On Monday, an HHS spokesman confirmed that the department will extend the national public health emergency for COVID-19 that would otherwise expire on July 25th. The announcement comes as Arizona activates surge plans but resists enacting a full second shutdown of businesses in the state.
Health and Human Services spokesman...Arizona News
Last Thursday, CMS released the update of COVID-19 data in nursing homes and corrected their numbers for precision. The initial data release was met with concern over a number of misreported numbers for facilities across the country, as well as missing data from some facilities that submitted information close to the...CMS Rules
Those who are older, lower income, minorities and have chronic conditions are at higher risk for COVID-19.
On June 22, CMS released sought-after Medicare data (Jan 1 to May 16) on beneficiaries’ COVID-19 outcomes that found that more than 325,000 beneficiaries were diagnosed with COVID-19 during that time.
Almost 110,000 were...Arizona News
Last week Arizona hit a new high when for the first time, more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in one day.
On June 19 the American Hospital Association (AHA) called on The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to extend the public health emergency declaration set to expire on July 25 until testing capacity...Arizona News
President Trump’s visit to Arizona on Tuesday was eclipsed by the continued acceleration of COVID-19 cases in the state. On Wednesday, Arizona ranked in the top five states for new confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Although mask mandates are being passed in cities across the state, Governor Doug Ducey’s office has not...National News
Centene and the National Minority Quality Forum are joining forces to study how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting communities of color.
The Minority and Rural Health Coronavirus Study will offer free diagnostic and antibody testing in five states through Quest Diagnostics and will track 5,000 racial and ethnic minority...Arizona News
Over the past week, cases of COVID-19 in Arizona have spiked, causing alarm for doctors, legislators and residents. As is the nationwide trend, indigenous and other vulnerable communities are much harder hit than average.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, June 16th hit a record number of cases reported....Arizona News
Nursing homes this week experienced a surge of miscommunication during a spike in newly reported cases of COVID-19. Nationally and locally, organizations are trying to grapple with an influx of new information and the ramifications of an old and neglected system.
In the most recent weekly update of CMS data, more nursing homes...Arizona News
Staff and facility changes are announced via letters to the editor and online media briefings. Principle among these changes is the transition of the Sedona free-standing ED to a lower cost level of care. The press release letter of May 22, 2020 notes that the vast majority of care delivered there is non-emergent and many patients are...Arizona News
An investigation by Bloomberg Law this week uncovered that over $36 billion in interest-free loans from Medicare have gone to companies that have settled on cases accusing them of Medicare or Medicaid fraud in the past.
Healthcare providers could apply for these loans during the pandemic for expected cash flow shortages having to...Arizona News
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recommends re-opening facilities to provide non-emergent, non-COVID-19 healthcare.
The Trump administration said Monday that healthcare facilities in states that have seen enough of a decline in COVID-19 cases to reach the Phase II criteria for reopening their economies should begin...Arizona News
An Arizona-based organization of doctors sued the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the federally imposed limitations on prescribing hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine to patients as a COVID-19 preventative. In April, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey also set similar restrictions until the drug is shown by medical study to be an...Arizona News
Arizona’s state health officials urge hospitals to fully activate emergency plans to cope with a surge of COVID-19 patients.
Hospitals in Arizona are seeing a sharp increase in patients and emergency-room visits. Last week marked the largest week-to-week increase of coronavirus cases in both Arizona and Pima County since the...Arizona News
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced funding relief for providers that rely exclusively on Medicaid reimbursements following months of pleading by providers, industry professionals and politicians.
Organizations like the American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and the American Health...Arizona News
Arizona hospitalizations of patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 have hit a new record and the state's largest health system has reached capacity for patients needing external lung machines.
As of Friday statewide hospitalizations jumped to 1,278 inpatients in Arizona with suspected and confirmed COVID-19, which was a...Arizona News
A study published on May 28 on the JAMA Network demonstrated the issues with prescription drug and medical equipment distribution challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following support for the drug by President Donald Trump on March 19, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, drugs which are usually used to treat illnesses such as...Arizona News
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the full data of its COVID-19 survey of nursing facilities in the United States on Thursday. CMS cautioned against taking the data too literally as there was incomplete reporting from many care facilities, but did stress that there was certain information to be gleaned from...CMS Rules
In response to the coronavirus, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted a special enrollment period (SEP) for Medicare beneficiaries through the end of June, giving Part D, Medicare Advantage and Medigap insurers an additional sales window. The SEP applies to those who were unable to enroll due to the pandemic....Arizona News
On Monday, CMS released federal data on COVID-19 cases in nursing homes in addition to updated accountability measures.
The full data on nursing homes is expected to drop later this week, which is crucial for public reporting since an Arizona court ruled the state does not have to publicly release which nursing homes are...Arizona News
As of June 1st, Arizona has identified 20,123 cases of COVID-19 and 917 deaths. On Tuesday, June 2, the state reported 1,127 new infections of the novel virus, the highest number reported in a single day since the outbreak began.
The state's total number of reported positive COVID-19 cases jumped 4.2% on Saturday, signaling the...