LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts provided an update to the State of Nebraska’s efforts to procure necessary supplies for health care facilities, cities, and counties to help combat COVID-19.  The Materiel Division within the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services (DAS) is responsible for the purchase of goods and services on behalf of the State.  The State is not merely supplying its own needs, but is also keeping local health care [...]

LINCOLN – This afternoon, Governor Pete Ricketts announced the State’s first step to relax the health measures implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19.  Starting on May 4th, elective surgeries may resume as long as hospitals and healthcare facilities meet requirements for available bed capacity and have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE). Additionally, the Governor announced that the State is giving greater authority to healthcare providers to conduct tests [...]

LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts announced that the State’s sixth and seventh COVID-19 related Directed Health Measures (DHMs) include Adams, Buffalo, Clay, Dawson, Franklin, Gosper, Harlan, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps, and Webster counties.  They will be in effect beginning today at 10:00pm and will last until May 11th unless renewed. The quarantine measures are for individuals who are COVID-19 positive or develop fever, sudden onset of a dry cough, or sudden onset [...]

LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts announced a new executive order to give healthcare facilities greater flexibility to respond to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the order is to enable healthcare facilities to expand capacity as the need arises.  Among other changes, the Governor’s order accomplishes the following: Waives time limits for how long Critical Access Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgical Centers may keep patients. Waives the time limit on complex [...]

February 2020 Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services BULLETIN: HIPAA Privacy and Novel Coronavirus In light of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing this bulletin to ensure that HIPAA covered entities and their business associates are aware of the ways that patient information may be shared under the [...]

Desperate to free up beds for only the sickest Covid-19 patients, hospitals nationwide are weighing the use of new technologies to monitor patients from their homes. See the full article here: https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-hospitals-weigh-remote-patient-monitoring-tools/ If you have questions about this article, please give Partner Attorney, Denise Destache a call at 402-397-7300.