Biden Administration Launches Nationwide Test-to-Treat Initiative Ensuring Rapid ‘On the Spot’ Access to Lifesaving COVID Treatments

[The] Biden-Harris Administration is launching a new nationwide Test to Treat initiative that will give individuals an important new way to rapidly access free lifesaving treatment for COVID-19.

Through this program, people who test positive for COVID-19 will in one stop, be assessed by a qualified health care provider who can prescribe antiviral pills on the spot. This ensures that, if people who are at high risk for developing severe disease test positive and if administration of an antiviral is appropriate, they can get treatment quickly and easily.

The Test to Treat Initiative will also include new actions to educate the public about the availability of new treatments and the importance of starting them soon after the onset of symptoms; and provide information to health care providers about these new treatments.

A full fact sheet about this initiative from HHS can be found through the link below:

https://aspr.hhs.gov/TestToTreat/Documents/Fact-Sheet.pdf

Almost a Third of People Report Lingering Symptom 6-12 Months After COVID-19 Study

Almost a third of people report at least one ongoing symptom between 6 and 12 months after their coronavirus infection, a survey of 152,000 people in Denmark has found.

The study includes one of the largest groups yet of people who were not hospitalised with COVID, and followed them for longer than other major studies, the researchers from Denmark's State Serum Institute (SSI) said.

The questionnaire-based study suggested that the most commonly reported long-term symptoms were changes in sense of smell and taste, as well as fatigue.

Read more @ Reuters

Combined Federal and State Spending on Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Totaled $116 billion in FY 2020, Serving Millions of Elderly Adults and People with Disabilities

The federal government and the states together spent a total of $116 billion on Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) in FY 2020, serving millions of elderly adults and people with disabilities, a new KFF analysis finds.

Medicaid is the nation’s primary payer for such services, which include assistive technology, personal care to help people with bathing or preparing meals, and therapies to help people regain or acquire self-care and independent living skills. There is long-standing unmet need for such services nationally, as well as perennial shortages in the direct care workforce. Both have been exacerbated by the pandemic and rising demand for services related to the aging population.

Congress took a step toward approving new funding for HCBS when lawmakers included $150 billion for such services in the House-passed Build Back Better Act (BBBA). But the bill faces legislative challenges in the Senate and the fate of the proposed funding remains uncertain.

The new analysis, based on KFF’s 19th survey of state officials administering Medicaid HCBS programs in all 50 states and DC, finds that most enrollees receive home and community-based services that are optional coverage choices made by state Medicaid programs, usually in the form of waivers or optional state plan benefits. That results in substantial variation in HCBS eligibility, spending and benefits across states.

A second analysis based on KFF’s survey examines the landscape of state policy choices about Medicaid HCBS in FY 2020, presenting the latest data available, and the first since the onset of the pandemic. For the last decade states have pursued expanding HCBS as an alternative to institutional long-term care. Spending on HCBS accounted for 59 percent of total Medicaid long-term services and supports spending in FY 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.

Nationally, 3 million people receive HCBS through waivers. Over 2.5 million people receive HCBS as part of the state plan benefit package. However, the total number of people who received HCBS across all authorities is not available because some individuals may receive both waiver and state plan services...

Read Full Article

For more data and analyses about Medicaid HCBS, visit kff.org.

Several Important Health Care Provisions in Omnibus Federal Funding Bill

The Senate passed a $1.5 trillion Omnibus spending package to fund the federal government for the current fiscal year, after Democrats and Republicans resolved disagreements to quickly send $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine.

Several anticipated healthcare features were cut from the draft. For example, $15 billion in health care COVID-19 relief funding was pulled out with reports that it will be run as a standalone to, among other things, continue and fund the federal government’s supply of coronavirus therapeutics.

The bill is also missing continued relief from the 2% Medicare sequestration payment cuts. This means that beginning April 1, 2002, and through June 30, 2022, there will be a 1% across-the-board reduction in Medicare payments. The full 2% cuts would begin July, 2022.

On a positive note, hospice several telehealth waivers will be extended for 5 months after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), allowing hospices to perform the face-to-face (F2F) recertification visit via telehealth; use audio-only; and allow patients to receive telehealth servings in their own homes and in non-rural parts of the country. The flexibility for hospices to deliver routine home care using telehealth and telephone technology would not be extended by the bill. Neither would certain telehealth CPT codes that have been used by palliative care providers during the pandemic be continued for that purpose.

A summary of the House’s Labor-Health and Human Services portion of the bill, where most of the health care provisions can be found, can be accessed HERE.

Additional summary and explanatory documents related to the House's bill can be found on the House Appropriation Committee’s press release page HERE. Full text of the Senate's bill was not available at the writing of this article.