This week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a series of new investments of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to continue support of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding announcement, according to the White House, is a direct response to the recommendations advanced by the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force which delivered its…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week announced it will invest $650 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to strengthen manufacturing capacity for quick, high-quality diagnostic testing through rapid point-of-care molecular tests. HHS notes as at-home testing increases, the need for follow-up testing in health care settings will also…
Read More »This week, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to extend the federal government’s 100 percent reimbursement of eligible COVID-19 emergency response costs incurred by states, tribes, and territories through April 1, 2022. The extension of FEMA reimbursement also includes 100 percent federal reimbursement for National Guard personnel deployed to…
Read More »This week, Pfizer and BioNTech formally requested the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine booster to all adults ages 18 and older. According to the companies, the request is based on efficacy and safety data from a randomized, controlled trial with more than 10,000 participants, showing efficacy of 95…
Read More »Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. announced his intent to nominate Dr. Robert Califf as the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the White House, Dr. Califf is a recognized expert in clinical trial research, health disparities, health care quality, and cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Califf previously served as FDA Commissioner…
Read More »U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy this week released the “Community Toolkit for Addressing Health Misinformation,” intended to help Americans navigate the serious threat of health misinformation, particularly mis- and disinformation online. Recall, this summer, Dr. Murthy issued the first Surgeon General’s Advisory of the Biden-Harris Administration warning Americans about the urgent threat of health…
Read More »The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Women’s Health (OWH) this week announced that over 200 hospitals nationwide are now participating in the HHS Perinatal Improvement Collaborative. The participating facilities comprise a network of hospitals from all 50 states focused on improving maternal and infant health outcomes by reducing disparities and…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) this week released a new report finding that progress toward measles elimination worldwide continues to decline, posing increased risks for measles outbreaks. During 2020, the CDC and WHO report that more than 22 million infants missed their first dose of…
Read More »The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) recently published an analysis of the state’s Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) spending plan as part of its broader 2021-22 California Spending Plan analysis series. The LAO’s analysis details the temporary increase in Medicaid federal share of cost for HCBS, eligibility requirements for states to draw down increased federal…
Read More »The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will host a special virtual event with NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and other national experts from labor and medicine on the mental health of the nation’s health care workforce. The event…
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