Iowa news
UnityPoint among Becker’s 150 top places to work in health care
Becker’s Healthcare has released its “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare | 2022” list, which highlights hospitals, health systems and health care companies that promote diversity in the workforce, employee engagement and professional growth. UnityPoint Health, West Des Moines, is included on the list. The organizations on the list offer benefits and opportunities for employees to build successful careers beyond the average health care provider or company. Many honorees on the list offer substantial wellness and personal benefits to ensure employees strike a positive work/life balance. Becker’s also took community impact into account, recognizing organizations with a mission of volunteerism and giving back. Becker’s Healthcare developed this list based on nominations and editorial research. Organizations did not pay for inclusion on this list. (Becker’s Health IT and CIO Report)
ChartSpan announces partnership with Iowa Hospital Association
ChartSpan, the leading provider of managed chronic care management in the U.S., announced a new partnership with the Iowa Hospital Association and its subsidiary, ServiShare. Through this new partnership, IHA and ChartSpan will work closely to provide turnkey, value-based chronic care management and reimbursement programs and annual wellness visit services to Iowa health care providers and hospitals. These programs improve patient outcomes and drive significant streams of value-based revenue. Leveraging a chronic care management program can improve patient engagement and health outcomes while providing a predictable source of reimbursement for practices, hospitals and health systems. (PRLog)
COVID-19 patients may face more costs as aid programs end
As the pandemic entered its third year last month, the financial burdens of COVID-19 medical treatment now largely are falling on patients. Federal aid programs have ended and most major U.S. insurance companies no longer are covering 100 percent of costs for coronavirus-related treatment. That means infected patients who require treatment could face large medical bills for hospital stays and other related care. New data shows costs for a COVID-19-related stay at the state’s largest hospital — which likely has seen the highest number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Iowa throughout the past two years — reached an average of tens of thousands of dollars. (The Gazette)
National news
Fauci: US ‘out of the pandemic phase’
“We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase,” Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a televised interview April 26. “Namely, we don’t have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.” Dr. Fauci’s remarks coincided with those from Ashish Jha, M.D., the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator. In his first appearance at a White House news briefing since he assumed the role, Dr. Jha said the relatively low number of new deaths — around 300 a day — was “still too high,” but noted hospitalizations are at their lowest point in the pandemic. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
Pfizer asks FDA to authorize booster shots for kids ages 5-11
Children ages 5-11 who’ve received two shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine soon may be eligible for a booster. That’s if the Food and Drug Administration agrees to a request made by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech to authorize their booster shot for kids in this age range. The companies submitted data to the FDA showing that the low-dose booster shot is safe for children ages 5-11 and could help protect them against omicron. Currently, boosters are only authorized for people 12 and older. (Iowa Public Radio)
CDC says 75% of children and teens had COVID-19 by February
More than half of people in the United States had antibodies for COVID-19 by the end of February, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children and teens were hit especially hard by the omicron variant through the winter, with antibodies detected in three-quarters of the largely unvaccinated population. In the study, the CDC examined blood samples taken from all age groups, testing for specific antibodies that develop only after COVID-19 infection. (NBC News)