As the Biden Administration unveils their plans for the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic we will continue to update this post with any documents that may be of interest to our membership and industry.
The Brave of Heart Fund provides monetary grants to eligible family members of frontline healthcare workers, healthcare volunteers and healthcare support staff who have lost their lives because of COVID-19. A spouse or domestic partner, a dependent child, or dependent parent are eligible. The Fund also offers behavioral and emotional support services from Cigna and grief coping resources from New York Life.
Established by the Foundations of New York Life and Cigna, the Brave of Heart Fund is owned and administered by E4E Relief, a disaster relief-focused subsidiary of Foundation For The Carolinas, a Section 501(c)(3) public charity.
For the purpose of the Brave of Heart Fund, an eligible healthcare worker is a person who lived in the U.S. at time of death and who worked or volunteered in or for a:
Licensed hospital
Medical center or clinic
Nursing home
Medical transport vehicle
Triage center
Other licensed medical facility, provider or setting
Also those who worked or volunteered as an emergency medical technician, ambulance technician or paramedic and who died from COVID-19-related causes any time through May 15, 2021.
Grants Description
There are two phases of grants available. Eligible expenses vary based upon which grant phase the eligible family member is applying . You may be eligible for both a Phase 1 and Phase 2 grant.
Phase 1
Phase 1 assistance is intended to cover expenses related to funeral and burial costs.
The family member who is eligible for a Phase 1 grant is the family member who is responsible for the funeral/burial expenses. Only one family member is eligible for a Phase 1 grant.
Phase 1 grants are $15,000. Only one Phase 1 grant is available in connection with each eligible healthcare worker or healthcare volunteer.
Phase 2
Phase 2 assistance is intended to cover long-term expenses such as food, clothing, housing, basic essential utilities, daycare/ childcare expenses, educational expenses, counseling, medical expenses for deceased healthcare worker, and transportation.
The family member(s) who is eligible for a Phase 2 grant is the family member(s) who was dependent on the deceased healthcare worker’s income for those expenses.
Phase 2 grants range up to $60,000 per eligible healthcare worker.
The exact amount will depend on a variety of factors including the applicant’s demonstration of financial need and the number of
eligible beneficiaries.
Learn More & Apply
For answers to frequently asked questions, including questions about eligibility, visit braveofheartfund.com/FAOs. Grant awards are discretionary and e final determination of grant eligibility and amounts will be made by E4E Relief, which is the public charity that owns and administers the Fund.
Agency veteran Liz Richter has been named the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The announcement Wednesday comes as President Joe Biden has yet to name a permanent administrator, who will require Senate confirmation.
Richter has served at CMS since 1990 and most recently served as the deputy center director for the Center for Medicare. She has also served as the director of the Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group in the Center for Medicare Management.
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released our monthly update of data that provides a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population. The updated data show over 1.9 million COVID-19 cases among the Medicare population and over 493,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The updated snapshot covers the period from January 1 to November 21, 2020. It is based on Medicare Fee-for-Service claims and Medicare Advantage encounter data CMS received by December 18, 2020.
Civil unrest may occur as a period of social upheaval during heightened community tension or at mass gatherings such as sporting events, concerts and political conventions. The safety risk for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel responding to these fluid incidents may be elevated.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services worked together to compile these best practices to assist you with your response to civil unrest incidents in your community. Fire and EMS personnel should follow the general guidance in this section to prepare personnel, the station, apparatus and the community for emergency response in a challenging environment.
The Pfizer and BioNTech covid-19 vaccine may provide some early protection, starting 12 days after the first dose, the peer reviewed results of a phase III trial have found.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine,1 found that vaccine efficacy between the first and second doses was 52% (95% credible interval 29.5% to 68.4%), with 39 cases of covid-19 in the vaccine group and 82 cases in the placebo group.
Seven or more days after the second dose, vaccine efficacy then rose to 95% (90.3% to 97.6%), with eight covid-19 cases reported in the vaccine group and 162 cases in the placebo group.
The vaccine has so far been approved in Canada and in the UK, where it is already being rolled out to people over 80 and healthcare workers. In the US the Food and Drug Administration’s independent panel has voted in favour of emergency use authorisation for the vaccine, and the agency is expected to approve it within days.2
Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released “Putting Patients First: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Record of Accomplishment from 2017-2020,” a report highlighting the agency’s transformation in ensuring all Americans have access to quality and affordable healthcare.
The report examines CMS’ accomplishments over the last four years, highlighting agency actions that responded to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and furthered CMS’s Four Core Goals identified in 2017: empowering patients and doctors, ushering in a new era of state flexibility and local leadership, developing innovative approaches, and improving the CMS customer service experience.
Accomplishments covered in the report include the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts through 16 strategic initiatives that resulted in major regulatory actions, changes in guidance, and streamlined processes and procedures – including the reorganization of CMS. It also allows agency staff and leadership to better understand the impacts of policy decisions, while providing a resource to inform future CMS decisions. The report also covers how progress with respect to the Four Core Goals significantly contributed to the agency’s ability to respond to the unprecedented COVID-19 public health event.
