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.

CMS published the updated payment methodologies for Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plans this week.  Plans can expect an average increase in revenue of 1.66% in calendar year (CY) 2021, and CMS will continue to use the methodology described in the 2021 Advance Notice to derive the benchmark county rates, how the qualifying bonus counties are identified, and the applicability of the Star Ratings. However, rural and urban providers participating in these plans should refer to the Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Interim Final Rule for changes in quality data reporting for 2021 and 2022. 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a toolkit that identifies significant telehealth-related changes made by CMS in response to the COVID-19 National Health Emergency. The toolkit provides resources to help long-term care facilities develop a telemedicine program, addressing vendor selection, monitoring patients remotely, and developing documentation tools.

HRSA is temporarily waiving query fees for health care entities to search the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). This waiver supports efforts to mobilize and deploy health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing costs and expediting credentialing, hiring, privileging, and licensing processes.

The NPDB fee waiver is retroactive from March 1, 2020, through May 31, 2020. The NPDB will issue query credits to reimburse entities that conducted queries (one-time and continuous) between March 1 and today’s announcement.

Learn more. For technical assistance, view the recording from the teleconference or contact the NPDB Customer Service Center.