Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources and Special Communications

Health systems often serve as the major employer in their communities and serve as conveners of key stakeholders to leverage new strategies.

Early in the pandemic, COVID-19 tests were shipped out of state, which lead to delays in patients receiving their results. In late March 2020, the OhioHealth Laboratory Services team developed the capability to run COVID-19 tests from around the system in our labs. A year later, over 500,000 tests have been analyzed by our lab team.

Advocate Aurora Health’s scale has been a critical asset that has allowed us to successfully respond to the financial, operational and clinical challenges created by COVID-19.

Responding to the Pandemic: Information, Care Expertise and Vaccines. Maintaining and Expanding Access. Fueling Innovation. Coordinating Care to Meet People Where They Are.

Pandemic restrictions on the ability of patients’ families to spend time at the bedside has caused suffering for all parties, including nurses.

Last week, the American Hospital Association (AHA) urged the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) to prioritize actions and programs that will support the nation’s health care workforce in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s Community Health Improvement Week (Chi-week). Share your ideas, hopes and dreams for a nation where all people can enjoy healthy lives.

In this podcast, Nancy Maldonado, CEO of the Chicano Federation (and affiliate member with AHA’s strategic partner UnidosUS), shares how the organization provided critical leadership in the San Diego community during the pandemic.

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 New York Times today ran an article about hospital finances and COVID-19 relief. The following statement from AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack in response to the article was shared with the media this evening.

Today’s New York Times article tells a misleading story about COVID-19 funding for hospitals and health systems. It also falls short in acknowledging the lifeline integration was able to offer hospitals struggling to navigate the pandemic.

The AHA provides policy ideas on workforce development to the Senate HELP Committee.

In this podcast, Rochelle Archuleta, director of post acute care policy for the AHA, is joined by Dr. Kimberly Avila Edwards, Director of Advocacy and External Affairs, and Jaeson Fournier, chief executive officer at Community Care, about their collaboration to develop a successful mass vaccination campaign targeting the Latino community in the Austin, Texas.

Recent guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is designed to help emergency managers plan for disaster response and recovery while adhering to public health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week emphasized that its new masking recommendations for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not apply to health care settings.

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.