By LIZ SZABO
With millions of lives on the line, researchers have been working at an unprecedented pace to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

But that speed — and some widely touted breakthroughs — belie the enormous complexity and potential risks involved. Researchers have an incomplete understanding of the coronavirus and are using technology that’s largely unproven.

Among many worries: A handful of studies on COVID-19 survivors suggest that antibodies — key immune system proteins that fight infection — begin to disappear within months. That’s led scientists to worry that the protection provided by vaccines could fade quickly as well. Some even question whether vaccines will really end the pandemic. If vaccines produce limited [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
“I have often depended on the kindness of strangers.” Thus, wrote Tennessee Williams in his famous Streetcar Named Desire. We, too, looked to the kindness of strangers in the early days of the pandemic, particularly for personal protection equipment. It was an all-in, humanitarian effort to keep our colleagues and patients safe. Because there were more stringent demands for the wearing of PPE for longer durations, and for more frequent changing of PPE than in our halcyon pre-pandemic days, the need to quickly source PPE for immediate use was paramount.

I wrote in a previous column of the need for keeping a 30-day inventory of PPE. I want to [Read More]

By ROLF LOWE
In July of 2020 the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an opinion addressing the scope of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services authority to recoup payments to Medicaid service providers. Plaintiffs Kathleen Papa and Professional Homecare Providers (PHP) challenged WDHS’s recordkeeping policies, which included identifying things such as paperwork mistakes, that resulted in significant overpayment obligations from the state’s independent private duty nurses. In seeking an overpayment WDHS didn’t challenge whether the nurses provided a Medicaid patient with a covered service or that the payment for the claim was inappropriate or inaccurate, but instead based its right to seek recoupment of Medicaid funds because of inadequate documentation. The policy [Read More]

By ROSE WILLIS
In the world of health information technology, “information blocking” generally refers to actions that discourage the interoperability of electronic health information except when necessary to comply with law (e.g. HIPAA). The concept applies to a range of problematic activities from charging patients unreasonable fees for copies of their electronic medical record to a software system’s inability to transfer records to a healthcare provider’s new electronic medical record system. Ultimately, information blocking hinders the desired full interoperability and exchange of electronic healthcare information (EHI).

The Federal Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released a Final Rule on May 1, 2020 [Read More]

A Run On Tests For Senators After One Member Positive For COVID

Word that Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) tested positive for COVID-19 on July 31 has led to a run on tests in the upper chamber.

Five days earlier, Barrett was with Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit), on a district exchange program that included a student-less Pershing High School as part of their Motown visit. Hollier then visited Barrett’s district. Barrett says they both wore masks the entire time.

Hollier, whose wife is pregnant, tested negative for the virus Aug 3.

Others who have reportedly been tested include Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), Sen. Betty Jean Alexander (D-Detroit) and Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor).

Sen. Peter Lulido (R-Shelby [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
Anyone who follows the supposed official numbers of people dying of coronavirus will find inexplicable discrepancies in the numbers from country to country. For example, the data for June 6 on the Worldometers website record 111,636 deaths in the United States and 4,634 in China, the country in which the virus originated. China? A country of 1.4 billion people? Really? India, a country with 1.3 billion people, reports only 6,933 deaths, as contrasted with Belgium, a country of 11.5 million people, which had 9,580 deaths. Seriously?

What about Germany, population 83.7 million, with 8,766 deaths, as contrasted with Spain, population 46.7 million, with 27,135 deaths, or Italy, population [Read More]

Those days are gone forever. I should just let them go…
—Don Henley

By PAUL NATINSKY
Irrevocable changes are here and more are to come. COVID-19 will change small things as well as large.

We might finally be seeing the end of currency. Bills and coins are some of the dirtiest things we encounter in the course of our daily lives. Gone for good, likely, is the handshake, possibly the casual greeting kiss or hug. I vote for the bow to replace these conventions—elegant and regal, safe and sanitary.

Big things will change, too. Social distancing and reduced capacities for indoor businesses, restaurants, bars, concert halls and movie theaters are likely to stick in some [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
This column was not supposed to be about COVID-19—yet it must be. Not only because the virus continues to thrive in various parts of the country as I write this on the cusp of the 4th of July holiday weekend, but because in many ways the hard part has just begun.

I do not mean to minimize the extreme sickness and loss of life during the pandemic’s peak. That was a tremendously frightening and heartrending time not only in our nation but globally, and healthcare professionals at all levels used heroic measures to tame a fearsome, unknown enemy that was – and is – the virus. Their work continues, [Read More]

By ROLF LOWE
The COVID 19 pandemic has had a significant impact on health care providers of all sizes and practice areas. While non-essential services came to a halt during the early part of the pandemic creating a sudden income loss, the loss of insurance coverage for existing and potential patients due to a job loss, reduction in income or reduction in hours worked could have a lingering effect on patient visits for routine care and serious health conditions. Fortunately, the Health Insurance Marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid program allow individuals who have lost their health insurance to find low or no cost options for [Read More]

By ALEXANDRA CRANDALL
The COVID-19 National Emergency has now been effective in the United States for three months. During this time, guidance from federal agencies has been dynamic as the government adapts to the “new normal.”

But even as the global health crisis halts nonessential travel and disrupts visa issuance to many foreign nationals, federal agencies have published additional guidance and announced special consideration for medical professionals. To be sure, these carve-outs are critical, as 17 percent of medical professionals—and 28 percent of all physicians—in the United States were born outside of the United States.

Medical Professionals Present in the United States:

USCIS has implemented a temporary policy change for former J-1 medical [Read More]