The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Dennis Davin announced that 126 companies in 30 counties have received approved funding through a new program developed under the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority’s (PIDA) Small Business First Fund, the COVID-19 Working Capital Access Program (CWCA), totaling more than $10 million.

A list of approved projects can be found here.

PIDA staff continue to review submitted applications for approval and are actively working with DCED’s Certified Economic Development Organizations (CEDOs) to disburse CWCA loan funds at the time of approval. Information on future awardees will be released as it becomes available. 

DCED continues to update its website with financial and other resources. 

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issues new recommendations specifically targeted to communities that are in Phase 1 of the Guidelines for President Trump’s Opening Up America Again with low incidence or relatively low and stable incidence of COVID-19 cases. The recommendations update earlier guidance provided by CMS on limiting non-essential surgeries and medical procedures. The new CMS guidelines recommend a gradual transition and encourage health care providers to coordinate with local and state public health officials, and to review the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies, workforce availability, facility readiness, and testing capacity when making the decision to re-start or increase in-person care.

The new recommendations can be found here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-flexibility-reopen-essential-non-covid-services.pdf

The Guidelines for Opening Up America Again can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/openingamerica/#criteria

Agencies partner with nursing homes to keep nursing home residents safe

Today, under the leadership of President Trump, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new regulatory requirements that will require nursing homes to inform residents, their families and representatives of COVID-19 cases in their facilities. In addition, as part of President Trump’s Opening Up America, CMS will now require nursing homes to report cases of COVID-19 directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This information must be reported in accordance with existing privacy regulations and statute. This measure augments longstanding requirements for reporting infectious disease to State and local health departments. Finally, CMS will also require nursing homes to fully cooperate with CDC surveillance efforts around COVID-19 spread.

CDC will be providing a reporting tool to nursing homes that will support Federal efforts to collect nationwide data to assist in COVID-19 surveillance and response. This joint effort is a result of the CMS-CDC Work Group on Nursing Home Safety. CMS plans to make the data publicly available. This effort builds on recent recommendations from the American Health Care Association and Leading Age, two large nursing home industry associations, that nursing homes quickly report COVID-19 cases.

This data sharing project is only the most recent in the Trump Administration’s rapid and aggressive response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More details are available in the Press Release and Guidance Memo.

Mathematica continues to partner with our clients and groups like the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) to respond to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the area of data analytics. COVID-19 has affected health care administrative data, such as claims, in several ways. Notably, it has led to changes in diagnostic and procedural coding guidelines, payment policies, and shifts in case mix. Analysts, actuaries, and data scientists need this information to respond to these changes, but the information is scattered across many sources focused on specific topics (such as coding telehealth services in Medicaid claims).

In response, Mathematica created a COVID-19 Data Primer.  Read more here.

As part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) efforts to keep our stakeholders up to date on the CDC and NIOSH coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response, below is a summary of new information posted this week.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
Healthcare personnel are essential members of the nation’s workforce and are on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19. As a result, they may also be at increased risk of getting infected by COVID-19. This week, CDC published the first preliminary description of U.S. data on COVID-19 cases in healthcare personnel in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). CDC found more than 9,200 healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19. The report describes data on characteristics among healthcare personnel with confirmed COVID-19 that include age, gender, race and ethnicity, where exposures occurred, symptoms, underlying health conditions, and health outcomes, such as hospitalization and death.

Updated Infection Control Guidance for Healthcare Settings
CDC has updated the national COVID-19 infection control guidance for healthcare settings to include the recommendation that all U.S. healthcare facilities put policies into place requiring everyone entering the facility to practice source control, regardless of symptoms. This recommendation is intended to protect healthcare personnel by reducing their risk for exposure as we continue to learn how COVID-19 spreads, particularly from asymptomatic and presymptomatic people.

Conserving and Extending Respirators for Nonhealthcare Sectors
CDC has released interim guidance that offers strategies to conserve, extend, and respond to shortages in the supply of NIOSH-approved filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) used in nonhealthcare worksites, such as manufacturing and construction.

Cleaning and Disinfection Guidance for Nonemergency Transport
People who are known or suspected to have COVID-19 may use nonemergency vehicle services, such as passenger vans, accessible vans, and cars, for transportation to receive essential medical care. CDC has published interim guidance for the cleaning and disinfection of these nonemergency transport vehicles.

For more information, please visit the COVID-19 webpage. To stay up to date on new developments, sign up for the COVID-19 newsletter.

The COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide is a helpful resource published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled by the USDA for rural communities looking for federal funding and partnership opportunities to help address COVID-19. Check out www.usda.gov/coronavirus for more information.

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2020 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand today announced that USDA has opened a second application window for funding under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program.

This window includes an additional $25 million that Congress recently provided to the program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA is providing this additional window for those who were not able to complete applications prior to the first application deadline for the DLT program. Any money not awarded under the first application window will be made available in addition to the $25 million.

Electronic applications for the second application window may be submitted through grants.gov beginning today and are due no later than July 13, 2020. Paper applications will not be accepted. Additional information on how to apply is now available on grants.gov.

Applicants eligible for DLT grants include most state and local governmental entities, federally recognized tribes, nonprofits, and for-profit businesses.

USDA Rural Development has taken many immediate actions to help rural residents, businesses and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. To learn more about Rural Development’s COVID-19 response, visit www.rd.usda.gov/coronavirus.

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

If you’d like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today encouraged consumers across the state, especially those most vulnerable to social isolation, to understand the resources available through the Lifeline program to help them stay connected to their voice and internet services during these challenging times.

Lifeline is a federal government benefit that provides eligible low-income consumers a monthly discount on their phone or internet bill. The benefit can be used for voice (telephone), Broadband Internet Access Service (or BIAS, usually called internet service), or a combined telephone/internet service product from a landline or wireless provider.

The program provides a $7.25 per household, per month discount on landline or wireless voice service and a $9.25 per household, per month discount on your wireless or landline internet service. The discount appears in the form of a reduction on the service provider’s bill. A service provider may also offer you the minimum Lifeline Program with no additional charges. The rules and amounts of support can change over time.

Consumers or households that apply for Lifeline will be checked to see if they are eligible.  After that, they must certify every year that they are eligible for such support. Currently, in response to the public health emergency associated with the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the Lifeline program’s recertification and reverification requirements are waived for 60 days. More information on program eligibility, how to apply and recertify is available on the Commission’s website. More information on the federal government’s suspension of their Lifeline requirements is available at the USAC website.