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09.14.21
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Past issues are available in the Media Library.
Staff Contact: Mat Reidhead or Jackie Gatz
Despite nearly one in three Missouri children ages 12 to 17 having completed vaccination against COVID-19, the return to school amid the dominant and more pernicious Delta variant has resulted in record levels of cases among children and adolescents in the Show-Me State. Last Tuesday saw a record 1,133 positive test results for Missouri children under age 18 — the previous single-day record of 940 pediatric cases was set on Nov. 9, 2020. Additionally, during the summer of 2020 when vaccines were unavailable, and the Alpha and Beta strains of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were dominant, 8,263 Missouri children contracted the virus. During the same period this year, nearly 34,000 Missouri children have contracted the virus — more than a four-fold increase.
The largest increases have been among younger children not yet eligible for the vaccines. Last summer, older children ages 15 to 17 accounted for 42% of all pediatric cases in the state. This summer, amid widespread vaccine availability and slowly growing uptake among children ages 15 to 17, they accounted for just 23% of Missouri’s pediatric cases.
Fortunately, emergency use authorization of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 is expected next month, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stands ready to carefully examine the new trial data for safety and efficacy. Until that time, the best protective strategies for Missouri’s children include masking indoors; hand hygiene; physical distancing; and being surrounded by family, friends and teachers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. For the latest data on COVID-19 cases among children in Missouri by school district, see the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services School District dashboard, jointly developed by MHA, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Missouri School Boards’ Association.
Staff Contact: Daniel Landon
Beginning Wednesday, Missouri lawmakers reconvene for the annual veto session. While legislators are not expected to override any vetoes pertaining to hospitals, MHA took the opportunity to present them with a state legislator update communicating the impact of the Delta variant on Missouri’s hospitals.
Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, announced that $25.5 billion in new relief funding is being distributed to providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the total, $8.5 billion is being made available for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicare patients as prescribed by the American Rescue Plan Act. An additional $17 billion will be paid as Provider Relief Fund Phase 4 payments to a broad range of providers who can document revenue loss and expenses associated with the pandemic. Phase 4 payments will be based on providers’ lost revenues and expenditures between July 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.
HHS also announced a 60-day grace period “to help providers come into compliance with their PRF reporting requirements.” Although the Thursday, Sept. 30, deadline is not changing, HHS states that it will not initiate collection activities or similar enforcement actions for noncompliant providers during the grace period. MHA published an issue brief with additional details.
Staff Contact: Sarah Willson or Daniel Landon
Three medical specialty boards jointly affirmed their support of the Federation of State Medical Boards’ warning to physicians of the disciplinary consequences of spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The medical boards include the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics.
Staff Contact: Mary Becker or Kara Amann-Kale
To help alleviate requests for COVID-19 testing in hospital emergency departments, MHA developed social media messages and graphics for hospitals to use in communicating sites where testing is available.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services created a list and map of testing sites, which will be updated regularly. MHA encourages hospitals and organizations to use these resources to inform members of your community about testing locations.
Staff Contact: Keri Barclay
Today, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services issued a standing order authorizing eligible health care providers to administer the Eli Lilly monoclonal antibody cocktail (bamlanivimab/etesevimab) in accordance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization for the product.
Staff Contact: Keri Barclay or Kara Amann-Kale
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the ordering process for monoclonal antibody drugs will transition from the direct ordering process to a state-coordinated distribution system, similar to that used from November 2020 to February 2021. As of yesterday, the following changes have been implemented.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is working to develop a request process, and MHA will communicate the process as soon as it is available.
HHS is hosting two recurring calls for stakeholders. A stakeholder call, “Weekly Healthcare and Hospital Associations/Organizations Update of COVID-19 Therapeutics from HHS/ASPR,” will be held at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesdays. The call provides an opportunity to receive current information on the allocation, distribution and administration efforts surrounding mAb therapeutics. Additionally, the webinar, “Federal COVID-19 Response: Monoclonal Antibodies 101,” will be held at 11 a.m. on Fridays for new administration sites and health officials.
Staff Contact: Sarah Willson or Jackie Gatz
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued revised testing guidance for long-term care staff based on the facility’s county level of community transmission instead of county test positivity rate. In addition, the frequency of testing also has been updated. Facilities now have two options to conduct outbreak testing, either through a contact tracing or broad-based testing approach. County-level transmission rates are available online.