Majority-black counties had infection rates of three times the rate of majority-white counties.
Daily COVID-19 data continues to be tough to digest, with everyone keeping a close eye on the numbers of:
Much recent attention has been devoted to the impact of the virus on communities and populations with the largest minority segments, especially persons of color. As mentioned in my recent RACmonitor article, COVID-19 has further widened the gap between the have’s and have-nots, leaving a formidable chasm.
Data focused on health disparities and the social determinants of health (SDoH) has been coming out fast and furious. Top marks for producing this unique information go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kaiser Family Foundation, and the new COVID Racial Data Tracker, which follows data for 29 states (a collaboration between The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project and American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center).
Key findings include the following:
The result is that communities are stepping up more than ever to take care of their own. Efforts to increase testing are a must. Makeshift labs using rapid COVID-19 tests, many with telemedicine access, are appearing in California, Texas, the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Florida, and Georgia. Mobile test units to coordinate coronavirus testing were developed for underserved populations in North Carolina, where tests are offered to patients regardless of ability to pay or insurance status.
With numbers so prominent in areas with high populations of persons with immigration challenges, programs are vowing not to share immigration status or report any patients who are undocumented. Expanding testing options is vital, especially in areas with the highest transmission rates. Our Monitor Mondays Listeners Survey responses only emphasize this fact. The survey results are available here.
Programming Note: Ellen Fink-Samnick is a permanent panelist on Monitor Mondays. Listen to her live reporting this coming Monday during a special 60-minute townhall edition of Monitor Mondays, 10 -11 a.m. EST.
EDITOR’S NOTE Day 3 of the federal shutdown continues. This article by Mark Spivey is part of a special section today published by RACmonitor and
As expected, the federal shutdown began early Wednesday morning. What’s unknown is how long it will continue. Neither congressional Republicans nor Democrats appear to be
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Sepsis sequencing continues to challenge even experienced coding and CDI professionals, with evolving guidelines, documentation gaps, and payer scrutiny driving denials and data inconsistencies. In this webcast, Payal Sinha, MBA, RHIA, CCDS, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, CCDS-O, CRC, CRCR, provides clear guideline-based strategies to accurately code sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock, assign POA indicators, clarify the relationship between infection and organ dysfunction, and align documentation across teams. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen audit defensibility, improve first-pass accuracy, support appeal success, reduce denials, and ensure accurate quality reporting, empowering organizations to achieve consistent, compliant sepsis coding outcomes.
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