Hospitals Get Guidance On Restarting Elective Procedures: Think A Gradual Sunrise Over Flipping A Light Switch
CMS Administrator Seema Verma released a plan that will help hospitals start to reopen, just like the rest of the country. Among other things, before a hospital can reopen for non-emergent, non-coronavirus care, their state or region will have to meet certain criteria in terms of residents' symptoms and case loads. The American Hospital Association has also released readiness guidelines.
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Details How Hospitals Can Reopen As COVID-19 Surge Passes
The CMS on Sunday released guidelines for hospitals to restart elective surgeries while maintaining their ability to treat COVID-19 patients. As state governments begin to look past the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, several have released phased plans for reopening businesses and workplaces and lifting stay-at-home orders. Hospitals will have to undergo similar, phased processes, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. (Teichert, 4/19)
Modern Healthcare:
AHA, ACS And Others Release Guidelines For Resuming Elective Surgeries
With providers eager to resume elective surgical procedures as COVID-19 cases begin to decline in some regions, a group of prominent trade associations released joint guidelines Friday that are intended to help them assess their readiness to do so. The guidelines from the American Hospital Association, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Anesthesiologists and Association of periOperative Registered Nurses say cases should only resume when the region has seen a reduced rate of new COVID-19 cases for at least 14 days, and that such a move is first cleared by local and state governments. (Bannow, 4/17)
And in other hospital news —
Modern Healthcare:
Home Monitoring Helps Hospitals Prepare For COVID-19 Patient Surges
As cases of the novel coronavirus continue to mount, hospitals are shifting their attention to monitoring and treating patients in their own homes—making virtual care an increasingly widespread and critical part of delivering healthcare. That includes the video visits people often think of when referring to telemedicine, but also programs that help clinicians regularly monitor patients’ vital signs and symptoms from afar. Across the board, demand for virtual care has gone up 20 to 30 times since mid-March, said Gurpreet Singh, health services leader at consulting firm PwC. (Cohen, 4/18)
Modern Healthcare:
CVS To Scale Infusion Therapy Business Nationwide
CVS Health's infusion care business will help hospitals transition stable patients to home-based nursing care to ease the burden on providers across the country that have taken on the most COVID-19 cases, the company announced Friday. Coram is initially partnering with UCLA Health to identify eligible patients who rely on IV therapy for hydration and nutrition, anti-infectives and specialty medications for chronic conditions, among other uses. It plans to scale the approach nationwide, working alongside home health agencies that will help treat and manage the sickest patients. (Kacik, 4/17)
