Editor's Note Up to 4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to states, community health centers, and pharmacies next week, if the vaccine receives Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the February 24 The Hill reports. An…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, shows that the proportion of asymptomatic patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 is significant, and why universal testing is important to prevent hospital-acquired infection. Of 2,882 patients admitted to the hospital, 103 were COVID-19 positive.…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 24 announced that it will be offering an Advanced Certification for Spine Surgery (ACSS) in collaboration with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The new program will be available in July to hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers that perform…

Read More

Editor's Note This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study finds a huge drop in routine vaccinations in Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparing data from January to July 2019 and January to July 2020, declines of 70% to 89% in routine vaccinations were seen in mid-April 2020.…

Read More

Editor's Note This follow-up survey of 5,285 US adults, which was completed in September 2020, finds that overall: 1,710 (33.0%) reported anxiety or depression symptoms 1,536 (29.6%) reported COVID-19 related trauma- and stressor-related disorder symptoms 781 (15.1%) reported increased substance use 618 (11.9%) reported having seriously considered trying to kill…

Read More

Editor's Note In a February 18 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Marty Makary, MD, a surgeon and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, predicts that the US will have herd immunity to COVID-19 by April. He notes that COVID-19 cases have dropped…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 17, announced that it had updated its information on offsite (ie, virtual) surveys and reviews. In response to COVID-19, the Joint Commission stopped most onsite surveys and reviews from March 16 to May 31, 2020, and they developed processes for offsite events. As…

Read More

Editor's Note A survey by Morning Consult finds that of 16,970 working US adults polled, 56% said they would receive a COVID-19 vaccination if offered. This percentage rose to 61% during the final week of the survey, which was conducted between October 29, 2020, and January 29, 2021, according to…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study led by researchers at New York University Langone Medical Center, New York City, a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder was associated with an increased risk for mortality in COVID-19 patients, but diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders were not. This analysis of 7,348 adult COVID-19…

Read More

Editor's Note A Foley & Lardner survey finds that state telehealth reimbursement laws have significantly increased during the COVID-10 pandemic, but more can be done to address telehealth adoption barriers, the February 15 Revcycle Intelligence reports. More than 43 states and Washington, DC, have some telehealth statute for commercial payers,…

Read More