It is important to maintain regular medical care despite the challenges that the COVID-19 public health emergency poses for scheduling appointments with health care providers. Yesterday, President Trump and his administration continued the efforts already made to protect and enhance the health of mothers. This work builds upon the work that Congress has done to address maternal health and mortality.
Here is a breakdown of the initiatives:
$8 million will support a nationwide contract with Premier, Inc. to help improve data on maternal health measures and implementation of evidence-based maternity care practices.
$3.3 million will go towards a hypertension innovator award competition for existing programs that work to reduce hypertension during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
$800,000 will go towards supporting existing programs that address breastfeeding uptake and continuation and work to decrease disparities in breastfeeding.
National Updates: President Trump announced a government partnership with CVS Health and Walgreens to deliver doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, when available, to long-term care facilities across the country.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that in 2021, Medicare will pay the full payment rate only to laboratories that complete high throughput COVID-19 diagnostic tests within two calendar days of the specimen being collected.
The Food and Drug Administration reissued the emergency use authorization for certain filtering face-piece respirators that are manufactured in China and are not approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in an effort to address the shortage of filtering face-piece respirators.
The National Institutes of Health launched a Phase 3 trail to evaluate three immune modulator drugs in adults hospitalized with COVID-19.
