Iowa news
Mental health care advocates celebrate shift in services’ funding mechanism
Friederich Burson said he has benefited from the help offered by a nonprofit youth support services organization, and his hope is that a new state law will help others in similar need. Burson, a 17-year-old from Sioux City, spoke Wednesday at a public ceremony as Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a package of tax provisions that includes a new method for funding mental health care services statewide. (The Daily Nonpareil)
COVID-19 cases continue gradual decline in Iowa, but reported deaths tick back up
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Iowa is now just over 2,000 as the rolling seven-day average of new reported cases continues its gradual decline, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health. At the same time, the number of new reported deaths — which may not be reported publicly until several weeks after the death occurs — and the number of Iowans in intensive care units or on ventilators has increased slightly over the past week. Each number is still well below where it was several months ago. (Des Moines Register)
New health concerns emerge post-pandemic
As the spread of COVID-19 slows in Iowa, health professionals are voicing concerns about post-pandemic health issues. The main concerns in the state are still related to the pandemic, both physically — with post-COVID syndrome and inflammation issues — and mentally. With hospitals, medical centers, and health clinics returning to full volumes, they are still receiving COVID positive patients. They are also seeing more patients with “Long COVID” or post-COVID syndrome, said Dr. Nicole Gilg Gachiani, the chief physician quality officer at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines. (The Capital Dispatch)
National news
Hospitals finding more COVID-19 patients are not vaccinated
In Minnesota, with COVID-19 hospitalizations, nearly every admitted patient is unvaccinated. In Ohio, only 2% of the COVID-19 patients admitted in the last month were vaccinated and at Sanford Health, which runs 44 medical centers and more than 200 clinics across the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, less than 5% of the 1,456 patients admitted with COVID-19 were fully vaccinated. (WJIZ)
Coronavirus pandemic drives growth of hospital-at-home programs
After modest uptake for nearly three decades, hospital-at-home programs are growing faster nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic. Johns Hopkins Medicine launched the country’s first hospital-at-home program in 1994. Largely because of inadequate financing mechanisms such as lack of reimbursement from Medicare, adoption of hospital at home programs was slow in the US. The pandemic has changed that. The biggest shift came in November 2020, with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implementing the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program, which cleared the way for Medicare to pay for hospital-at-home services during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Six health care organizations were designated as the first participants in the waiver program, including Mount Sinai Health System in New York City and UnityPoint Health in West Des Moines, Iowa. (Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare)
Affordable Care Act survives latest Supreme Court challenge
In the years since the enactment of the law in 2010, Republicans have worked hard to destroy it, and President Donald J. Trump relentlessly criticized it. But attempts to repeal it failed, as did two earlier Supreme Court challenges, in 2012 and 2015. With the passing years, the law gained in popularity and was woven into the fabric of the health care system. Its future now seems secure. (The New York Times)