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COVID-19

These charts show how fast coronavirus cases are spreading — and what it takes to flatten the curve

March 22, 2020

These charts show how fast COVID-19 is spreading — and what it takes to flatten the curve

As U.S. public officials, health-care workers and epidemiologists struggle to track the course of the coronavirus pandemic, they are being hampered by a dearth of data on exactly how far and how fast the virus is spreading.

Despite frequent updates by the news media, public health agencies and independent researchers tracking the outbreak, the available data represents only a portion of the total number of cases, many of which have gone unreported.

That lack of data in the U.S. is largely the result of delays in rolling out widespread testing in the early stages of the outbreak.

“Without knowing the extent and availability of testing, it is very hard to know what to make of the reported numbers,” said Yonatan Grad, a professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “For the U.S., when we see reports of numbers, they are best understood not as new cases but as identified cases where the true number of cases is unknown.”

But as testing becomes more widespread and the number of confirmed cases rises, a sharper picture is beginning to emerge of the pace of the spread of the virus.

To better track the speed of the pandemic’s spread, CNBC analyzed two months of data collected by researchers at Johns Hopkins University from multiple sources, including the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and various other national and local public health agencies around the world. The analysis looks at the pace of growth of new cases in U.S. states and in countries around the world beginning from time the outbreak began to accelerate. (To make that comparison, we adjusted each time series to start on the day each country or state began reporting more than 100 confirmed cases.)   

The full article from CNBC can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

Why we’re not overreacting to the coronavirus, in one chart

March 22, 2020

Why we’re not overreacting to COVID-19, in one chart

The national mobilization against the coronavirus is now in full swing. Schools and workplaces nationwide have shuttered. The federal government has recommended that people not gather in groups of 10 or more. Social distancing and self-isolation are now becoming part of the fabric of daily American life.

This has all sparked a serious question among many people: Are we overreacting? It’s not just a question being asked by partiers and bar-goers — it has also been asked in the New York Times. A widely circulated article by Stanford’s John Ioannidis suggests that the stepped-up US response is a “fiasco in the making” that’s being made without enough data.

To someone who hasn’t been following the pandemic’s spread closely, the drastic measures indeed might seem like an overreaction. After all, around 25,000 cases and 300 deaths — as of March 21 — in a country of 330 million may not seem that bad. Is it really worth shutting down the economy, a measure that will of course have horrific costs of its own, for such a small toll?

But the numbers mask what’s really causing experts to worry: The coronavirus’s trajectory is putting us on a course of many, many more cases and many, many more deaths unless we do something drastic.

In other words, there’s a simple answer to the question: No, we’re not overreacting.

To explain why we’re not overreacting, we need to look to the experience of another country going through the coronavirus crisis: Italy

The full Vox article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

Coronavirus response could give long-awaited jolt to telehealth

March 19, 2020

COVID-19 response could give long-awaited jolt to telehealth

Telehealth may be about to boom as federal officials push doctors to video chat with patients, hoping to reduce stress on hospitals preparing for a flood of coronavirus cases.

The Trump administration has used the president's national emergency declaration and an emergency funding package to lift key barriers to virtual care, including rules that limited payments for telehealth visits and blocked the use of popular video messaging platforms like FaceTime over privacy concerns. Many private insurers appear to be quickly following suit, raising the prospect that remote consultation could become the new normal long after the crisis subsides.

The full Politico article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

COVID-19 Resources: Member Developments

March 18, 2020

Recent eHI Member Actions:

 

  • AHIMA - New ICD-10-CM Code for COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • AAFP (AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS) - AAFP Raises Pressure for Federal Response to COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • ACOG - Are Pregnant Women at Increased Risk for COVID-19? (Link

 

  • ACS (AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY) - American Cancer Society Suspends All Events until Mid-May (Link)

 

  • AllSCRIPTS - How to Streamline Telehealth Implementation for Safer COVID-19 Patient Encounters (Link)

 

  • AMAZON WEB SERVICES - Can Cloud Computing Cope With COVID-19 Demands? (Link)

 

  • AHA (AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION) - What Heart Patients Should know about COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGY - Expert Radiologists Developing an AI Solution to Detect COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PATHOLOGISTS (ACP) - COVID-19: An ACP Physician's Guide (Link)

