This evening the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a number of new policies to help physicians and hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The AMA released a statement applauding these actions, which include Medicare coverage for telephone services, significant additions to the list of covered telehealth services such as emergency visits, and greater clarity on the use of remote patient monitoring for acute conditions like the novel coronavirus.

 

Below are links to a CMS fact sheet on the new policies and a CMS press release.

 

Physicians and Other Clinicians: CMS Flexibilities to Fight COVID-19

 

Trump Administration Makes Sweeping Regulatory Changes to Help U.S. Healthcare System Address COVID-19 Patient Surge

CMS has announced a number of measures to enable additional opportunities for Ambulatory Surgery Centers to operate and contribute to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

 

Read the article provided by Beckers ASC Review.

There are a couple articles of interest in the headlines related to the use of antibodies from those that have successfully recovered from COVID-19.  

From Florida, there is a story that the FDA has approved the use of convalescent plasma in emergency situations where clinicians implant plasma from patients that have recovered from coronavirus for use in new patients to boost their immune system to fight the virus. According to the story, convalescent plasma has been used for over 120 years to treat the flu, chickenpox, measles, polio, etc. Labs are now soliciting plasma from survivors.

Plasma From Coronavirus Survivors Could Potentially Treat Other Patients (Health News Florida) 

The Telegraph has a story from Germany, where officials plan to test thousands of patients for antibodies and issue ‘immunity certificates’ to those that have recovered from Covid-19 so they can transition into normal post-lockdown life. 

 

Germany will issue coronavirus antibody certificates to allow quarantined to re-enter society  (The Telegraph)