The HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has published a Final Rule on Removing Financial Disincentives to Living Organ Donation, effective October 22, 2020. The Rule aims to reimburse organ donors more appropriately. Find the Rule in the Federal Register at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-09-22/pdf/2020-20804.pdf. Find a discussion of public comments on the Rule and HRSA response at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-09-22/pdf/2020-20805.pdf.
3RNet, the National Rural Recruitment and Retention Network, is a nonprofit organization that connects health care facilities in rural or underserved areas and health professionals looking for work. They have representatives or “members” in all fifty states, the Mariana Islands, the Veterans Administration, and the Indian Health Service. Find these representatives, and full details about the organization for both facilities and professionals, at https://www.3rnet.org/. The web pages specific to Networks 16 and 18 states are:
The Office of Rural Health at the Washington Department of Health is subsidizing the 2020 series of introductory 3RNet Academy courses so Washington healthcare facilities can attend for no charge:
Find more information about the 3RNet Academy and courses at https://academy/3rnet.org/why-attend.html and https://academy.3rnet.org/agenda.html. Register at https://academy/3rnet.org/register.html using coupon code 2021WA at checkout. The webinars will be recorded, so registrants can watch them on their own schedule. For questions about 3RNet: info@3rnet.org or 800-787-2512. For questions about the Washington program: Faith Johnson at faith.johnson@doh.wa.gov or 360-236-2815.
My Employment Options will hold a free September 28, 2020 Online Job Fair for their Ticket to Work clients, job-seekers with disabilities or other challenges, and anyone else who wants to attend. Both work-at-home and on-site jobs will be included. Find details and registration at https://www.myemploymentoptions.com/register-for-virtual-job-fair/.
Find the Social Security Administration’s introduction to the Ticket to Work program at https://choosework.ssa.gov/about/how-it-works/index.html.
CMS has prepared a press release summarizing the steps that Medicare has taken in Oregon to help make health care available to wildfire victims, including opening special enrollment periods to allow out-of-season initiations or changes to Medicare coverage, various kinds of assistance to healthcare facilities, and help to displaced dialysis patients. Find the press release at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-offers-comprehensive-support-oregon-due-wildfires.
CDC has published (non-COVID-19) flu vaccine recommendations for the 2020-2021 season. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of respiratory illness, like flu, this fall and winter is more important than ever. Find the 2020-2021 recommendations at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/acip/summary/summary-recommendations.htm. Also available in Spanish and eight other languages.*
Medicare Part B covers one flu shot per flu season and additional flu shots if medically necessary. Flu shots are free for Medicare patients. Pneumonia and flu shots can be given during the same office visit; find recommended schedules at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html.
CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee recommend that all U.S. health care workers get annual flu shots.
Find More Information at:
* To find the non-English versions, go to the links above, then click on “Español” or “Other Languages” – these links are either in the upper right corner of the page, or between the title and the text of the document.
The ESRD Network Coordinating Center will present two webinars in their COVID-19 series:
For details and registration, and recordings of earlier NCC COVID-19 webinars and “quickinars,” see https://esrdncc.org/en/covid-19/covid-webinars/.
Dialysis Patient Citizens will present a September 24, 2020 Spanish-language webinar on Manejando Mi Glucosa En Sangre Cuando Tengo Enfermedad Renal (Managing My Blood Glucose When I Have Kidney Disease), covering carbohydrates and their effect on blood glucose, how much carbs to eat, and how to avoid high and low blood glucose extremes. Find more information below, and register for this and future DPC webinars at https://www.dpcedcenter.org/news-events/education-webinars/.
Upcoming DPC webinars include:
CDC has launched a new web page on Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, and COVID-19, to provide information on how people can stay safe during and after natural disasters during the COVID-19 response. The page and a few of its useful links follow:
Understand that your planning and preparation may be different this year because of the need to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
Give Yourself Time: Give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medicine supplies. Home delivery is the safest choice for buying disaster supplies, but it may not be an option for everyone. If in-person shopping is your only choice, take steps to protect your and other’s health when running essential errands.
Pack Your Go Kit: If you need to evacuate, prepare a “go kit” with personal items you cannot do without during an emergency. Include items that can help protect you and others from COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, bar or liquid soap, disinfectant wipes (if available), and two masks for each person. Masks should not be used by children under the age of 2. They also should not be used by people having trouble breathing, or who are unconscious, incapacitated, or unable to remove the mask without assistance.
Keep Your Distance: When you check on neighbors and friends, be sure to follow social distancing recommendations (staying at least 6 feet from others) and other CDC recommendations to protect yourself and others.
Read more about COVID-19 specific key disaster messages in Hurricane Key Messages: COVID-19 Annex (Spanish), in addition to the Preparedness and Safety Messaging for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Similar Disasters (Spanish).
The supplement the September 16, 2020 NCC COVID-19 webinar on Living in a Multi-Generational Household, NCC has produced one-page tip sheets in English and Spanish on Staying Safe in Multigenerational Households (Cómo mantenerse seguro en un hogar mul generacional). Find more details and register for the webinar at https://esrdncc.org/en/events/2020/september-2020/covid09162020/?date=9/1/2020. Find the tip sheets below:
NCC has released the third edition of the ESRD Patient Transplant Toolkit: Is a Kidney Transplant Right for Me? Patients share their transplant stories, including the risks and rewards of their experiences and insights they wish they had along the way. The Toolkit was designed by patients for patients. You can use this guide with your care team and loved ones as you learn to navigate the process to a kidney transplant. Find it at https://esrdnetworks.org/toolkits/patient-toolkits/is-a-kidney-transplant-right-for-me/at_download/file.
