Category: Coronavirus
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Physicians Perspective: Dr. Chris Adams Talks Telemedicine
Adversity and necessity mandate invention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has been transformed almost overnight into a necessary medical tool for remaining connected to our patients. Without warning, physicians suddenly found themselves in the position of adding communication technologies, learning regulatory requirements, and adapting to an entirely new way of interacting with patients, sometimes reinventing…
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Op-Ed: Alabama Medical Practices Hit Hard by COVID-19, Survey Finds
By: John S. Meigs, Jr., MD, President Medical Association of the State of Alabama In a span of just a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we function as a society and has fundamentally altered our healthcare delivery system. It has exacerbated weaknesses in the infrastructure of health care and exposed…
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Statement from the Medical Association on Statewide Mask Requirement
The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths throughout the state have been increasing at a dangerous rate. We now have over 58,225 cases and approximately 1,183 deaths from COVID-19 in our state. With physicians on the front lines of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Medical Association of Alabama, the state’s largest professional organization of physicians, announced…
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Small Business COVID-19 Grant Program Available
This week, Governor Ivey announced the Revive Alabama grant program to support small businesses, including some physician practices, in Alabama that have been impacted by COVID-19. The program will reimburse practices for expenses they have incurred due to interruptions in business activity caused by the pandemic. Practices that qualify as small businesses may receive up…
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Statement in response to Ivey’s Safer at Home order
Statement applauding the decision to continue the Safer at Home Order and encouraging increased safety precautions from citizens Alabama’s healthcare provider organizations were pleased to see the Safer at Home order extended this morning and to hear from local and state leaders about the importance of staying the course on the precautions being taken. While…
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Advocacy Efforts During COVID-19
The spread of COVID-19 has affected nearly all aspects of our daily lives. For the Medical Association’s efforts in protecting physicians and patients, this was also true. Nonetheless, between March 13 (when Gov. Ivey issued the COVID-19 state of emergency) and mid-May, our advocacy work continued in full-force. Executive Actions & Proposals Worked with various…
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Provider Relief Fund Update
Last week, HHS launched an application portal to distribute $15 billion in CARES Act Provider Relief Fund payments to eligible Medicaid and CHIP physicians and organizations. The payment will be at least 2 percent of reported gross revenue from patient care, and the final amount will be determined based on submitted data, including the number of Medicaid…
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Lights, Camera, Action…No!
By: Kelli Carpenter Fleming, Esq. The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”), the entity responsible for HIPAA compliance and enforcement, has issued a series of guidance documents regarding the interplay of HIPAA and the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent guidance serves as a reminder to health care providers to follow the requirements of HIPAA when speaking…
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Gov. Ivey Provides Physicians Liability Protections from COVID-19
Today, Gov. Ivey issued an executive order protecting physicians, their staff, and their practices from lawsuits related to COVID-19. The governor’s order, the eighth such supplemental emergency order issued by her administration since the pandemic began, provides a “safe harbor” for services affected by COVID-19 or Alabama’s response to the pandemic and from other COVID-19…
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Alabama Department of Public Health Advises Health Care Providers in Use of COVID-19 Tests not Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) supports health care workers’ efforts to care for Alabama citizens during this COVID-19 health crisis. As this public health emergency evolves, there is need for increased availability of SARS CoV-2 diagnostic testing. In response to this demand, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released policies to…