- Biden-Harris Administration Releases National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and First-Ever Federal Action Plan
- Biden-Harris Administration Takes Historic Action to Increase Access to Quality Care, and Support to Families and Care Workers
- Biden Administration Sets Higher Staffing Mandates. Most Nursing Homes Don't Meet Them.
- Rural Jails Turn to Community Health Workers To Help the Newly Released Succeed
- Rural Communities Face Primary Care Physician Shortage
- Miles for Milk: How Student-Run Grocery Store Reshaped Rural Community's Food Access
- Native Americans Have Shorter Life Spans, and It's Not Just Due to Lack of Health Care
- Promotoras Play Essential Role in Connecting Farmworkers with Health Care in Rural NorCal
- Using Medicaid to Address Young People's Mental Health Needs in School Settings
- Across the Country, Amish Populations Are on the Rise
- Sunsets, Wildlife and Limited Care: Challenges of Aging in Place in Rural America
- City-Country Mortality Gap Widens amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access
- Tribal Environmental Impact Network
- Minnesota's Rural Ambulance Providers Look to State Capitol for Their Own Lifeline
- Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Support the Primary Care Workforce
NACO: Considerations for Counties in COVID-19 Vaccination Plans
The National Association of Counties (NACO) describes steps identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for vaccine distribution, explains the county role for each of these, and provides a list of resources. Find more information here.
Guidance on Hospital COVID-19 Data Reporting and Enforcement
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the requirements and enforcement process for all Medicare and Medicaid hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to report COVID-19 data. Hospitals and CAHs must report daily to the federal government or to their state if they receive a written release from the state. Failure to do so will result in a series of enforcements actions over several weeks that could result in termination of the Medicare provider agreement. Separate guidance provides the definitions of the data elements for hospitals and in-hospital labs.
FCC Extends Purchasing Deadline for COVID-19 Telehealth Program
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau has extended the deadline for recipients of COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding to purchase eligible telehealth devices and implement services to December 31. Read more here.
HHS Announces Phase 3 of Provider Relief Funds
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has allocated $20 billion for a Phase 3 CARES Act Provider Relief Funds (PRF) distribution. Behavioral health care providers and new providers that began practicing in the first quarter of 2020 may submit applications for payment between October 5 and November 6. Providers who previously received, rejected, or accepted a General Distribution PRF payment of two percent of annual revenue from patient care may also apply for this round of funding. Find more information here.
Pennsylvania Governor Announces Additional $96 Million for Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that an additional $96 million in state grants have been approved for 5,373 Pennsylvania small businesses that were impacted by the business closure order due to the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Businesses in every county were approved for grants in this round of funding, and 52 percent are historically disadvantaged businesses.
To date, more than 10,000 businesses were approved for $192 million in grants through the COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance Program.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been caused a lot of hardship for our business community, and it has been particularly difficult for Pennsylvania’s small businesses to weather the economic effects of this crisis. Pennsylvania’s small business owners are community-focused employers, and they drive our economy, so they deserve our support as we continue to navigate this public health crisis,” Gov. Wolf said. “As we seek to recover, and rebuild our economy following the downturn caused by this pandemic, it’s critical that we provide opportunities for these businesses to recover and rebound, and this funding will provide much-needed support for businesses in communities across the state.”
The governor announced this funding at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg and was joined by public officials and the owners of two local businesses: D.McGee Design Studio, located in the market, which was approved for a $10,000 grant, and Gifted Hands Barber Studio, located on 3rd Street near the market, which was approved for a $5,000 grant.
The COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance funding was developed in partnership with state lawmakers and allocated through the state budget, which included $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which $225 million was earmarked for relief for small businesses.
The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) distributed the funds to the Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which are administering the grants.
“We’ve seen the impact of this pandemic-fueled economic crisis on the small businesses in our communities. We targeted these funds to reach the smallest and most vulnerable businesses across the state and as CDFIs, we were able to mobilize our networks to reach those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” said James Burnett, vice chair of the PA CDFI Network and executive director of the West Philadelphia Financial Services Institution. “The PA CDFI Network is grateful for the partnership of Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Legislature as we move quickly to get these resources into the hands of those most impacted by the crisis.”
“I am extremely proud we were able to work together and to get much needed grants to the small businesses across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that serve as the backbone to our economy,” said state Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery). “With that said, this should not be the end of the push to help our small business community. There are still CARES dollars available and thousands of businesses that have applied for this program seeking relief and the General Assembly must prioritize focusing on those needs and getting our people through this pandemic.”
