ACCMA Newsletter - What You Missed
Week of May 4
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As of May 8, there are 1,961 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alameda County and 70 deaths (including City of Berkeley information). As of May 8, there are 1,014 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Contra Costa County and 29 deaths. Please check
www.accma.org/COVID-19
for the latest updates.
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Bay Area Health Orders Remain in Effect
Changes to
current local health orders
— such as allowing non-essential businesses to offer curbside pickup — will be evaluated at the local and regional level.
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Free COVID-19 Testing in Oakland
The City of Oakland is partnering with Brown and Toland Physicians Group, CORE, Verily, and Roots Community Health Center to provide
free COVID-19 testing
to people who live or work in Alameda County regardless of insurance or immigration status.
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Contra Costa County Report
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Contra Costa Offering Widespread Testing
Contra Costa County will now offer
appointments for COVID-19 testing
to any resident who believes they need one, regardless of insurance, ability to pay or whether they have symptoms or not.
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COVID-19 90 Days in Review
CCHS’s
overview of the last 90 days
to highlight local measures that have been taken to minimize exposure to COVID-19, as well as provide tools to continue slowing down the virus.
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Free PPE Decontamination for Reuse
The State of California, in cooperation with federal partners, is offering
Battelle Critical Care Decontamination Systems
as a solution to the N95 shortages impacting California, which will be available to all practices, free of charge.
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Governor Newsom Releases Updated Industry Guidance
On Friday, May 8, Governor Gavin Newsom released updated
industry guidance
– which encompasses guidelines for retail, manufacturing and logistics – to begin reopening with modifications that reduce risk and establish a safer environment for workers and customers.
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Governor Newsom Announces Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Workers Who Contract COVID-19 During Stay at Home Order
The Governor signed an
executive order
that creates a time-limited rebuttable presumption for accessing workers’ compensation benefits applicable to Californians who must work outside of their homes during the stay at home order.
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Amwell Extends Fee Waiver Through June 2020
California Medical Association (CMA) Physician Services’ telehealth partner Amwell has
extended its waiver
on fees through June 2020 to help physicians transition to telehealth during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
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Physician Financial Health Survey: Bay Area Survey Results
The California Medical Association conducted a survey to gather information on how the pandemic has affected physician practices.
In the Bay Area
, 97% of practices reported being worried about their practices’ financial health due to the financial stress they are experiencing and virtually all practices (98%) report a substantial decrease in patient volume.
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AMA Guidelines Provides a Checklist to Safely Reopen Your Physician Practice
AMA checklist
provides helpful step-by-step guidance to manage the safe reopening of practices in a manner that protects patients, clinicians, staff and the public.
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What You Should Know About FDA’s New SAR-CoV-2 Antibody Test Rules
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is
updating its policy
on SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing after a flood of serology tests came to market, some with poor performance and fraudulent labeling.
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HHS Clarifies Providers Should Receive 2% of Gross Patient Revenue from Provider Relief Fund
This week HHS clarified the
Provider Relief Fund payment allocation
methodology and eligibility. A provider’s estimated total allocation (from both the $30 billion tranche and the $20 billion tranche) should be approximately 2% of their 2018 gross patient revenue.
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HHS Extends Provider Relief Fund Attestation Deadlines to 45 Days
The Department of Health and Human Services has
extended the deadline
for healthcare providers to attest to receipt of payments from the Provider Relief Fund and accept the Terms and Conditions to 45 days.
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HHS Awards More than Half Billion Dollars Across the Nation to Expand COVID-19 Testing
The Department of Health and Human Services has
allocated $583 million
to 1,385 HRSA-funded health centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and eight U.S. territories to expand COVID-19 testing.
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COVID-19 Guidance for Shared or Congregate Housing
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released
guidance
to help owners, administrators, or operators of shared (also called “congregate”) housing facilities – working together with residents, staff, and public health officials – prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Strategies to Optimize the Supply of PPE and Equipment
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released
optimization strategies
for PPE offer options for use when PPE supplies are stressed, running low, or absent.
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Information for Pediatric Healthcare Providers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released
guidelines
for pediatric care and newborn care. CDC is encouraging practices to limit well child visits and prioritize newborn care and vaccination of infants and young children (through 24 months of age).
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May 12, 2020 | 12:15 - 1:15 PM
Presented by the California Medical Association
This webinar will build on CMA's telehealth webinar from March 26, 2020, focusing on the updated telehealth and privacy flexibilities granted by federal and state governments over the past four weeks. Presenters will discuss recent expansions of telehealth use, state and federal privacy waivers, and updates to telehealth billing guidelines.
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The ACCMA is hosting virtual, roundtable discussion forums to help physicians within similar specialties
share their methods for resuming practice
. Discussions may revolve around telemedicine, PPE, resources, practice workflows, safety and any other topics pertaining to resuming practice during California’s reopening. Virtual roundtables will be held via Zoom for three groups: office-based practices (e.g., non-surgical, psychiatry, etc.), procedural-based and surgical specialty practices, and pediatric/OB-GYN practices. Please note that these will be participant-driven roundtable discussion – please come prepared to share what you are doing and to ask questions of your peers. These Zoom sessions are
free
and
open to all interested physicians and practice managers.
Sessions will take place every other week from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.
To register,
click here
and complete the JotForm.
Procedural/Surgical-based Practices:
Thursdays 05/14, 05/28, 06/11
Pediatrics/OB/GYN Practices:
Tuesdays 05/19, 06/02, 06/16
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This one-hour, on-demand webinar led by Linda Hawes Clever, MD, MACP, offers practical, creative, and effective remedies to deal with the crush on personal and professional lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains strategies, resources, and suggestions for handling physician wellness, as well as addressing questions and answers, as we listen and see the ingenuity, guts, and devotion with which we are addressing the harrowing challenges we all face as a profession, community, and nation. Discover how to reduce personal stress and learn healthy ways to contend with the impact of COVID-19.
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Please contact ACCMA at 510-654-5383 or
accma@accma.org
with any questions or concerns you have. Although we may not currently have an immediate answer to all questions, we want to know the information and resources that you need to continue to provide care for our community during this difficult time.
This information will also be posted online at
www.accma.org/COVID-19
and will be updated frequently. Please check the ACCMA website regularly for updates.
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