There were 742 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Arizona on May 5, bringing the state total to 866,022 since testing began. There were 5 new deaths and the total is now 17,360. Intensive care unit beds are 11% occupied by COVID-19 patients and 15% of beds remain available.
This information comes from the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 data dashboard.
On May 1, Arizona reported 1,047 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19, the largest single-day increase in three weeks. The trend across the state appears to be an increase in cases and a slowing of additional deaths, according to Fox 10.
Travel nurses and the medical staffing industry were pushed to the absolute limits in the surge months of COVID-19, and are still struggling to recover or resist burning out, Cronkite News reports. A recent poll of hospital executives showed that 90% of respondents reported using travel nurses, up from 60% in 2019.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would help healthcare workers in rural and underserved communities during COVID-19 recovery. The rule addresses workforce shortages and requires facilities to report COVID-19 vaccination among health care workers and public health surveillance in order to assist public health agencies in responding to the pandemic, Physician’s Weekly reports.
The Department of Health and Human Services launched a new vaccine reimbursement program for providers, in order to assist patients enrolled in health plans that do not cover vaccination fees or cover them with patient cost-sharing. According to Healthcare Finance, the COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund would address the provider need to be reimbursed for uncompensated costs since providers cannot bill patients for COVID-19 vaccination fees.
Read more about the COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund at the Health Resources & Services Administration website.
Lawmakers have also urged three major insurers’ decision to reinstate cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatments. In a letter to the CEO’s of Anthem, UnitedHealth and Aetna, REp. Katie Porter (D-CA) and nine others asked the insurance giants to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment. From the letter, via ModernHealthcare:
These actions threaten to undermine the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans, as COVID-19 continues to tear through communities around this country despite public health officials’ best efforts to rapidly deploy the vaccine.
Humana, Inc. believes that accelerating its in-home care strategy through acquisitions of home care companies like Kindred at Home will help it improve home health care services. Since COVID-19 has shifted trends in senior and long term health care, they accelerated the acquisition in order to respond more effectively to market demands, Home Health Care News reports.
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