New Phase of Provider Relief Fund Opens for Applications
Providers are encouraged to apply for the latest round of Provider Relief Fund (PRF) support. Applications will be considered regardless of whether your organization was previously eligible for, applied for, received, accepted, or rejected prior PRF payments. For this newest phase, funding will be allocated to providers based on assessed financial losses and changes in operating expenses caused by COVID-19. For more information about the Phase 3-General Distribution, please visit the Provider Relief Fund webpage.
Apply here through November 6
Register for the webcast on October 15 at 3 p.m. ET to learn more.
HHS: Hospitals Must Now Report Flu Data and COVID-19 Numbers
Healthcare Dive
Hospitals now must send CMS their seasonal flu data alongside COVID-19 data or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding, senior officials announced at a press conference Tuesday.
Beginning Wednesday, hospitals will receive notice whether they are in line with current reporting requirements, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. They will be issued guidance on how to correct course and then given 14 weeks, or four notices, to do so.
CMS in August issued an interim final rule mandating hospitals send their COVID-19 data to federal agencies or risk losing funding, swiftly chided as “heavy-handed” by the American Hospital Association. AHA said this announcement answers some of the questions posed since the initial rule, and excludes psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals, which generally do not treat COVID-19 patients, from reporting.
HHS wants to know how many COVID-19 cases, influenza cases and days on hand of personal protective equipment hospitals have — or it will revoke federal reimbursement.
Those data points and a slew of others will be used to direct federal resources to hospitals and communities in the highest need as influenza season and the COVID-19 pandemic clash, HHS Ambassador Deborah Birx said during a Tuesday call with reporters.
A harsh flu season coinciding with continued hot spots of novel coronavirus activity could respark concerns of hospital capacity that surfaced in the beginning of the crisis.
CDC Director Robert Redfield said while the agency has always collected seasonal flu data, the new requirements will “give us a fuller picture of what is happening hospital to hospital regarding influenza.”
“It is uncertain what will happen this fall and winter,” Redfield said. “However, CDC is preparing for there to be a COVID-19 and seasonal influenza activity at the same time. As Americans spend more time indoors this fall and winter, and people start going back to work and school, the risk of flu and COVID will only rise.”
Earlier into the pandemic, HHS sent out one-time data requests to hospitals to aid in distribution of remdesivir and other needed treatments or supplies. HHS said in a fact sheet that the daily reporting is now the sole mechanism for distribution calculations heading into winter.
Hospitals already must submit reports on COVID-19 testing, capacity and utilization under the August rule. Now they must submit daily data on total hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza, previous day’s influenza admissions and total ICU patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza. They’ll also have to submit numbers on total hospitalized patients with both laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and influenza, and previous day’s deaths for patients with both COVID-19 and influenza.
The guidance on reporting can be found at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/covid-19-faqs-hospitals-hospital-laboratory-acute-care-facility-data-reporting.pdf
Pennsylvania Leadership Amends Guidelines on Safe Gathering Limits
As Pennsylvanians continue to do their part by adopting healthy behaviors to combat the spread of COVID-19, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine amended existing COVID-19 orders to allow for adjusted capacity to gathering limits while keeping in place the proven mitigation tools that include wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
“Pennsylvanians must continue to social distance and wear masks as we prepare to fight the virus through the fall and winter,” Gov. Wolf said. “Regardless of the size of an event or gathering, those things are still imperative to stopping the spread of COVID. We know everyone has sacrificed in many ways and today’s announcement reflects a gradual adjustment to our lives as we learn how we can do things safely until we have a cure, or an effective vaccine is widely available.”
“We will closely monitor cases and outbreaks and if our case investigation and contact tracing efforts determine that events or gatherings are the source of an outbreak, we can and will dial back these new limits,” Dr. Levine said. “Public health and safety are our first concern and will always remain as such.”
Starting on Friday, October 9 amended orders will allow for venue occupancy limits to play a bigger role in determining the number of people permitted both inside and outside of events or gatherings. An event or gathering is defined as a temporary grouping of individuals for defined purposes that takes place over a limited timeframe, such as hours or days, including fairs, festivals, concerts, or shows and groupings that occur within larger, more permanent businesses, such as shows or performances within amusement parks, individual showings of movies, business meetings or conferences, or each party or reception within a multi-room venue.
Conversely, groups of people who share a space within a building in the ordinary course of operations, such as in an office building, classroom, production floor or similar regularly occurring operation of a business or organization, are not events or gatherings.
