COVID-19

AMA Announces CPT update for COVID-19 boosters adapted to omicron

From AMA CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA) today announced an editorial update to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT)®, the nation’s leading medical terminology code set for describing health care procedures and services, that includes eight new codes for the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster doses from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The updated boosters are adapted for the…

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Travel nurses raced to help during Covid. Now they’re facing abrupt cuts.

By Hannah Norman, Kaiser Health News for NBC News Tiffanie Jones was a few tanks of gas into her drive from Tampa, Florida, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, when she found out her travel nurse contract had been canceled. Jones, who has been a nurse for 17 years, caught up with a Facebook group for travel nurses and…

Read MoreTravel nurses raced to help during Covid. Now they’re facing abrupt cuts.

Three lessons to prepare for the ‘next pandemic’

By Rachel McArthur for Healthcare IT News The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for the global healthcare community to embrace technology to prevent future pandemics. He warned, however, that employing advanced healthcare systems won’t be sustainable if they are not resilient and able to withstand major threats going forward. Speaking at…

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CMS creates billing codes for treatment found effective against omicron

By Alia Paavola for Becker’s Hospital Review CMS released its Medicare payment codes for administering an antibody treatment found effective against the COVID-19 omicron variant. The payment codes, effective Feb. 11, are for bebtelovimab. The drug was authorized last week by the FDA to treat patients who are at high risk for progression to severe…

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Hospital-acquired COVID-19 infections rare and dropping, study suggests

By Rebecca Pifer for Healthcare Dive Dive Brief: Over the pandemic, many patients have avoided going to the hospital unless absolutely necessary, citing fears of contracting COVID-19. But a new study suggests those fears may have been overblown. Rates of acquiring COVID-19 during a hospital stay are low, with only about 1.8% of patients contracting…

Read MoreHospital-acquired COVID-19 infections rare and dropping, study suggests

AI for health can’t leave older people behind, says WHO

By Kat Jercich for Healthcare IT News The World Health Organization released a policy brief this past week aimed at combating age-related bias in health-related artificial intelligence tools. The brief, “Ageism in artificial intelligence for health,” proposes a wide range of measures to ensure older people are effectively engaged in the processes, technologies and services affecting…

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Many N95, KN95 masks are fake — 8 tips for spotting the difference

By Gabrielle Masson for Becker’s Hospital Review Demand for N95s, KN95s and KF94s has skyrocketed, and, unfortunately, so have counterfeit masks. In 2020, ECRI reported 60 to 70 percent of KN95s it tested didn’t properly filter 95 percent of particles as they claimed, according to The New York Times. In the same year, U.S. agencies seized 21.2…

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Healthcare roles dominate U.S. News 2022 list of best jobs

By Hailey Mesnik for Healthcare Dive Dive Brief: Healthcare and healthcare support roles were highly ranked in U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of best jobs released Tuesday, accounting for nearly four in 10 of the 100 best jobs across all industries. Information security analyst is the top job this year overall, followed by nurse practitioner,…

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Omicron makes up 95% of all new US cases: CDC

Gabrielle Masson for Becker’s Hospital Review The omicron variant accounted for an estimated 95.4 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. for the week ending Jan. 1, according to CDC data. Just the previous week, the variant accounted for an estimated 58.6 percent of COVID-19 cases. That count was revised from an initial CDC estimate that projected omicron…

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Burnout and staffing shortages collided with COVID-19 in 2021 to create the perfect storm

Susan Morse for Healthcare Finance  Through the bad – workforce shortages and lost revenue – and the good – the rise of telehealth and Hospital-at-Home models – COVID-19 changed, and will continue to change, the way hospitals and providers strategize their business models and care for patients. Along the way, digital technology stepped in to help executives make…

Read MoreBurnout and staffing shortages collided with COVID-19 in 2021 to create the perfect storm