Coronavirus update for Friday, June 12 as of 4:00 p.m.

Department of Health and Human Services

• As we reported previously, HHS will be distributing $10 billion in CARES Act Provider Relief Fund grants to hospitals that have served especially large numbers of COVID-19 patients. To apply for these grants, hospitals must submit data to HHS via its teletracking web site.  See below for:
  • information about the Provider Relief Fund and the grants to high-impact hospitals;
  • an FAQ about the grants and the data to be submitted; and
  • where to submit the data.

Hospitals must submit their data no later than 9:00 pm (eastern) on Monday, June 15.

• HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy rule permits covered health care providers to contact their patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to inform them about how they can donate their blood and plasma containing antibodies to help other patients with COVID-19. See the announcement here and the guidance here.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• In the past week CMS issued five section 1135 waivers to give states greater flexibility to serve their Medicaid beneficiaries during the COVID-19 public health emergency.  It issued waivers to Delaware, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Food and Drug Administration

• The FDA posted FAQs to address questions about the design, evaluation, labeling, and marketing of hospital beds, stretchers, and mattresses during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
• The FDA issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for four new commercial diagnostic tests for COVID-19. Find them here, here, here, and here.
• The FDA issued an EUA for a new serology test for COVID-19. Find it here.

National Institutes of Health

1. NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities is accepting applications for research to evaluate interventions that might lessen the impact of COVID-19 on populations that suffer from health disparities or other vulnerabilities to the virus.  Learn more here.

2. Federal Funding Opportunities for Hospitals

   • NASH has prepared a document that collects and presents in one place the various new federal funding opportunities for hospital resulting from legislation addressing the COVID-19 public health emergency.  Find that document here.

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