The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a final recommendation statement on screening for syphilis infection in nonpregnant adolescents and adults. The Task Force recommends screening people at increased risk for infection. To view the recommendation, the evidence on which it is based, and a summary for clinicians, please go here.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) is alerting healthcare providers, laboratories, infection control specialists, and local health departments about an unvaccinated adult with poliovirus infection and acute flaccid paralysis along with wastewater detection in adjacent counties reported July 2022 in Rockland County, New York. PA DOH urges healthcare providers to consider polio as a possible cause of sudden onset of limb, facial, oropharyngeal, or respiratory muscle weakness, especially in persons who are not vaccinated or who are under-vaccinated for polio and have traveled to areas with a higher risk of polio or who have had contact with such persons. If providers have a clinical suspicion of a case of polio after they have evaluated a patient, they are to contact their local or state health department to discuss the case and to determine to test. Healthcare providers should immediately identify and schedule appointments for patients in your practice who are not up to date on the poliovirus vaccine. To read the full PA DOH Advisory, click here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced expanded eligibility for monkeypox vaccination to include pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for several high risk groups. These groups include:

• Men who have sex with men, transgender or nonbinary people who in the past 6 months have had any of the following:
• A new diagnosis of one or more sexually transmitted diseases including acute HIV, chancroid, chlamydia, or gonorrhea
• More than one sex partner
• People who in the past 6 months have had any of the following:
• Sex at a commercial sex venue (like a sex club or bathhouse)
• Sex at an event, venue, or in an area where monkeypox transmission is occurring.
• People whose sexual partner identifies with any of the above scenarios
• People who anticipate experiencing any of the above scenarios

Additionally, preliminary data has shown that those eligible who did not receive the monkeypox vaccine were about 14 times more likely to become infected than those who did receive the monkeypox vaccine. Lastly, CDC has provided additional interim clinical considerations related to intradermal administration of the monkeypox vaccine.

Pending FDA Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for the new Pediatric Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine in the next few weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning for a pre-ordering period during which certain vaccine doses will be made available to each jurisdiction based on pro-rata allocation. During this pre-ordering phase, the PA Department of Health (PA DOH) and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health will submit vaccine preorder requests on behalf of providers. For Philadelphia County the deadline to order was Sept. 27. For all other counties in the Commonwealth, the deadline to submit preorder requests is Sept. 30 at 4:00 pm. Click here to submit a vaccine request form to preorder the vaccine through the PA DOH. Please do not order pediatric Pfizer Bivalent vaccines in PA SIIS until advised to do so, as any order put on PA SIIS for this product will be deleted. Vaccine preorder requests are not guaranteed to be fulfilled, as the supply may initially be limited. Doses that are pre-ordered will be processed for delivery following the issuance of the EUA. Additionally, the deadline for HRSA Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program participants to pre-order Pfizer bivalent boosters for pediatric patients ages 5-11 was Sept. 28 and was capped at 100 doses per site. The updated CDC Fall Vaccination Operational Planning Guide includes more detailed information about pediatric bivalent boosters.

With students back in school, it is important for school-based telehealth providers to educate parents about how to use telehealth. This Best Practice Guide outlines how to build a school telehealth program, prepare students and guardians for school-based telehealth, the bill for telehealth, and more. (Also available in Spanish)

A blueprint for spending $279 million in federal aid for capital projects to develop broadband services was approved recently by the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA). The authority at its Sept. 15 meeting approved a plan to split that amount with $200 million for an infrastructure grant program targeting locations that don’t have access to 25/3 Mbps reliable service; $45 million to finance public community projects in schools and local governments through the Digital Anchor Institution Grant Program and $20 million to increase access to laptops, tablets, and computers through the Digital Access and Opportunity Grant Program. The three programs will address broadband service infrastructure and availability, digital equity and affordability, device and technology access, and digital literacy and technical support, the board said. Click here to learn more about PBDA.

Walmart and UnitedHealth Group announced a 10-year partnership to offer healthcare services. They say that beginning in 2023, they will provide a range of affordable health services designed to improve care outcomes and the patient experience at 15 Walmart Health outlets in Georgia and Florida. They will then expand to other states. Among the offerings: is a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in Georgia, called UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Walmart Flex (HMO-POS). Walmart Health Virtual Care will be in-network for commercial members in UnitedHealth’s Choice Plus PPO plan.

Two articles published in the New York Times this past Saturday—including one on the front page of the newspaper—are generating extensive discussion and concern among policymakers, 340B stakeholders, and the media, and raising concerns that Community Health Centers could be “painted with the same brush” as the hospitals in the articles. The first article, entitled How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits, was featured on the front page under the heading “Profits over Patients.” It claims that the hospital used 340B to generate hundreds of millions of dollars, which it directed to facilities in wealthier neighborhoods areas while removing services from underserved neighborhoods. On Monday, NACHC sent a response to the Times stating, “Bon Secours has chosen to put profits over patients, and the community suffered as a result. Despite the tragic circumstances of this case, it is essential to note that 340B has been instrumental in expanding access to life-saving care in low-income communities. Community Health Centers rely on 340B to provide critical drugs to patients who are typically low-income, uninsured, and members of racial and ethnic minorities.” The second article, entitled “They were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded them to Pay,” discussed how a large non-profit, 340B-eligible hospital system “trained staff to wring money out of patients, even those eligible for free care.” While the article did not explicitly mention 340B, some 340B opponents are linking the two articles together as examples of how 340B providers abuse the program.

A proposed rule by the Biden Administration would enhance equity by continuing to mandate healthcare-related protections for many populations that health centers serve, including LGBTQ patients, patients with disabilities, Medicare/Medicaid/Marketplace patients, and patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). This proposed rule changes Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability within health care settings, programs, and activities. The original rule was released in 2016 under the Obama Administration, providing regulatory authority to non-discrimination provisions within the Affordable Care Act. The Trump Administration made fundamental changes to the rule in 2019 that rolled back many protections from discrimination. Now, the Biden Administration is taking steps to restore and extend patient protections. NACHC created a customizable comment letter template to make sharing your support for these vital patient protections easier. Share your comments before the Monday, Oct. 3 deadline; submit them here.