How is COVID-19 Affecting You?

OOA members are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Tell us how COVID-19 is impacting you. Please complete this short survey. It will take less than two minutes. Your participation is greatly appreciated!

Physician Support Available

The Ohio Physicians Health Program (OPHP) wants to ensure that health care professionals—doctors, respiratory care professionals, nurses, and others—are offered the care they need during this stressful and strenuous time. OPHP Wellness Director Colleen Opremcak, MD, is now offering phone consultations to health care workers needing assistance. If interested, contact OPHP at 614-841-9690 or info@ophp.org.

In addition, a Physician Support Line, staffed by volunteer psychiatrists, offers free confidential peer support via telehealth during the pandemic. Hours are 8:00 am to 12:00 midnight every day. No appointment is necessary. Check in at https://doxy.me/physiciansupportline.

Flattening the Curve

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Action, MD, continue their daily COVID-19 briefings.

On Tuesday, they issued an order  requiring weekly online reporting of ventilators and other machines and devices that provide breathing assistance by any entity in the supply chain, from creation through end-use. Examples are manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, transporters, distributors, retailers, physicians, clinics, hospitals, and medical facilities. Equipment includes CPAP and BPAP machines, anesthetic machines, medical ventilators, bag valve masks, nasal cannulas, laryngeal mask airways, endotracheal tubes and tracheostomy/trach/tracheal tubes. Exceptions are ventilators and other equipment owned by an individual for personal use. Hospitals already had been reporting ventilator data daily to the Ohio Hospital Association.

An ODH order on Thursday instructed all hospitals that do not conduct their own testing to send their specimens to either Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals in Cleveland, or MetroHealth in Cleveland. These labs have the capacity and can turn around results much more quickly than private labs. The order also directs hospitals to immediately begin utilizing new rapid tests as soon as they become available in an organized framework utilizing freestanding emergency departments, urgent care centers, free-standing ambulatory surgery centers that are not in use due to postponement of elective surgeries, and hospital multi-use healthcare facilities that house a lab service.

On Thursday, the “Stay at Home” order was extended through May 1.

In addition, ODH issued updated guidance on COVID-19 testing this week as well as guidance for reporting COVID-19 on death certificates to funeral directors.

A resource list is on the OOA website at www.OhioDO.org/coronavirus.

Ohio Legislature Addresses Pandemic

The Ohio General Assembly passed HB 197 last week, which enacts a number of provisions to assist health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically:

• Medicaid community providers and workforce support: Authorizes the Ohio Medicaid Director to classify certain providers as COVID-19 community providers, which allows the Medicaid Director to direct Medicaid funds to these providers. It also authorizes the Medicaid Director to request that the Office of Budget and Management designate additional funds related to the COVID-19 outbreak for Medicaid payments to these COVID-19 community providers.
• Licensure extensions during the state of emergency: Defers requirements for licensure renewal for providers until either 90 days after the state of emergency ends or until December 1, 2020, whichever comes first. Disciplinary actions against license holders, including suspension and potential revocation of licenses, will generally be allowed to continue during the state of emergency.

The bill also grants permanent authority for CRNAs to administer drugs, treatments and IV fluids for conditions related to the administration of anesthesia. It also adds other functions to the scope of practice for CRNAs under Ohio law, including ordering diagnostic tests. These provisions were originally included in HB 224, which was rolled into the COVID-19 legislation.

Osteopathic Organizations Advocate for PPE

The OOA joined the AOA and 40 osteopathic specialty and state organizations to send a letter to President Trump, Vice President Pence and Ambassador Brix asking them to increase access to safety equipment and medical supplies for those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 outbreak. The letter stressed appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential for both patients and frontline physicians and other health care workers. The letter reads in part: “Equipment that will be needed as COVID-19 continues to spread across our nation include N95 respirators, gowns, surgical masks, eye protection, and intensive care unit (ICU) equipment. Without continuous access to these critical items, safety for both patients and providers will be greatly jeopardized, which could lead to overall worse outcomes and the continual spread of the virus.”

Read the letter.

Heritage College Students to Lend a Hand in Fighting Pandemic

The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is sending in reinforcements in Ohio’s battle with COVID-19. Starting April 13, approximately 250 medical students will deploy to local health agencies to assist in containing the outbreak and support Ohio’s public health professionals.

All third-year Heritage College students will participate in the new COVID-19 public health rotation, a four-week course designed by the medical school in partnership with the Ohio Department of Health and implemented with help from other state agencies. Each third-year medical student will be matched with a local health department or another public agency. Working either remotely or on site, students will help with patient navigation, patient monitoring and contact tracing. Other jobs might include acting as public information officers through social media, communicating with local health care providers and answering COVID-19 phone hotlines. Simultaneously, students will learn about the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 and pandemic infections in general. Learning modules will include handwashing/disinfection, personal protective equipment, quarantine, social distancing, clinical aspects of COVID-19, treatment options, testing and screening, COVID-19 in children and in pregnancy, and blood supply safety.

Read more.