U.S. healthcare conferences disrupted by coronavirus  A growing number of conference organizers are cancelling, postponing or transitioning to virtual meetings as the coronavirus spreads across the globe and the U.S. This week’s HIMSS Conference (Orlando, FL) was canceled for the first time in its nearly 60-year history. President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak at … [Read more...]

CMS develops additional code for coronavirus lab tests CMS took additional actions to prepare to respond to COVID-19, developing a second Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code that can be used by laboratories to bill for certain COVID-19 diagnostic tests to help increase testing and track new cases. CMS has released new fact sheets that explain Medicare, … [Read more...]

Study to test safety of Moderna vaccine -WSJ Healthy Seattle area volunteers have been asked to participate in the first clinical trial of an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by biotech company Modera (Cambridge, MA). Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (Seattle) aims to enroll 45 adults from the region to determine the safety of various doses of … [Read more...]

World Health Organization urges for 40% in increased production on protective gear The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged manufacturers to urgently increase the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) worldwide. The scarcity of gloves, medical masks, respirators, goggles and face shields are leaving frontline clinicians poorly equipped to encounter COVID-19 … [Read more...]

HSCA statement on Senate HELP committee hearing on the coronavirus HSCA President and CEO Khatereh Calleja released the following statement in conjunction with “An Emerging Disease Threat: How the U.S. is Responding to COVID-19, the Novel Coronavirus,” a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP): “HSCA and its member … [Read more...]

Hospital industry wants Congress to quickly pass emergency funding The hospital industry warned policymakers in Washington, D.C., this week that Congress needs to quickly pass emergency funding for the coronavirus crisis and direct some of the funding to plug anticipated gaps in hospital operating budgets. In the event of widespread sickness, costs would soar for isolation … [Read more...]

WHO raises risk assessment of coronavirus to “very high” at global level WHO officials are increasing the risk assessment of the coronavirus, which has spread to least 49 countries, to “very high” worldwide. “We have increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, … [Read more...]

Most U.S. hospitals will experience month-long disruption in N95 masks Most U.S. hospitals are experiencing delays of three to five days on orders of N95 respirators, according to Chaun Powell, group vice president for strategic supplier engagement with Premier Inc., in a webinar. U.S. health systems typically purchase more than 2 million N95 respirators per month, and the … [Read more...]