Kentucky Nurses Association shares information about where to buy swabs and list of COVID-19 guidelines released by CDC and CMS

The Kentucky Nurses Association shares this information from Congressman Brett Guthrie’s office regarding manufacturers you can purchase swabs from directly as well as a list of recent COVID-19 guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare/Medicaid (CMS):  

Copan Diagnostics

26055 Jefferson Avenue Murrieta, CA 92562

800-216-4016

Becton, Dickinson and Company
1 Becton Drive 
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417-1880 
Phone: 201.847.6800

Thermo Fisher Scientific
168 Third Avenue
Waltham, MA 02451
781-622-1000
800-678-5599

Princeton BioMeditech Corporation

P.O. Box 7139
Princeton, New Jersey 08543-7139
U.S.A. Tel: (732) 274-1000

4242 U.S. Route 1
Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852-1905
U.S.A. Fax: (732) 274-1010
Internet E-mail: info@pbmc.com
http://www.pbmc.com/

Recommendations to Cancel Adult Elective and Non-Essential Medical, Surgical and Dental Procedures: CMS released recommendations to delay non-essential procedures in an effort to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE), beds and ventilators for facilities as well as to free up health care workers to treat patients with COVID-19. The recommendations provide a framework for hospitals and clinicians to implement immediately to determine and identify non-essential and elective procedures. The recommendations and guidelines can be found here.

Strategies for Optimizing PPE: CDC released PPE guidance that will provide guidance in PPE shortages, particularly for long-term care facilities, dialysis and home health providers. The strategies include information specific to eye protection, isolation gowns, facemasks, and N95 respirators. The information can be found here.

Guidance for Clinicians Caring for COVID-19 Patients: CDC’s Prepare to Care for COVID-19 is a resource with practical tools clinicians can use to care for patients with COVID-19 and will be regularly updated to help clinicians adapt as the outbreak unfolds. More information can be found here.

FAQs on Hand Hygiene for Healthcare Personnel: CDC released FAQs on hand hygiene and options for responding to shortages of alcohol-based hand rubs. The information can be found here.

FDA Continues to Facilitate Development of Treatments: The FDA has been working closely with other government agencies and academic centers that are investigating the use of the drug chloroquine, which is already approved for treating malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, to determine whether it can be used to treat patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 to potentially reduce the duration of symptoms, as well as viral shedding, which can help prevent the spread of disease. Studies are underway at the FDA to determine the efficacy in using chloroquine to treat COVID-19. More information can be found here.

FAQs for Catastrophic Health Coverage: CMS released an FAQ document that clarifies coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 by catastrophic health plans.  The FAQs issued today align with guidance the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released last week, which provides flexibility to high deductible health plans to provide health benefits for diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 without application of a deductible or cost-sharing. The FAQs can be found here.

Guidance on How to Care for Someone at Home: This guidance has information on how to best assist if you are caring for someone at home, how to monitor for emergency signs, prevent the spread of germs, treat symptoms, and carefully consider when to end home isolation. The information can be found here.

Guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: The Department of Homeland Security identified essential critical infrastructure workers that are needed to maintain the services and functions that Americans depend on daily. Examples of the workforce include communications, chemical, nuclear, energy, government facilities, healthcare and public health, defense industrial base, water, and many others. The memo can be found here.