 

  • BCBS (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) - Companies Announce Coverage of COVID-19 Testing for All Members (Link)

 

  • BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON - NIH Selects Booz Allen to Provide Services to Support Infectious Disease Research like COVID-19. (Link)

 

  • CERNER - Cerner's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic (Link)     

 

  • CHANGE HEALTHCARE - As the COVID-19 Evolves, Change Healthcare Mobilizes Task Force to Take Swift Action to Protect Your Data. (Link)

 

  • CHRISTUS HEALTH - CHRISTUS Health Statement Regarding COVID-19​ (Link)

 

  • COLORADO RHIO - While Practicing Social Distancing CORHIO Remains Fully Operational--Providing Uninterrupted Data Exchange for Colorado. (Link)

 

  • EHNAC - EHNAC’s Executive Director, Lee Barrett, Comments on Finalization of HHS Rules on Interoperability and Data Blocking Regulations (Link

 

  • ELI LILLY - Lilly Co-develop Antibody Therapies for the Treatment of COVID-19 (Link)       ​

 

  • GOOGLE CLOUD - Google Cloud Cancels its Next Conference Due to COVID-19 (Link)

 

  •  HEALTH CATALYST - Health Catalyst Announces Three COVID-19 Solutions for U.S. Clients at No Incremental Cost for the Remainder of This Year. (Link)​​​

 

  • HEALTH CURRENT - How Health Current is Helping During the COVID-19 Crisis (Link)

 

  • HEALTHIX - Healthix Releases a List of Participants Currently Testing For COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • HOGAN LOVELLS - “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” Could Mean Massive Changes for Employers Nationwide (Link)

 

  • INOVALON - How Inovalon is Responding to COVID-19 (Link)

 

  • INTERSYSTEMS - Intersystems Provides Hospitals with Functionality to Screen for COVID-19 with TrakCare . (Link)

 

  • LIFEWIRE - Deploying Telehealth for COVID-19​ (Link)

 

  • MARSHFILED CLINIC - COVID-19: What You Need to Know (Link)

 

  • MAYO CLINIC - COVID-19: Flattening the Curve (Link)

 

  • MGMA - MGMA COVID-19 Action Center (Link)

 

  • NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF HEALTH CARE COALITIONS - Employer Town Hall on the Coronavirus (Link)

 

  • NORTHWELL HEALTH - Staring Down the Coronavirus (Link)

 

  • OHIO HEALTH - Ohio Health Officials Address Mental Health During COVID-19 Pandemic (Link)   

 

  • PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH - Providence St. Joseph Health Offers Coronavirus Lessons from Treating 'Patient One' in the U.S. (Link)

 

  • STRATEGIC INTERESTS - COVID-19 Monitoring and Surveillance Solution (Link)

 

  • UCHICAGO MEDICINE - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Information and Resources (Link)

 

  • UNITED HEALTHCARE (UHC) - Helping You Stay Informed About Coronavirus (Link)

 

  • WELLMARK - Important Health Plan Benefits Updates Regarding COVID-19 (Link)     ​

 

  • ZIPNOSIS - Find Out Your Risk Level of Contracting COVID-19 Zipnosis. (Link)

     

 

 

Telemedicine has a big role in the coronavirus fight, but doctors say the laws remain murky

March 18, 2020

Telemedicine has a big role in the coronavirus fight, but doctors say the laws remain murky

As part of its effort to extend health services to seniors, the Trump administration announced a major expansion of telemedicine options, allowing Americans enrolled in Medicare to talk to a doctor by phone or video chat for no additional cost. 

States including Massachusetts and Florida have also expanded telehealth coverage amid the COVID-19 crisis to make it easier for doctors and patients to connect online and to ensure that physicians get paid. Washington is among states moving to let doctors volunteer to treat patients even if they’re not licensed in the state as long as they can legally practice elsewhere.

More than 260 doctors have already volunteered, though it will take time for them to be vetted, said Stephanie Mason of the Washington State Medical Commission. Getting licensed in other states can still take months and cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The coronavirus, which as of Wednesday has infected more than 6,400 people in the United States, killing at least 114, is threatening to overwhelm the U.S. health system in the coming weeks, creating a need for increased use of remote health services. But a patchwork of state-by-state regulations and a lack of clarity about what’s allowed is causing telemedicine providers to move cautiously. Health plans, meanwhile, aren’t moving as quickly as the federal government to reimburse doctors. 

