Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare As part of President Biden’s commitment to increasing access to vaccinations, CMS announced an additional payment amount for administering in-home COVID-19 vaccinations to Medicare beneficiaries who have difficulty leaving their homes or are otherwise hard-to-reach. This announcement further demonstrates continued efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration to…… Continue reading Medicare Payment for COVID-19 Vaccination Administration in the Home

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted county positivity rates for June 7, 2021. Regulations that address COVID-19 testing in LTCFs based on county positivity are found here; archived data is found here. 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing efforts to address avoidable inequities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of disparities in health and healthcare.  This page catalogs current health equity-related data on the COVID Data Tracker that align with populations and…… Continue reading Updated CDC COVID Data Tracker: New Health Equity Landing Page

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted nursing home data for week ending May 23, 2021. CDC’s COVID Data Tracker now has a new section – Cases & Deaths Among Healthcare Personnel.  This section made its appearance in late May 2021, just before the Memorial Day weekend.  This is an…… Continue reading Latest CMS, CDC & NHSN COVID-19 Data

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The U.S. EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has posted updated and expanded technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing questions arising under the federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. The EEOC also posted a new resource for job applicants and employees, explaining how federal employment discrimination laws protect workers…… Continue reading What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act and Other EEO Laws

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted the county positivity rates for June 1, 2021. Previous data is found in the Archives.  Check out CMS regulations/guidelines that relate to testing based on county positivity here. 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On Thursday, May 27, 2021, the FDA issued this letter to healthcare facilities:  FDA Recommends Transition from Use of Non-NIOSH-Approved and Decontaminated Disposable Respirators. The FDA recommends that health care personnel and facilities: Limit decontamination of disposable respirators. Decontaminated respirators and respirators that have undergone bioburden…… Continue reading Latest FDA Update on Respirators

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted nursing home data for week ending May 16, 2021. Resident deaths increased 176 from the week ending May 9 with staff deaths increasing 18 from that week as well. CDC’s COVID-19 Data Tracker reports another slight increase in the percentage of adults with…… Continue reading Latest CMS, CDC and NHSN COVID-19 Data Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The CDC updated its Training for Healthcare Professionals COVID-19 webpage on May 26, 2021. You’ll see lots of valuable training opportunities on this landing page, including: The above are just a few options so be sure to checkout the website for all trainings.

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Clinical Care Quick Reference for COVID-19 was updated on May 17, 2021 to include information about post-COVID conditions.  Post-COVID conditions describe a range of new, returning, or ongoing health issues that persist more than four weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19,…… Continue reading Updated CDC/HHS/CMS COVID-19 Information/Resources