The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of healthcare as we know it. As in-person visits become in many cases impossible, the role of telemedicine has become essential.
In Arizona and elsewhere, healthcare providers are turning to technology to deliver care at a distance like never before.
Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, an...Arizona News
This Tuesday, Arizona announced that it intends to provide antibody testing for the coronavirus to 250,000 people in the state. The University of Arizona said that it would process blood tests for people who have been exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 and have successfully built an immunity. The state plans to prioritize...National News
A new bill from Congressional Democrats seeks to increase subsidies for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) and ostensibly provide relief to workers who have lost their jobs and potentially their health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill, called the Worker Health Coverage Protection Act, is...Arizona News
In the midst of Arizona’s COVID-19 pandemic, it remains hard to adequately track the details of who is infected and predict the next hot spot. Slim testing data means extrapolations used by policy makers to implement precautions and preventions during the pandemic, can fall short.
Last week, the Arizona Department of Health...Arizona News
Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with the Department of Labor and the Treasury Department released guidelines for health insurers to cover diagnostic testing for COVID-19.
This news comes on the heels of a request from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Blue Cross Blue Shield for relief for...Arizona News
The coronavirus outbreak has profoundly impacted the facilities who care for those most vulnerable to it: nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities (SNF).
This week, AZCentral reported that SNF residents currently account for nearly half of Maricopa and Pima Counties’ COVID-19 deaths. According to a Maricopa County...Arizona News
Regional, rural hospitals across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic are warning of the financial difficulties associated with maintaining the demands of the crisis while losing revenue from other sources.
Hospitals South of Tucson are already signaling they will require financial relief if they are to remain open and...National News
Last week, the health insurance marketplace for the state of California released an actuarial brief projecting that testing and treatment COVID-19 costs for the national commercial medical market could range from $34 billion to $251 billion; projections also include premium increases to individuals and employers ranging from 4% to...Arizona News
According to data tracking by the Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health, the vast majority of patients testing positive for the coronavirus are under the age of 65, with an equal number of hospitalized patients under the age of 65 as over. As of April 1st, 79 people are hospitalized with...Arizona News
This week, four major insurers announced plans to alleviate financial burdens on patients for COVID-19 treatments.
In addition to sweeping pledges made by most companies to waive bills for coronavirus testing two weeks ago, Cigna, Humana, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare (UHC) introduced plans that would waive consumer costs entirely or...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding its accelerated and advanced payment program for Medicare providers to support hospitals and doctors on the front lines of the rapidly spreading, global pandemic.
Taking advantage of the recently established Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security...Arizona News
The coronavirus pandemic poses a myriad of problems for healthcare entities across the country and many see telemedicine as a solution to some of them.
Providers have been gradually implementing telemedicine services slowly for years. But as the need for separation between people has become suddenly paramount, the pace of its...Arizona News
The coronavirus outbreak is putting unprecedented strain on local and national economies across the world, and Arizona’s healthcare-centric small businesses are feeling the effects.
Even as money is poured into the healthcare sector to fight the virus, many corners of the industry are hurting. The healthcare landscape has...National News
Officials in the Trump administration are weighing the possibility of opening a special enrollment period to expand coverage to uninsured persons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unemployment rate has spiked due to the coronavirus, leaving anywhere between 500,000 and 5 million people suddenly without insurance. Arizona currently has...Arizona News
Hospitals and providers participating in Medicare quality value-based purchasing programs received unprecedented relief on Sunday from a Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement that relaxes reporting requirements and extends data submission deadlines.
The action is part of the Trump Administration's response...Arizona News
A man has died and his wife is receiving critical care after both ingested chloroquine phosphate in an attempt to prevent contracting COVID-19.
Chloroquine is used to treat and prevent malaria, whereas chloroquine phosphate is an additive used to clean fish tanks. Experts at Banner Health are warning the public against...Arizona News
The Arizona Department of Health Services at AZDHS.gov has continuously updated data on the state-level, including the number of positive, pending, ruled out and number of tested cases. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) is providing up-to-the-minute reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak globally as well as specific data breakdowns for each...Arizona News
Emergency Declarations on the federal and state levels can potentially cause discrepancies in coverage for both private providers and state-provided coverage services like Medicare and Medicaid. Following these declarations, both private insurance companies and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance for...Arizona News
As Arizona braces for an escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak, Banner Health and other hospitals are reckoning with the possibility of significant resource shortages.
A side by side comparison of Arizona hospital beds and CDC projections paints a dire picture.
On Monday, Holly Ward of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare...News
Three major hospital groups penned a letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging Congress to suspend the mandated Medicare sequester for the duration of the pandemic.
Established by the Budget Control Act in 2011, the federal sequester cuts government spending by more than $1 trillion for the 2021 fiscal year and it would...
