By LAUREN WEBER & PHIL GALEWITZ
The surge driven by the extremely infectious omicron variant helped push the South Florida hospital with 206 licensed beds to 250 patients. The rise in cases came as the hospital struggled with severe staff shortages while nurses and other caregivers were out with COVID.

The challenge is finding room to safely treat all the COVID patients while keeping staffers and the rest of patients safe, said Dr. Scott Ross, chief medical officer.

“It’s not a PPE issue,” he said, referring to personal protective equipment like masks, “nor an oxygen issue, nor a ventilator issue. It’s a volume issue and making sure we have enough beds and caregivers [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
Many recent articles appearing in mainstream conservative newspapers and magazines have bemoaned the unfair persecution of people who choose not to be vaccinated. Many authors find vindication in the shifting nature of virus variants, COVID’s growing footprint as an endemic virus and the highly contagious but less severe omicron variant currently dominating headlines.

What has been left out of many such reports are a few salient facts and included have been some curious policy rationales.

Case in point—The nation’s 17 million healthcare workers must be vaccinated, but not its 80 million workers as the Supreme Court split the baby of the latest federal bill on the subject. As increasing [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI

A recent Wall Street Journal article was entitled “The New Trend in Healthcare – Do it Yourself.” My immediate reaction was, “Is this what we’ve come to as community of healthcare professionals – encouraging a DIY approach to primary care?” But reading the article, which had an excellent balance of what patients should and should not be doing on their own, made me realize we’ve been leading up to this point for years. After all, isn’t the patient-centered medical home a partnership model between patient and physician where we’ve encouraged patients to take control of their health? Now, through remote medical monitoring devices, over the counter tests, and [Read More]

By STEPHEN SHAVER & CHRISTIAN IERACI
Wachler & Associates P.C.

When a Medicare provider or supplier receives an overpayment demand that they believe is in error, the provider or supplier has a strategic and practical choice to make: let Medicare recoup the money while the appeal is pending or follow certain procedural steps to stop recoupment during the appeal. Either option may have unforeseen consequences and a new court case may offer some tools to providers and supplier caught in this situation.

A Medicare overpayment demand letter kickstarts the lengthy process of appeals and collection attempts, which can be costly and span several years. A demand letter will explain the reason for [Read More]

By CHRISTOPHER J. RYAN & GREGORY W. MOORE
Since last year, certain providers (e.g., anesthesiologists, radiologists, surgeons, etc.) in Michigan have had to navigate Michigan’s Surprise Medical Billing Law (Michigan Act). Starting Jan. 1, 2022, those same providers have also had to comply with the Federal No Surprises Act (Federal Act). Generally, both statutes prevent nonparticipating providers from balance billing patients when the patient’s insurance company pays less than the nonparticipating provider’s usual and customary charge. The Federal Act defines “nonparticipating providers” as those who do not have a contractual relationship with a plan/insurance company.

Although the two statutes largely apply to the same providers, those providers need to pay attention to [Read More]

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

COVID-19 Surge Likely To Peak In Late Jan.-Early Feb.

The ongoing COVID-19 surge isn’t likely to reach its peak until the end of January or early February, according to coronavirus scenario hubs viewed by Michigan health officials.

Amongst the most cynical predictions for Michigan, COVID-19 hospitalizations could peak at 8,000 – more than a 90% increase from when the state broke the hospitalization record with 4,191 in late November of 2021.

Slide from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services during Jan. 11 media briefing.

While an optimistic forecast shows hospitalizations not experiencing much of an increase – similar [Read More]

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

Schools Should Mandate Mask Wearing When Classes Resume, Doctor Says

Schools should make mask wearing mandatory for students when they return to the classroom next month, Dr. Matthew Sims, director of Infection Prevention Research for Beaumont Health, said Aug. 10 in an online press conference.
“It’s just a danger that there is no reason to take the risk of making this optional,” Sims said.

He was speaking during an online press conference hosted by Beaumont Health.

Dr. Sandy Patel, pediatrician at Beaumont, said the hospital system has been admitting two to three COVID-positive pediatric patients each week for the past [Read More]

By LAREN WEBER
The day after Missouri Gov. Mike Parson finished his bicentennial bus tour to drum up tourism to the state in mid-July, Chicago issued a travel advisory warning about visiting Missouri.

Earlier this summer, as covid-19 case counts began to tick up when the highly transmissible delta variant took hold in the state, the Republican-majority legislature successfully enacted laws limiting public health powers and absolving businesses from covid legal exposure.

The state health officer post has sat vacant since Dr. Randall Williams resigned suddenly in late April — leaving Missouri without a permanent leader as the covid numbers grew. And Brian Steele, a mayor in the Springfield area, which is at [Read More]

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
The drugmaker Pfizer recently announced that vaccinated people are likely to need a booster shot to be effectively protected against new variants of covid-19 and that the company would apply for Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization for the shot. Top government health officials immediately and emphatically announced that the booster isn’t needed right now — and held firm to that position even after Pfizer’s top scientist made his case and shared preliminary data with them last week.

This has led to confusion. Should the nearly 60% of adult Americans who have been fully vaccinated seek out a booster or not? Is the protection that has allowed them [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
I’m keeping with my community theme for this column, but this time, I’m taking it to the streets. After years of being a wish-list item, our organization is set to acquire a refurbished mobile clinic, thanks to generous grant assistance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Mobile health clinics are not a new concept, and there are thousands of them in operation, but I suspect their value was somewhat diminished amid a decade of healthcare news on emerging medical technology, mega health system mergers and Wall Street takeovers of primary care. But again, we see the pandemic forcing us to reconsider how we deliver care, especially to the [Read More]