As barrels of at-home COVID-19 tests wait to be picked through and new daily COVID-19 case numbers continue to decline, Michigan’s Senate Republican Leader is calling on the state to “back off on our obsession on testing.”

“. . . Especially since Omicron remains the dominant strain,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake). “Too many false positives. And negative tests often cause people (with symptoms) to unintentionally spread other viruses like the flu. If you’re sick, stay home.”

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services reported 1,656 new cases of the virus since the report on March 4, as well as 16 deaths due to the virus.

A seven-day positive rate of [Read More]

By LIZ SZABO
The billions of dollars invested in COVID vaccines and COVID-19 research so far are expected to yield medical and scientific dividends for decades, helping doctors battle influenza, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and far more diseases.

“This is just the start,” said Dr. Judith James, vice president of clinical affairs for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. “We won’t see these dividends in their full glory for years.”

Building on the success of mRNA vaccines for COVID, scientists hope to create mRNA-based vaccines against a host of pathogens, including influenza, Zika, rabies, HIV, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which hospitalizes 3 million children under age 5 each year worldwide.

Researchers see promise in [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI

I’ve been writing this column for years now and have given appropriate kudos to a variety of disciplines within the healthcare realm. But I’m not sure I’ve explicitly called out social workers for the tremendous value the profession brings to healthcare, specifically as it relates to the behavioral health component of primary care.

I’ve been a personal supporter and advocate of social workers as far back as 20 years ago, when the Medical Network One CMO’s primary care practice used their services to help coordinate community resources for patients with needs beyond traditional medical care. Our physicians organization also included social workers in our Community Care Travel Teams (CCTT) [Read More]

By JESSE A. MARKOS, Esq.
Wachler & Associates, P.C

The outbreak and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the staffing resources of Michigan’s health care system to unprecedented levels. Adding to the demand for already scarce health care providers, hospitals have scrambled to find additional frontline workers like emergency medicine physicians and nurses. During this period of mounting workforce shortage, Michigan has taken significant steps to enhance efforts to recruit and retain health care providers.

For example, on Feb. 16, 2022, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a new law approving $1.2 billion in federal aid money for COVID-19 relief efforts. Importantly, $300 million of that federal aid has been earmarked to address the [Read More]

By EMMA TRIVAX, Esq.

ONC Final Rule

Information blocking

On May 1, 2020, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”) released a Final Rule (the “ONC Final Rule”), which implements the information blocking provision of the 21st Century Cures Act, enacted in 2016. The information blocking provision applies to health care providers, health IT (“HIT”) developers, and health information exchanges/networks (“HIEs”).

“Information blocking”, in this context, refers to actions that discourage or interfere with the interoperability of electronic health information (“EHI”) except when necessary to comply with laws, such as HIPAA. An example of a common instance of information blocking is when [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

MDHHS Continues COVID-19 Vaccine Push As Deaths Diminish

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released a weekly list of COVID-19 vaccination clinics as it continues to report a low number of new deaths from the virus.

The state health department reported 1,423 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths over a three-day period. The average number of cases per day has plateaued, but the number of deaths continue to drop. Over the last three days, Michigan has reported only eight deaths due to COVID, the lowest death numbers since the July 4 holiday last year.

A list of [Read More]