All businesses are required to conduct their operations remotely through individual teleworking of their employees in the jurisdiction or jurisdictions in which they do business unless that is not possible. In those instances, employees may conduct in-person business operations, provided that the businesses fully comply with the business safety order, the worker safety order, and the masking order.
The orders amend two sections of the July 15 mitigation orders and include a “maximum occupancy calculator” for both indoor and outdoor events. Based on a venue’s established occupancy limit as defined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code, venues apply the appropriate percent of occupancy to determine how many attendees are permitted to attend an event or gathering.
Here are the calculators:
Maximum Occupancy Calculator for indoor events:
| Maximum Occupancy | Allowable Indoor Rate |
| 0-2,000 people | 20% of Maximum Occupancy |
| 2,001 – 10,000 people | 15% of Maximum Occupancy |
| Over 10,000 people | 10% of Maximum Occupancy up to 3,750 people |
Maximum Occupancy Calculator for outdoor events:
| Maximum Occupancy | Allowable Outdoor Rate |
| 0-2,000 people | 25% of Maximum Occupancy |
| 2,001 – 10,000 people | 20% of Maximum Occupancy |
| Over 10,000 people | 15% of Maximum Occupancy up to 7,500 people |
Venues must require attendees to comply with 6-foot social distancing requirements, to wear masks or face coverings, and to implement best practices such as timed entry, multiple entry and exit points, multiple restrooms and hygiene stations. Venues and event planners can review the CDC Events and Gatherings Readiness and Planning ToolOpens In A New Window for additional information regarding best practices.
When not hosting events, occupancy restrictions outlined in the green phase of reopening continue to apply to businesses in the commonwealth.
Any gathering restrictions established by local authorities, such as the ones established in Philadelphia and State College, remain in effect.
View the governor’s amended order here.
View the secretary’s amended order here.
View frequently asked questions here.
MEDIA CONTACT: April Hutcheson – ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
COVID-19 PHE Now Slated to End January 21, 2021
On October 2, 2020, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar signed a renewal of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). It reads:
“As a result of the continued consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, on this date and after consultation with public health officials as necessary, I, Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health and Human Services, pursuant to the authority vested in me under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, do hereby renew, effective October 23, 2020, my January 31, 2020, determination, that I previously renewed on April 21, 2020 and July 23, 2020, that a public health emergency exists and has existed since January 27, 2020, nationwide.”
Due to the effective date of this renewal, the COVID-19 PHE is now slated to end January 21, 2021.
Pennsylvania Governor Announces Additional $96 Million for Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that an additional $96 million in state grants have been approved for 5,373 Pennsylvania small businesses that were impacted by the business closure order due to the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Businesses in every county were approved for grants in this round of funding, and 52 percent are historically disadvantaged businesses.
To date, more than 10,000 businesses were approved for $192 million in grants through the COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance Program.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been caused a lot of hardship for our business community, and it has been particularly difficult for Pennsylvania’s small businesses to weather the economic effects of this crisis. Pennsylvania’s small business owners are community-focused employers, and they drive our economy, so they deserve our support as we continue to navigate this public health crisis,” Gov. Wolf said. “As we seek to recover, and rebuild our economy following the downturn caused by this pandemic, it’s critical that we provide opportunities for these businesses to recover and rebound, and this funding will provide much-needed support for businesses in communities across the state.”
The governor announced this funding at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg and was joined by public officials and the owners of two local businesses: D.McGee Design Studio, located in the market, which was approved for a $10,000 grant, and Gifted Hands Barber Studio, located on 3rd Street near the market, which was approved for a $5,000 grant.
The COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance funding was developed in partnership with state lawmakers and allocated through the state budget, which included $2.6 billion in federal stimulus funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which $225 million was earmarked for relief for small businesses.
The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) distributed the funds to the Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which are administering the grants.
“We’ve seen the impact of this pandemic-fueled economic crisis on the small businesses in our communities. We targeted these funds to reach the smallest and most vulnerable businesses across the state and as CDFIs, we were able to mobilize our networks to reach those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” said James Burnett, vice chair of the PA CDFI Network and executive director of the West Philadelphia Financial Services Institution. “The PA CDFI Network is grateful for the partnership of Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Legislature as we move quickly to get these resources into the hands of those most impacted by the crisis.”
“I am extremely proud we were able to work together and to get much needed grants to the small businesses across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that serve as the backbone to our economy,” said state Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery). “With that said, this should not be the end of the push to help our small business community. There are still CARES dollars available and thousands of businesses that have applied for this program seeking relief and the General Assembly must prioritize focusing on those needs and getting our people through this pandemic.”