Iowa news
Iowa may soon surpass 3,000 COVID-19 deaths as state implements new reporting methods
Iowa has adopted a new way of documenting people who have died from COVID-19, which has raised the pandemic death toll in the state by more than 175 Iowans. As of about noon Tuesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported 2,919 Iowans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic reached Iowa in March. (Des Moines Register)
UI epidemiologist cautiously optimistic about Thanksgiving’s effect on COVID-19 spread in Iowa
Dr. Jorge Salinas is optimistic — more so than he has ever felt throughout the past several months as the COVID-19 pandemic has raged on. As of early this week, Iowa is no longer facing a massive surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, what Salinas calls a promising trend for area hospitals as the state expects to see the first doses of an effective vaccine in the near future. The infectious disease specialist with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics expects by the spring, with the help of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the United Sates will no longer see the same kind of surges in new cases it has experienced during the past year. (The Gazette)
New COVID-19 treatment aims to reduce hospitalizations in Dubuque
A new COVID-19 treatment being administered at Dubuque hospitals aims to reduce the number of local patients who require hospitalization. MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center and UnityPoint Health-Finley Hospital staff recently began administering monoclonal antibody infusions to COVID-19 patients with less severe symptoms, marking their first opportunity to recommend medicine-based treatment for non-hospitalized patients. (Telegraph Herald)
National news
The largest mass vaccination campaign ever attempted in the United States could begin as soon as this week, with the federal government turning over millions of doses to the states and territories. Everything depends on them. But days before the first COVID-19 vaccine is cleared for use, an exclusive USA TODAY Network survey of health officials in all 50 states revealed a patchwork of preparations and different distribution plans that may mean wide variations in what the rollout looks like as it expands across the nation. (USA Today)
Psychiatry is revealing the potential — and pitfalls — of telehealth
With telemedicine likely to expand in the post-COVID-19 world, health care providers will need to work though some fundamental questions. How can we best scale telecare to the broad population? How will it change the way we gather and analyze health care data? And what new models of care will emerge? Specialties like psychiatry, where the use of telecare has been encompassing more than 40% of patient encounters, can help point the way forward. (Harvard Business Review)
Sanford Health calls off merger with Intermountain Healthcare
A proposed merger in 2021 between Intermountain Healthcare and Sanford Health, announced in October, is now on hold indefinitely after Sanford cut ties with its former CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft over his refusal to wear a face mask. Sanford Health split with Krabbenhoft in late November after a controversial email from him alerted his staff that he wouldn’t wear a mask because he’d already had COVID-19. The health system parted ways with Krabbenhoft soon thereafter and appointed Bill Gassen as president and CEO. Gassen most recently served as chief administrative officer and has been with the organization since 2012. (Health Care Finance News)