More than 40 percent of patients with COVID-19 experienced dry mouth, according to a review published in the Journal of Dental Research that looked at the prevalence of oral symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Taste disorders and oral lesions were also common in infected patients.
Will Primary Care Disappear by 2026?
Primary care is facing “existential threats,” and primary care clinicians are worried, according to the most recent survey from the Larry A. Green Center and the Primary Care Collaborative. Fully 40 percent of respondents say they worry that primary care will be gone in five years, and 21 percent say they expect to leave primary care within three years. Many clinicians see a role for the federal government in changing policy in primary care. Their top request: Protect primary care as a “common good” that is available to anyone regardless of ability to pay.
CMS Revises Guidance on Resuming Normal Medicaid Operations Post-Public Health Emergency
On August 13, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its highly anticipated revisions to previous guidance on the resumption of normal Medicaid operations (or “unwinding”) when the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) expires. Key revisions to previous guidance include:
- Extending the timeframe for completing pending eligibility and enrollment actions to up to 12 months post-PHE
- This does not change previous guidance on resuming timely processing of applications within four months post-PHE.
- Completing an additional redetermination for individuals determined ineligible for Medicaid during the PHE
- This rescinds the option under previous guidance for states to rely on an eligibility action processed within six months of the date of coverage termination post-PHE. In effect, the six-month “lookback” option for an eligibility action is no longer available.
- States must make a full redetermination prior to taking an adverse action with respect to any beneficiary.
- CMS reiterates that 30 days for beneficiary response to state requests to verify eligibility, along with minimum of 10 days of advance notice and fair hearing rights prior to termination or other adverse action, are required.
- States must take steps to transition beneficiaries determined ineligible to other insurance affordability programs.
CMS reminds states of the requirement in previous guidance to adopt one of four risk-based approaches to prioritize completion of pending work. CMS encourages states to revise any existing plans considering the new 12-month timeframe for this work. CMS will require states to consider the promotion of coverage continuity within the state’s chosen risk-based strategy. More guidance will be issued on this topic and to assist states in establishing renewal workloads that will be sustainable into the future.
Biden Administration Implements 25% Boost to Food Stamp Program
The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history, a move that will give poor people more power to fill their grocery carts but add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds one in eight Americans. At the same time, a temporary 15 percent increase in benefits as part of pandemic relief, is set to expire on Sept. 30. The $3.5 billion boost approved earlier this year provides about $27 more per person per month, or over $100 more a month for a household of four, in additional food stamp benefits. Under rules to be announced on Monday and put in place in October, average benefits will rise more than 25 percent from pre-pandemic levels. All 42 million people in the program will receive additional aid. The move does not require congressional approval, and unlike the large pandemic-era expansions, which are starting to expire, the changes are intended to last.
Pennsylvania Health Department Sets Nursing Home Target: 80% by October 1
Pennsylvania set an October 1 target for 80 percent of nursing home staff in the commonwealth to become fully vaccinated. It’s a goal that just 12.5 percent of the state’s skilled nursing facilities have reached so far, according to Department of Health (DOH) Executive Deputy Secretary Keara Klinepeter. Those unable to meet the target must subject their employees to more frequent testing according to DOH and “appropriate regulatory action” will follow if facilities don’t comply. About 72,000 residents live in 692 state-run nursing homes. LeadingAge PA, the organization that represents more than 380 of these long-term care facilities, is strongly encouraging all its members to mandate vaccination for staff. The state long-term care ombudsman said, “We have an ethical imperative to do this. They’re counting on us.”
Pennsylvania Signs Free COVID-19 Testing Agreement for Schools
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s administration has entered a partnership with a company to provide free COVID-19 testing in K-12 schools across the commonwealth during the 2021-22 academic year. The initiative is designed to help keep schools open and mitigate the spread of the virus. The administration has not ordered schools to begin universal masking and Gov. Wolf has repeatedly said he did not intend to do so. The turnaround time for testing results is one to two days.
Pennsylvania Orders Vaccine Providers to Step Up for Schools
A new order, from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, effective Aug.16, requires COVID-19 vaccine providers to support efforts to vaccinate school educators, staff and students. The order supplements the Updated Order of the Acting Secretary of Health Directing Vaccine Providers’ Administration of COVID-19 Vaccines, dated July 26, 2021. It requires that when requested by an institution of higher education (IHI) or a school entity (SE), that vaccine providers will make every effort to coordinate a vaccine clinic for the employees, contractors, volunteers, students, or students’ families of the IHE or School Entity. Vaccine clinics may be held either at the IHE or SE or in any form or location agreed upon by the vaccine provider and education provider.
ERS: Rural Poverty Has Distinct Regional and Racial Patterns
A study from the Economic Research Service (ERS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that, out of 310 counties with high and persistent poverty in 2019, 86 percent were rural. Nearly half of rural residents who identify as Black or African American and American Indian or Alaska Native lived in these persistent poverty counties; by comparison, 20 percent of poor Hispanics and 12 percent of rural non-Hispanic Whites resided in those counties.
Vaccines for Staff at Federally Funded Nursing Homes Will be Required
From Politico
It’s the first time the White House has used the threat of holding back federal funding to boost vaccination rates.
President Joe Biden announced a plan to require Covid-19 vaccinations for staff in federally funded nursing homes — and withhold money for facilities that don’t comply with the policy.
It’s the first time the White House has used the threat of holding back federal funding to boost vaccination rates and will impact roughly 15,000 nursing homes employing 1.3 million people. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid will issue an emergency regulation in September, making staff vaccination a condition of funding.
While Biden officials for months have encouraged vaccinations and backed states’ various incentives for shot recipients, the coming mandate is a significant pivot toward penalizing facilities without requirements.
“More than 130,000 residents of nursing homes have sadly, sadly, over the period of this virus, passed away. At the same time, vaccination rates among nursing home staff significantly trail the rest of the country,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “With this announcement, I’m using the power of the federal government as a payer of health care costs to make sure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors. These steps are all about keeping people safe and out of harm’s way.”
The president added that studies indicate high vaccination rates among nursing home staff are associated with 30 percent fewer Covid-19 cases among long-term care patients.
The administration floated a vaccine order earlier this month, earning swift criticism from Republicans and industry groups who warned they would oppose the plan.
Biden unveiled the order in remarks on the need for Covid-19 boosters in the broader population amid the ongoing surge fueled by the Delta variant, which now accounts for nearly every new Covid-19 case in the country. In his remarks, Biden also encouraged masking requirements at schools to keep children safe and backed broader vaccine mandates in the workplace.
The health department would still need to develop and finalize the new regulations slated for next month. Just 60 percent of nursing home staff are vaccinated against Covid-19 currently, according to the agency. Those staff serve about 1.6 million nursing home residents, many of the people most vulnerable to severe Covid-19 and the impact of emerging variants.
New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released on Wednesday showed a significant drop in vaccine effectiveness among nursing home residents in particular, compounding concerns that the most vulnerable could remain at heightened risk as long as the virus is circulating around them.
The White House noted in a fact sheet that several states have already instituted vaccine requirements for nursing home staff “and this action will ensure consistent and equitable standards across the country.”
Addressing Rates of HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer
The Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice Initiative (OHNEP) recently published “Making the Case for Interprofessional Education and Practice Collaboration to Address Rising Rates of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancers” in the American Dental Education Association’s Journal of Dental Education. The article describes the current state of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers in the United States and underscores the need for interprofessional management of patients. The article further emphasizes the importance of the HPV vaccine as the only proven HPV-associated cancer prevention method with the greatest potential to reduce HPV-associated cancers.