Hospital Medicine News

Omicron has taxed the country’s health care system, causing more COVID-19 cases, ED visits and hospitalizations than any other variant during the pandemic, according to newly published data.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday that they have initiated a clinical study to assesses the safety and efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine for adults aged 18 to 55 years that specifically targets the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The FDA halted the use of two monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 because they are not effective against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, which now accounts for almost all U.S. cases.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, recommended no change to the physician fee schedule for 2023, a decision that the ACP and AMA described as a freezing of physician payments.

In Canada, pediatric ED visits due to cannabis exposure significantly increased after recreational cannabis was legalized, according to recent data.

In 2014, the CDC established The Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship to help hospitals improve their prescribing practices. Over the next 2 years, it also published guidance for nursing homes and the outpatient setting.

Initial findings indicate that a passive air sampler clip can detect airborne SARS-CoV-2 indoors and may provide a way for individuals in high-risk settings to assess their personal exposure to the virus.

The ACP has released its first-ever guidelines for diagnosing, managing and preventing recurrence of acute left-sided colonic diverticulitis.

COVID-19 vaccination in the United States saved nearly a quarter-million lives in the first 6 months that shots were available compared with a scenario in which there were no vaccines, researchers estimated.

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it will send 10 million COVID-19 tests — five million rapid tests and five million lab-based PCR tests — to K-12 schools each month to help keep them open during the omicron surge.