Practice Management News

A research letter published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in April that concluded surgical and cotton masks were ineffective at preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was retracted on June 2.

CDC data show that as of April 9, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic within the United States has been uneven. For example, New York and Texas each have thousands of cases, while Montana and Wyoming have only several hundred cases. Such fluctuations and the rapid spread of the disease are some of the factors that have made it challenging for health care systems to predict how many supplies they will need to help patients.

President Donald J. Trump recently signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act into law. However, the question remains whether the legislation will be enough to save everyone the medical community.

The rate at which the COVID-19 pandemic has escalated makes the days (all of 2 weeks ago) when I was asking patients to reschedule if they showed any signs of illness seem quaint. Now, like most of you, we are fully shut down.

The HHS assistant secretary for health and the U.S. surgeon general are asking health care providers to repurpose and share ventilators, cancel elective surgeries and transfer equipment and personnel to areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the days drag on for many of us sheltering at home, there is plenty of time for us to consider our personal role in this pandemic as well as that of our profession.

CMS recently announced that video and chat apps that normally do not comply with HIPAA security and privacy regulations can be used to facilitate patient care during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

During a virtual Town Hall meeting recently hosted by the AMA, experts reviewed the latest research on COVID-19 and addressed questions from health care providers on the front lines about the availability of personal protective equipment, treatments for COVID-19 and efforts to secure the financial stability of private practices.

AMA recently published a financial checklist to help keep private practices financially afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic with tips like preparing for staff exposures and identifying and implementing clinical protocols that are specific to the disease.

Governors and attorneys general in at least four states — citing a need to conserve medical resources during the COVID-19 pandemic — recently tried to ban some abortions in their respective states.