Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources and Special Communications

Since the first COVID-19 cases were diagnosed and the pandemic changed the ways in which patients were able to access traditional health care settings, providers were required to navigate significant challenges to ensure their services were still able to reach millions of patients. In response, Congress and the Administration granted various flexibilities intended to improve access and facilitate the delivery of safe, quality care. As health care providers reflect on lessons learned and plan a post-pandemic course for the future, it is evident that several of the flexibilities have enhanced the patient experience and led to better outcomes.

A strong and reliable medical supply chain is a critical and integral component to delivering safe and effective high quality care to patients; however, it has become increasingly clear that the level of fragility across our national medical supply chain is unsustainable and poses significant risk to hospitals and health systems, as well as the patients and communities they serve.

Since the initial survey, evidence has emerged indicating access to personal protective equipment (PPE) has improved while the challenge of mental health and staffing have worsened. As stated by one nurse leader: “We have seen nurses leaving the profession due to moral distress, burnout and fatigue. I believe if we can address the root cause of this problem, we will retain more nurses and begin to stabilize the numbers in the workforce.”

Roslyne Schulman, AHA’s director of policy, is joined by senior officials from the FEMA to discuss FEMA’s updated policies on medical care eligible for public assistance funding in the COVID-19 pandemic and the equity provisions of FEMA’s medical care policy. Presenters include Ana Montero, the director of the of the FEMA’s Public Assistance Division, Tod Wells, deputy director, Colleen Vivori, program analyst, and Julia Moline, acting branch chief of FEMA’s Program Delivery Branch.

The Weekend Recap of Headlines and Highlights, along with US Snapshots, US Vaccinations, US Variants, Outbreak Statistics, Vaccine and Treatment information, US Restrictions and the US Back-to-Normal Index related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The rate of new Covid cases in the US fell to an average of 38,800 per day Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the first time daily case counts have been below 40,000 since September.

Headlines