OIG Part D – Part A – Hospice Audit

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, News

Why OIG Did This Review In 2012, the OIG issued a report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicating that during 2009, Medicare part D paid for prescription drugs that likely should have been paid for by hospice organizations under the Medicare Part A hospice benefit. They matched Part A and Part D data to identify occurrences …

Reliability of Signs and Symptoms of Infection

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Health

Older adults may manifest acute illness with atypical signs and symptoms, including those that are non-localizing; however, most nursing-home residents with acute infection will also exhibit some localizing signs and symptoms of infection. Non-infectious explanations for non-localizing signs or symptoms of changes in condition should be ruled out first. Some of these changes may include: Changes in medication, Acute or …

Blood Type and COVID-19

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Studies

Research into COVID-19 continues at a blistering pace and one issue that has captured the attention of the popular media is the potential interaction between blood type and the risk for COVID-19. There is precedent for blood type playing a role in infection however a multi-facility study published by Medscape has found no correlation between blood type and inflammatory markers …

Mild or Moderate – COVID-19

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Studies

Coronaviruses typically cause common cold symptoms, but two beta coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), can cause pneumonia, respiratory failure, and death. The clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection ranges from asymptomatic infection to critical illness. Risk factors for complications of COVID-19 include older age, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and obesity. The new England Journal of …

Challenge Trials – Deliberately Infect Volunteers?

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, Case Study, News

Britain has announced that it will invest 33.6 million pounds ($43.5 million) in the so-called “human challenge” trials in partnership with Imperial College London, laboratory and trial services company hVIVO, and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. If approved by regulators and an ethics committee, the studies will start in January with results expected by May 2021 the government …

Zinc – Prevent COVID Deaths?

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Featured, Health

New research presented at the 2020 ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID) suggests that lower levels of baseline plasma zinc are associated with poorer survival outcomes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The study by Dr. Roberto Guerri-Fernandez, Hospital DelMar, Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues, involved a retrospective analysis of symptomatic COVID-19 patients admitted to a tertiary university hospital in Barcelona, Spain …

Blood Glucose Levels and COVID-19

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Health, Studies

Have you ever wondered why your primary care physician keeps an eye on your blood glucose levels when running laboratory tests? Add to that, they want “fasting” levels which means no coffee before the test, right?! In a retrospective study by S. Wang and colleagues from 2 hospitals in Wuhan, China, FBG ≥ 7 mmol/L at admission independently predicted 28-day …

Antibodies in Saliva?

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Health, Studies

Antibodies play an important role in neutralizing virus and provide protection to the host against viral re-infection. The antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection has been extensively studied in the blood of COVID-19 patients in order to gain insights into the host immune response. Understanding their durability and their system compartmentalization across a diverse population are critical pieces of data informing …

COVID-19 Rates Can Plummet?

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Studies

Your lips to God’s ear right? Well, that is what was discussed in a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on September 15, 2020. To give a little background, in April 2020, Massachusetts Nursing Homes became a hotspot for COVID-19 infections and associated deaths. In response, Governor Charles Baker allocated $130 million in additional funding for …

Infrared Thermometers – Accurate?

Angie SzumlinskiCase Study, Studies

Body temperature is a vital sign that is regularly measured to assess the status of a patients’ health, facilitate diagnosis, and screen for the COVID-19 virus. Healthcare professionals must use the most accurate and precise measurement devices available to reproduce stable results reflecting core body temperature. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that public health measures include body temperature screening …