By MARK E. WILSON
Over the past few months the State of Michigan along with the world has been stricken by a pandemic not seen for the last 100 plus years. Throughout the last few months the learning curve has been steep while the best medical and scientific minds have struggled to learn everything possible about the disease.

In Michigan at the end of May there had been nearly 58,000 cases and more than 5500 deaths due to Covid-19. It is likely we will find out that even more people have had the virus but never knew it. The shelter in place, social distancing, masking and closing of the economy were [Read More]

(This feature presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service)

Statewide COVID-19 Testing At Center Of Recovery Plan
Michigan should implement statewide COVID-19 testing system to ensure people coming back into the workforce are not spreading the coronavirus, Business Leaders for Michigan advocated June 1 as part of their economic recovery plan.

The group is suggesting repurposing existing state and federal money and streamlining the government approval process to assist employers in getting their displaced workers back on the job safely.

In laying out the business roundtable’s three-part plan, BLM President & CEO Doug Rothwell also is advocating for the Department of Transportation and county road commissions to put a [Read More]

(This story presented as part of a cooperative effort between Healthcare Michigan and MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.)

Detroit reported that the city’s COVID-19 related deaths continues to decline, with nine additional deaths reported May 1, bringing the city’s total to 1,045.
Mayor Mike Duggan said in his daily press briefing that the number of deaths at nursing homes, however, continues to grow. By May 1, 233 nursing home residents and three staff had died after testing positive for COVID-19, he said.

“The numbers are coming down extremely fast,” he said. “What we’re doing is continuing to work … Before this is over, we’re going to find a quarter to [Read More]

By JULIE ROVNER
The United States is in the midst of both a public health crisis and a health care crisis. Yet most people are not aware these are two distinct things. Further, the response for each is going to be crucial.

If you are not a health professional of some stripe, you might not realize that the nation’s public health system operates in large part separately from the system that provides most people’s medical care.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a former deputy commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration and now vice dean at the school of public health at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, distinguishes the health care system from the public health [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
Will healthcare be forever changed in a post-COVID-19 world? Hopefully yes and hopefully no. We must of course hang on to what is good about our healthcare system. Primary care physicians and nurse practitioners affirming the care model of the patient-centered medical home. Fearless leaders such as Dr. Kimberly Farrow, CEO of Central City Integrated Health, and Dr. Anthony Clarke of Health Centers of Detroit, who toiled away in the heart of the city, the epicenter of Michigan’s pandemic, to treat, comfort, educate and encourage our state’s neediest patients. In the meantime, minutes and hours away, family medicine physicians, internal medicine docs, pediatricians and other Michigan providers also [Read More]

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions expressed below are those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthcare Michigan or its publisher.)

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
One nation in the developed world stands out for its exceptional approach to the coronavirus pandemic – Sweden. While most Americans were locked down, we looked with jealousy at pictures of Swedes walking on the streets, seemingly unconcerned, living normal lives. How could they do that, and has it worked?

First, it is a myth that the Swedes have had no restrictions, but their rules certainly have been more relaxed than those in most of Europe or in the United States. While their schools remained open for younger [Read More]

By KIMBERLY RUPPEL
In this new normal we are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and telehealth go hand in hand. Telehealth includes a range of technology, for example, the use of real-time video interaction, “store and forward” technology, remote patient monitoring or online chat groups.

Telehealth is particularly well suited for initial screening of patients and providing quicker and safer access to providers now, and also once we are safely beyond the current health crisis. As a result, this is a critical time for healthcare providers to encourage their patients to make use of this valuable tool and to implement or improve processes and systems already [Read More]

By STEPHEN SHAVER
The outbreak of COVID-19 sent shockwaves through the healthcare industry. Drastic declines in the hospital and healthcare provider revenue have hamstrung their ability to response to the outbreak and, in some cases, caused providers to shut down entirely. In response, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which included the creation of the Provider Relief Fund. The fund’s goal is to provide direct financial relief to hospitals and healthcare providers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been charged with distributing the fund’s $175 billion war chest.

The fund’s distributions have been divided into general allocations, to be distributed to a wide [Read More]

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthcare Michigan or its publisher)

By ALLAN DOBZYNIAK, MD
The reaction to the COVID-19 virus hysteria is financially devastating to Michigan’s hospitals and many others throughout the country and world. The burning question is whether all of this is necessary. Hospitals have been devastated by erroneous assumptions based on incomplete, premature and error-laden data. This has led to flawed models, given credence from a consensus of two physicians. Finally, politics has warped clear analysis and solutions. The idea that there might be a middle ground regarding hospitals’ economic vulnerabilities and that of the livelihoods of millions of [Read More]

By RACHANA PRADHAN & CHRISTINA JEWETT
A high-ranking federal official in late February warned that the United States needed to plan for not having enough personal protective equipment for medical workers as they began to battle the novel coronavirus, according to internal emails obtained by Kaiser Health News.

The messages provide a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s statements at the time that the threat the coronavirus posed to the American public remained “very low.” In fact, concerns were already mounting, the emails show, that medical workers and first responders would not have enough masks, gloves, face shields and other supplies, known as PPE, to protect themselves against infection when treating COVID-19 [Read More]