet to consider the package.
Today, the Senate HELP Committee advanced the nominations of Education Secretary-Designate Miguel Cardona and Labor Secretary-Designate Marty Walsh. It is expected that their nominations will be taken up on the Senate floor expeditiously.
More details may be accessed here.
The White House has released its National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, a 200-page report, issued on January 21, that outlines the new Administration’s seven key goals.
The report may be accessed here.
The population of individuals eligible to be vaccinated will be broadened according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The federal government will ask states to begin vaccinating patients over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions that place them at risk for COVID-19.
Additional information can be obtained at https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2469056/officials-discuss-covid-19-vaccine-deliveries-and-prioritization-criteria/
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, higher education saw a burst of interest in Middle Eastern studies, Arabic and homeland security. Today, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, data and anecdotal evidence now suggest we may be seeing a similar rise in demand for health and medical education. Employment in health-care occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2019 to 2029, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, faster than the average for all occupations and adding more jobs than any other occupational group.
The Inside Higher Ed article may be accessed here.
Inside Higher Ed reports on the funding that colleges and universities will receive as a result of the Coronavirus relief legislation signed into law last month. The American Council on Education provided estimates for the respective shares of the $20.2 billion in funding that each of the 3,500 institutions of higher education would receive.
The Inside Higher Ed article may be accessed here.
The American Council on Education estimates may be accessed here.
Yesterday, Congress approved a $2.3 trillion combined package of FY 21 funding and COVID relief.
The Department of Education received a $785 million overall increase in FY 21, a far cry from the $7 billion funding cut proposed earlier this year by the Administration. HHS received a $2.1 billion boost, including an additional $1.25 billion for NIH and $151 million more for HRSA. The bill also includes a significant expansion of Pell Grant eligibility, FAFSA simplification, restarts the "Second Chance Pell" program for incarcerated students, and restores Pell eligibility for students defrauded by for profit entities.
The COVID relief provisions in the Act provide $22.7 billion to postsecondary institutions through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund created in the CARES Act, with $20 billion distributed by formula to both public and private non-profit institutions of higher education to help defray costs caused by the pandemic and also provide student support services. In addition, $1.3 billion in loans made to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) under the HBCU Capital Financing Loan program were discharged.
The Labor-HHS-Education bill provides the HRSA Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs with $754 million for FY 21, a $19.5 million (3%) increase from FY 20 enacted levels. Programs receiving funding increases include geriatric programs, mental and behavior health programs, and the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program.
The bill text may be accessed here.
The Labor-HHS-Education joint explanatory statement may be accessed here.
An Education & Labor Committee Press Release may be accessed here.
A HRSA Title VII and VIII Health Workforce Programs Funding Chart may be accessed here.
The Department of Health and Human Services released hospital-level data on COVID-19 capacity, which provides facility-level data for hospital utilization aggregated on a weekly basis (Friday to Thursday). Information is derived from reports with facility-level granularity across two main sources: (1) HHS TeleTracking, and (2) reporting provided directly to HHS Protect by state/territorial health departments on behalf of their healthcare facilities.
Additional information can be obtained at https://healthdata.gov/dataset/covid-19-reported-patient-impact-and-hospital-capacity-facility.
As a means of capturing more information about COVID-19 in the nation’s surveillance data and health care claims, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), under the National Emergencies Act Section 201 and 301, is announcing further additions to ICD-10-CM Classification related to COVID-19, that will become effective January 1, 2021.
Additional details can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/Announcement-New-ICD-code-for-coronavirus-19-508.pdf.
Due to the COVID-19 National Emergency, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has extended the federal student loan administrative forbearance period, the pause in interest accrual, and the suspension of collections activity through January 31, 2021.
More information on the extension can be found here.
Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced shorter quarantine options based on local circumstances and resources for individuals exposed to the COVID-19 virus.
More information can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/scientific-brief-options-to-reduce-quarantine.html.
A paper in the journal Health Affairs that was published on November 19, 2020 describes lessons learned from past pandemics and vaccine campaigns about the path to successful vaccine delivery.
The paper can be obtained at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01523.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for the Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit, the first rapid test to detect the COVID-19 virus that one can administer completely at home when prescribed by a health care provider to individuals age 14 or older. Previously authorized at-home test kits allow the user to collect a sample at home and send it to a lab for testing.
The authorization letter can be obtained at https://www.fda.gov/media/143810/download.
Because COVID-19 can affect both physical and mental health, the disease has heightened the need for a team-based approach to treatment that integrates primary care with behavioral health services. A Commonwealth Fund report explores steps for overcoming obstacles, such as the still-predominant fee-for-service payment system and the limited number of behavioral health practitioners.
The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/nov/practices-advance-implementation-integrated-care-covid?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Delivery%20System%20Reform.
An analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that among the 106,543 (85%) surviving patients hospitalized for COVID-19, 9% were readmitted to the same hospital within two months of discharge through August 2020. More than a single readmission occurred among 1.6% of patients discharged after the index hospitalization.
The report can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6945e2-H.pdf.
The Chronicle of Higher Education will be hosting a virtual forum, Running Campuses in a Pandemic: Hard Lessons from Fall, Prospects for Spring. A panel of experts will discuss what they have learned and what they foresee as higher education continues to navigate the challenges posed by Covid-19. The virtual forum will be held on Tuesday, November 10, at 2:00pm Eastern.
More details including a registration form may be accessed here.
A report from the Commonwealth Fund discusses how health care providers that serve vulnerable individuals are dealing with the enormous challenges created by COVID-19.
The report can be obtained at http://features.commonwealthfund.org/safety-net-providers-population-health-community-outreach-pandemic-response?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Delivery%20System%20Reform.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommended practices to prevent and control infection in health care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, by including different options for screening health care personnel, patients and visitors entering a health care facility; factors that can affect thermometer readings; resources for evaluating and managing ventilation systems; and a FAQ on personal protective equipment.
The updated information can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-recommendations.html.
