Articles Tagged With: COVID-19
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Pandemic Quality Reporting Eased, But Consider Benefits of Sending Data
Hospital quality leaders already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic welcomed the decision to delay reporting deadlines for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and not require reporting or use data from the initial pandemic period for Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs for future payment years. However, there are important issues to consider as hospitals move forward and regroup in the post-pandemic months.
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OSHA Allows ‘Enforcement Discretion’ During COVID-19
Responding to respirator shortages during the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a memorandum allowing “enforcement discretion” by compliance officers citing the Respiratory Protection standard (29 CFR § 1910.134).
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CDC Defines ‘Low-Risk’ Occupational Exposures to Coronavirus
The CDC recently issued guidelines allowing healthcare personnel (HCP) to continue working if they incur only “low-risk” exposures to patients with COVID-19. With some reported cases of large numbers of HCP furloughed after exposures, the CDC is moving to preserve the workforce in situations where HCP are exposed to infected patients through minor breaks in protocol or personal protective equipment.
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CDC Guidance for Use of Facemasks During Crisis
The CDC’s recommendation for optimizing the supply of facemasks include “contingency” and “crisis” capacity. These are steps hospitals can take if they are no longer at “conventional” capacity, when standard measures remain in effect. The CDC defines contingency capacity as practices that may be used temporarily during periods of expected facemask shortages. Crisis capacity may call for stopgap measures “that are not commensurate with U.S. standards of care."
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CDC Guidelines for Reuse of N95 Respirators
With reuse of N95 respirators in effect at many hospitals, the CDC has issued recommendations that begin with the caveat “there is no way of determining the maximum possible number of safe reuses for an N95 respirator as a generic number to be applied in all cases.”
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Spring of Fear: ED Staff Face Surging Coronavirus
Emergency physicians and other frontline clinicians are trying to hold the line against an accelerating coronavirus pandemic in the United States, even as they fear for their own safety and that of their families and colleagues. A shortage of personal protective equipment — particularly N95 respirators — ratcheted up the anxiety, as did the accumulating media reports of healthcare worker deaths, illness, and home quarantine.
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Hospitals Use Telemedicine to Limit Exposures, Preserve PPE, Guide Patients to Right Setting
Facilities are using technology to maintain safe distances between workers and patients to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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COVID-19 Affects Many, But Severe Outcomes More Apparent in Older Patients
While some researchers try to learn useful information from COVID-19 case data, other scientists are working on the early stages of various clinical trials, seeking a pharmaceutical remedy to the virus.
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Experts: Flattening the Curve of the Epidemic Must Be the Focus Right Now
The United States must focus on mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and make sure healthcare providers are in a position to deliver the best care possible for everyone who is infected.
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Learn How to Don and Doff PPE Correctly
Teaching providers how to put on and remove personal protective equipment may be one of the most important things any healthcare organization can focus on. When this process is not performed correctly, a worker can become exposed and potentially infected.