04/30/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2021 14:08
Thune Joins Colleagues in Reintroducing Bipartisan Legislation to Expand Telehealth Access, Make Permanent Telehealth Flexibilities Available During COVID-19 Pandemic
Washington -
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) this week joined Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai i), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) in leading a bipartisan group of 50 senators to reintroduce the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2021. The CONNECT for Health Act will expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to safely connect with their doctors.
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A small subset of Americans suffers from a psychological condition known as latrophobia, or a fear of going to the doctor, but many more people during the pandemic have been forgoing needed medical care because they believe medical facilities might expose them to the novel coronavirus. Others have suspected hospitals just donât have the capacity to treat them. Physicians say they could be making a serious â potentially fatal â mistake.
âThe most in-our-face examples have been the cardiac patients who didnât get their ongoing care or evaluation, and then had not good outcomes in terms of heart attacks and death,â said Dr. James Augustine, an emergency medical director who works with hospitals in Georgia, Florida and Ohio. âThose are the things where you canât wait to get your care.â
Apr 27, 2021
Clinical guide green lights point-of-care imaging with standard diagnosis in ED, inpatient settings
Clinicians can use add-on point-of-care ultrasonography in patients with unspecified acute dyspnea in the emergency department (ED) or inpatient setting, according to the American College of Physicians (ACP), although the recommendation is based on a low certainty of evidence.
Combining point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) with the standard diagnostic pathway increased the proportion of correct diagnoses by 32%, boosted the sensitivity of standard testing without “a substantial tradeoff in specificity,” did not seem to be tied to any serious harms, is not a high-cost test, and did not result in a longer length of stay (LOS) for patients, wrote Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA, of the ACP in Philadelphia, and co-authors on the college’s clinical guidelines committee.
David Marcozzi, MD, was named senior vice president and chief clinical officer (CCO) for the
University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) and will report to Bert W. O’Malley, MD, president and CEO of UMMC.
As CCO, Marcozzi will lead evidence-based programs, practices and activities and establish clear processes to monitor performance against stated goals and assure accountability for performance as measured by quality, service and financial outcomes.
Presently, Marcozzi serves as the University of Maryland Medical System – University of Maryland, Baltimore Unified Incident Commander for the COVID-19 response, a role he will continue to fill. In addition, he has a prominent role in the state as the COVID-19 medical adviser to Gov. Larry Hogan.
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