“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield today said the agency is in the process of setting up a public tracker for novel coronavirus (COVID-19) tests, and it could be available this week.”
“Redfield told the House Committee on Appropriations that he hopes the system will be ‘comprehensive,’ with the capacity to track ‘how much testing is being done and what percentage of those [tests] are positive, when and where.’”
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Monday issued a memo to State Survey Agency directors with information in response to inquiries from hospitals and critical access hospitals concerning implications of COVID-19 for their compliance with Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requirements. The document reinforces hospitals existing obligation for screening, stabilization and transfer, as well as their available latitude for setting up screening sites away from the emergency department. It also provides a question and answer document specific to EMTALA obligations and COVID-19, which emphasizes the importance of reliance on CDC guidance regarding isolation and infection control measures. The document also includes a fact sheet for addressing increased surges in the numbers of patients presenting to the ED.”
“In other news, the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday announced funding to develop a COVID-19 diagnostic test that could deliver results to clinicians in less than three hours…” Read the full article here.
Source: CDC head says COVID-19 public test-tracking system imminent – March 10, 2020. American Hospital Association.