The full CNBC article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

What America can learn from China’s use of robots and telemedicine to combat the coronavirus

March 18, 2020

What America can learn from China’s use of robots and telemedicine to combat the coronavirus

After a passenger infected with the novel coronavirus boarded the Diamond Princess cruise ship in January, the virus quickly spread, eventually infecting at least 712 and killing seven. Critics labeled the ship quarantined in Yokohama a floating petri dish, and at least one Japanese expert attributed the explosion of cases to food trays passed out by infected crew. Could robots have made a difference?

As countries around the world grapple with COVID-19, front line medical workers are deploying robots, telemedicine and other technologies to help contain the pandemic. China and Spain have used drones to monitor people during lockdown campaigns, while South Korea has deployed them to help disinfect areas in Daegu, an epidemic hotspot. Antwork, a group company of Japanese industrial drone maker Terra Drone, flew medical samples and quarantine materials in China’s Xinchang in February during the height of the epidemic.

Earlier this month, a field hospital staffed by robots opened in the Hongshan Sports Center in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began. Dubbed the Smart Field Hospital, the facility is a project involving Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, China Mobile and CloudMinds, a maker of cloud robotics systems based in China and the U.S. The Smart Field Hospital is a trial aimed at relieving exhausted health-care workers even as the outbreak in China slowed in recent weeks.

The full CNBC article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

Coronavirus is exposing all of the weaknesses in the US health system

March 16, 2020

Coronavirus is exposing all of the weaknesses in the US health system

The international response to the novel coronavirus has laid this bare: America was less prepared for a pandemic than countries with universal health systems.

There is a real concern that Americans, with a high uninsured rate and high out-of-pocket costs compared to the rest of the world, won’t seek care because of the costs. Before the crisis even began, the United States had fewer doctors and fewer hospital beds per capita than most other developed countries. The rollout of COVID-19 testing has been patchy, reliant on a mix of government and private labs to scale up the capacity to perform the tens of thousands of tests that will be necessary.

“Everyone working in this space would agree that no matter how you measure it, the US is far behind on this,” says Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The full Vox article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

Fauci: Time for America to ‘hunker down’

March 15, 2020

Fauci: Time for America to ‘hunker down’

The nation’s top infectious diseases expert urged Americans on Sunday to hunker down as the U.S. scrambles to avoid an explosion of COVID-19 cases that could kill hundreds of thousands, or even a million, people here.

“I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.”

The full Politico article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

How health care inequity could make the COVID-19 crisis worse

March 13, 2020

How health care inequity could make the COVID-19 crisis worse

As global warnings about COVID-19 intensify, the message is increasingly stark: If you’re sick, stay at home. A wave of cancellations and closings have tried to keep even seemingly healthy people away from big gatherings or close quarters. But if you’re one of the millions of people in the United States who don’t have paid sick leave or adequate health insurance coverage, taking time off of work while you’re sick — or seeking medical care in the first place — can feel impossible.

Trying to soldier on as normal in the middle of a global pandemic carries a different peril, however: the risk of further spreading a disease that has so far killed over 5,000 people worldwide, overwhelmed other countries’ health systems and for which there is no vaccine or cure.

The full PBS article can be viewed be at this link.  

Name: 
Anna

Coronavirus adds new stress to antiquated health record-keeping

March 12, 2020

COVID-19 adds new stress to antiquated health record-keeping

The U.S. health care system is on the leading edge of many technologies — except when it comes to passing information between doctors, laboratories, and public health officials. And that could add another snarl to the already troubled effort to test for coronavirus.

Overreliance on faxing, phones and paper records is problem enough in ordinary times. Adding thousands of coronavirus tests a day will test the ability of providers, labs, and public health officials to keep track of all the results. Because not all results are automatically downloaded into physicians' records, the doctors may need to log into laboratory web portals or, if all else fails, turn to faxes and phones to learn test results.

The full Politico article can be viewed at this link.  

Name: 
Anna