As scary as it seems, COVID-19 continues to exacerbate the stark realities imposed by the social determinants of health (SDoH), racism, and health disparities. The story I’m reporting on this week is about as hard to fathom as the pandemic itself. Hospitals across the country are reporting that ICU beds are now so scarce in low-income communities that patient care can barely be rendered.
As the pandemic worsens, so do the numbers, with Penn Medicine spearheading this vital study:
New York City released over 1.46 million coronavirus antibody test results last week, providing validation of virus infiltration for lower-income communities:
Rural communities are equally struggling. This reality is due to lack of testing or available health services from facility closures, and population shifts. Along with the 170 hospital closures over the past decade, another 18 hospitals closed last year, mostly across the southern states, which include those most impacted by COVID-19, including Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Florida.
The immigrant workforce employed across the food supply chain is particularly heavily impacted. They’re unable to shelter in home and vulnerable to virus transmission courtesy of vast occupational hazards, especially substandard living and working conditions.
Over 300,000 reported cases of the virus and almost 8,000 associated deaths have been reported among this population, accounting for 9 percent of all COVID-19 cases and 6 percent of associated deaths.
This topic and the data will continue to be a focus of researchers everywhere, and we will have our eyes on them. For this week’s Monitor Mondays Listeners Survey, we asked our listeners how their organizations are managing amid the pandemic. The results of the survey can be viewed here.
Programming Note: Ellen Fink-Samnick, a member of the RACmonitor editorial board, is a permanent panelist on Monitor Mondays. Listen to her live reporting on SDoH every Monday at 10 a.m. EST.
The 2026 Medicare Physician Schedule Final Rule includes several distinct policy changes in which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) modifies how it
As the federal government shutdown drags into its fifth week, the collapse of key safety-net supports such as nutrition benefits, health-insurance subsidies, and the disruption
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During this essential RACmonitor webcast Michael Calahan, PA, MBA Certified Compliance Officer, will clarify the rules, dispel common misconceptions, and equip you with practical strategies to code, document, and bill high-risk split/shared, incident-to & critical care E/M services with confidence. Don’t let audit risks or revenue losses catch your organization off guard — learn exactly what federal auditors are looking for and how to ensure your documentation and reporting stand up to scrutiny.
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