Coronavirus update for Tuesday, April 28 as of 4:00 p.m.

NASH Advocacy

NASH has written to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma to express concern about how CMS distributed the second round of grants from CARES Act funding for hospitals and problems that approach will cause and to ask for a change of direction in the future distribution of federal COVID-19-related grants to hospitals.

White House

The Trump administration has released two new documents to support its plan for reopening the country and its economy:  a testing overview and an accompanying testing blueprint.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC has updated its COVID-19 guidance for different types of clinical facilities.

Food and Drug Administration

• After questions arose about its April 18 emergency use authorization (EUA) about the uses of non-surgical face masks, the FDA has re-issued that EUA to manufacturers of face masks, health care personnel, hospital purchasing departments, distributors, and other stakeholders to clarify that face masks, including cloth face coverings, that are authorized by the EUA are only authorized for use by the general public and health care personnel as “source control.”  See the FDA’s FAQ about its clarification on the use of non-surgical face masks and its letter to stakeholders on the authorized uses of non-surgical masks.
• The FDA’s Small Business and Industry Assistance office will hold a webinar on conducting clinical trials during the COVID-19 emergency on Thursday, April 30.
• The FDA has issued an EUA for the use of a specific commercial monitoring system to be used for the remote monitoring of changes in cardiac activity among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who are being treated with drugs such as hydroxychlorine and chloroquine that may cause life-threatening arrhythmias.
• The FDA has issued EUAs for the use of four new specific commercial tests for detecting COVID-19.  Find those EUAs here, here, here, and here.

Federal Funding Opportunities for Hospitals

• The National Alliance of Safety-Net Hospitals has prepared a document that collects and presents in one place the various new federal funding opportunities for hospitals resulting from legislation addressing the COVID-19 public health emergency.  Find that document here.

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