Far fewer cases of COVID-19 have been seen in rural areas of the US than in large urban populations. But even healthcare facilities not inundated with COVID-19 patients have sustained revenue losses and disruptions in standard procedures. One major advantage for Heartland Surgery Center in Kearney, Nebraska, was seeing the…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 13 released updated recommendations for COVID-19 testing, including interim testing guidelines for nursing home residents and healthcare personnel. Recommendations also include testing strategies for high-density critical infrastructure workplaces after a COVID-19 case is identified. The consolidated recommendations for…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 10 issued a new Quick Safety: “Promoting psychosocial well-being of healthcare staff during crisis.” The Joint Commission says it’s critical that healthcare organizations have systems in place to support institutional and individual resilience to mitigate and respond to the psychological toll of crises…

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Editor's Note This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of 382 young adult US Navy service members aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during a COVID-19 outbreak found that: 59.70% had reactive antibodies 59.2% also had neutralizing antibodies, an indicator of at least short-term immunity 81.5% reported…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 10 released a COVID-19 update announcing the following actions taken in its response to the pandemic: The FDA and National Institutes of Health have updated the CURE ID crowd-sourcing app to make it easier for healthcare providers to share their…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on June 9 released a guide for healthcare facilities to resume in-person, non-emergent, non-COVID-19 services in states and regions with no evidence of COVID-19 resurgence. Recommendations include: designating separate areas for COVID-19 care establishing non-COVID-19 care zones where patients can…

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Editor's Note Citing a response to public health concerns, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on June 7 reissued certain emergency use authorizations (EUAs) to specify which respirators are appropriate for decontamination and reuse. The FDA determined that certain respirators should not be decontaminated for reuse by healthcare professionals during…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 3 announced that it supports the following positions for healthcare organizations to prevent nosocomial COVID-19 infections as they resume routine patient care. Organizations should continue to follow CDC recommendations for universal masking of staff, patients, and visitors. Personnel should wear filtering facepiece (N95)…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma says use of telehealth has grown dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some provisions that were extended temporarily will be made permanent, the June 2 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. During the pandemic, CMS expanded access to telehealth…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on June 1 unveiled enhanced enforcement actions for nursing homes with violations of infection control practices. The enhanced and targeted accountability actions are based on trends in recent data regarding the incidence of COVID-19 in nursing homes and infection control…

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