COVID-19 Eblast

Greetings,

As the epicenter of the US COVID-19 outbreak, the world is watching our region and waiting for examples and protocols of how to contain the virus' spread. Our King County doctors are working overtime and taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of patients, themselves, and the greater community.

It is the King County Medical Society's responsibility to respond appropriately and proactively to this crisis by providing information, support, advocacy, and resources to our healthcare providers.

Within this ever-changing landscape, we are all forced to be more agile. We are asking you to consider providing input, volunteering if you've had to close your practice, provide unused PPE, or make suggestions of what we can do for you. This is a dense eblast, but there is MUCH information to share.

Today Governor Inslee signed SB 5385 (below), which is an important step for telemedicine parity, but we can't wait for the January 2021 start date. We need parity put in place today in order to properly triage patients and make sure doctors are fairly compensated. Stay tuned...

Thank you for all you do! You are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Nancy L. Belcher, Ph.D., MPA

CEO, King County Medical Society

WA State Telemedicine Parity SB 5385

CA Telemedicine Parity

COVID-19 Information & Resources

KCMS is proud of the thorough resource document we have created (below). It is a 'living document' for you to reference for all of the latest COVID-19 updates. You can also find this resource on our website at kcmsociety.org.

COVID-19 Information, Updates and Resources

Clear Protocols for Dealing with COVID-19

Kudos to the University of Washington for creating thorough guidelines for many COVID-19 healthcare practices (link below).

King County Medical Society is grateful for the UW's leadership. These protocols will assist healthcare teams/facilities to provide care quickly, safely and effectively.

Please note: the documents are undergoing frequent revisions so please check the document date as compared to the most current knowledge and clinical standards.

Please feel free to reach out with questions and recommendations at covid19@uw.edu.

Specific Healthcare Protocols for Most COVID-19 Questions

Please Donate Your Unused PPE Supplies

Has your practice slowed down? Please consider donating any PPE to hospitals and primary care clinics! We will take care of the distribution. Contact Salem at sadisu@kcmsociety.org.

Able to Donate Unused PPE Supplies?

King County Medical Society Childcare Referral

Helping to find childcare for our healthcare worker's children is a top priority. We do not believe that the traditional childcare centers are appropriate at this time. Rather than have kids comingle at a facility, we would like to partner one childcare provider with one family.

We are working on creating a childcare referral list for in-your-home childcare needs, but until that is completed we found two 'nanny' resources that you might try (links below).

Interested in the KCMS program? Let us know and we will send you registration materials to enroll in the KCMS Referral Service. If you know of people that are available to be childcare providers, please let us know. King County Medical Society is offering this as a service to our members and their colleagues at no expense.

Questions? Please contact Czarina Manzano at cmanzano@kcmsociety.org.

Childcare Option "College Nannies and Tutors"

Annie's Nannies DISCOUNT for Healthcare Providers

COVID-19 Experiences & Volunteer Survey

Your experiences, talents, and voices need to be appreciated! Please take a few minutes to complete our "Experiences and Volunteer Survey" below. Feel free to forward the survey to your colleagues.

This survey will also help us to identify providers who are interested in volunteering as we will create a centralized labor pool where providers could be deployed.

Also, the survey will tell KCMS how to most effectively help during the pandemic. Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey!

KCMS COVID-19 SURVEY

Available to Work?

Work at Swedish Hospital as a provider by filling out the survey below and yes, they have emergency credentialing in place!

Work Opportunities at Swedish Hospital

COVID-19 Drive-through Testing

Drive-through testing sites are popping up, but they are slow to develop and have already had a few 'hitches'. We are happy to share the UW guidelines for these drive-through testing areas.

Additionally, we’d like to provide a map to doctors identifying where these testing sites are – regardless of who you work for - PLEASE SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW at info@kcmsociety.org.

For those that are trying to create their own inhouse testing areas, the UW resource is a great starting point.

UW COVID-19 Drive Through Testing Protocols

VitalTalk

VitalTalk is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit social impact startup dedicated to making communication skills for serious illness part of every clinician's toolbox. In 2019, Regence partnered with VitalTalk for provider training on communication skills surrounding the serious illness.
VitalTalk has made a COVID specific communication guide, free for providers. Below is a link for “COVID ready communication skills.”

Vital Talk

HIPAA Regulations Related to Telemedicine

A covered healthcare provider that wants to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during the COVID-19 health emergency can use any non-public facing remote communication product that is available to communicate with patients.

OCR is exercising its enforcement discretion to not impose penalties for noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth using such non-public facing audio or video communication products during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19.

Telemedine and HIPAA

Dr. Stephen Schwartz

Many of you likely knew Stephen Schwartz who was a longtime pathology professor at the UW. Dr. Schwartz has died after being hospitalized with COVID-19. Dr. Paul Ramsey, dean of the UW School of Medicine, said in a message to colleagues, “Dr. Schwartz will be remembered for his vigorous advocacy for research and for the field of vascular biology as well as for his many trainees who have gone on to great success as independent investigators in the field of vascular pathobiology". It’s unclear how Schwartz contracted the virus. We express our most sincere sympathies to Dr. Schwartz's family and friends. He was a highly valuable and respected member of our healthcare community.

Dr. Stephen Schwartz's Death COVID-19

Other Ways You Can Help

Please consider offering telemedicine services. Given the CDC recommendations to stay at home many are concerned that the ‘worried well’ may not access primary care appropriately. Telehealth can provide support across offices in Washington.

If you can help, please email Dr. Marcus with any questions or concerns. Dr. Marcus and Mary King are rolling-out a novel telemedicine option during this crisis.
Contact: Brian Marcus, MD Brian.Marcus@seattlechildrens.org
Project Lead – WA-TH-CoVID19.

Prescriptions

Medications are going to be harder to access. We want to promote that WMC has announced that WAC 246-869-105 is effective and allows a pharmacist to grant an emergency refill of an expired prescription for up to a seventy-two-hour supply for medications that are not maintenance medications, and a thirty-day supply for a maintenance medication if the pharmacist is unable to obtain refill authorization from a prescriber.

Media

We continue to get daily media requests – if you are able to speak to the media please let me know at nbelcher@kcmsociety.org.

KCMS Member COVID-19 Media Summary

KING COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY EBLAST

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