Midweek update

This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed a funding bill for the COVID-19 situation (H.R. 6074) by a 415-2 vote. Fierce Healthcare breaks down the key elements of H.R. 6074 here.

Federal News Network reports on OPM’s latest “preliminary” COVID-19 guidance. The top line is that “OPM advised agencies to incorporate telework in their continuity of operations plans (COOP). Those emergency plans supersede an agency’s previous telework policies, according to OPM.”

CMS also announced agency actions to address the spread of COVID-19. The top lines are that CMS wants “health care providers across the country to ensure they are implementing their infection control procedures, which they are required to maintain at all times. Additionally, CMS is announcing that, effective immediately and, until further notice, State Survey Agencies and Accrediting Organizations will focus their facility inspections exclusively on issues related to infection control and other serious health and safety threats, like allegations of abuse – beginning with nursing homes and hospitals.”

The Journal podcast explains why this second action is quite necessary.

Healthcare Dive reports that

Uber Health is attempting to address provider gripes with its non-emergency medical transportation platform through a handful of new features that began rolling out late last year, the San Francisco-based rideshare company said Wednesday.

Providers can now select specific pickup and drop-off sites at large hospitals, similar to how the app is used in airports, and people can receive details of their ride like driver name, make and model of car and time of arrival over a landline phone, instead of just text messages.

Uber Health has grown 300% year over year since its launch in 2018 and plans to double the size of its team this year.

Lyft has a similar product.