INFORMATION FOR PHYSICIANS AND PRACTICES ON COVID-19
County Opens Mobile COVID-19 Specimen Collection Sites
PRESS RELEASE FROM MCDPH
March 30, 2020

MERCED COUNTY, CA – In an effort to streamline testing capabilities, the Merced County Department of Public Health (Public Health) in collaboration with the Merced County Emergency Operation Center and many county partners, will open two Mobile Specimen Collection sites for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). More...

Sign up for COVID-19 alerts from Merced County by visiting  www.countyofmerced.com/coronavirus  and entering your email on the right side of the page.
Local COVID-19 Calls
MERCY MEDICAL CENTER MERCED
Joerg Schuller, MD, VPMA will be hosting a conference call every Monday and Thursday afternoon from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM. He will be giving an update on the COVID-19 situation and there will be a question/answer period at the end of the call. CALL IN INFORMATION .

MERCED COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
The Daily COVID-19 from the Merced County Department of Public Health takes place at 9:30 AM. CALL IN INFORMATION .
CMS Announces Major New Flexibilities for
Physicians During COVID-19 Emergency
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a number of new policies to help physicians and hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. These actions include Medicare coverage for telephone services, significant additions to the list of covered telehealth services such as emergency visits, and greater clarity on the use of remote patient monitoring for acute conditions like the novel coronavirus.

Below are links to a CMS fact sheet on the new policies and a CMS press release.

Gov. Newsom temporarily relaxes scope requirements in anticipation of COVID-19 surge
Gov. Gavin Newsom  issued an executive order  on Monday easing the path for many health care professionals to practice in an expanded capacity during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Newsom said his executive order would temporarily expand the health care workforce and allow health care facilities to staff at least an additional 50,000 hospital beds the state needs to treat COVID-19 patients. More...
CMA publishes COVID-19 financial toolkit for physicians
During the COVID-19 pandemic, physician practices are confronting operational and business challenges as they continue to deliver high quality care to their patients. Medical practices will need to make difficult choices about whether to make significant changes that could include changing how they deliver care or even closing their practices. More...
CDI says insurance co's must provide increased telehealth access during COVID-19 emergency
March 30 - The California Department of Insurance (CDI) instructed  CDI-regulated health insurance companies to take immediate steps to provide increased telehealth access during the COVID-19 emergency. More...
CMA COVID-19 webinar series
The California Medical Association (CMA) ran a series of free webinars March 26-March 31 to guide physicians through some of the most pressing COVID-19 issues. For those who were unable to join live, they are being archived and made available for on-demand viewing at https://www.cmadocs.org/webinars.

Frequently Asked COVID-19 Questions
CMA has developed a great FAQ on COVID-19. It is updated frequently, so keep checking back. It answers questions by topic and topics include:

  • Personnel
  • Financial
  • Telehealth
  • Testing
  • Prescribing
  • Miscellaneous

Latest COVID-19 Facts
Positive Tests - 10
Deaths - 0

Mariposa County ( Mariposa County Public Health )
Positive Tests - 0
Deaths - 0

Confirmed Cases - 6,932
Deaths - 150

Confirmed Cases - 163,539
Deaths - 2,860

Confirmed Cases - 754,948
Deaths - 36,571

All of these numbers were pulled from the respective websites 3/31/20, 4:00PM.