Improving Healthcare Value: COVID-19 Emergency Regulatory Relief and Implications for Post-Acute Skilled Nursing Facility Care.

Rarely, if ever, does a national healthcare system experience such rapid and marked change as that seen with the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the president of the United States declared a national health emergency, enabling the Department of Health & Human Services authority to grant temporary regulatory waivers to facilitate efficient care delivery in a variety of healthcare settings. The statutory requirement that Medicare beneficiaries stay three consecutive inpatient midnights to qualify for post-acute skilled nursing facility coverage is one such waiver.

Rates of clinically apparent heparin-induced thrombocytopenia for unfractionated heparin vs. low molecular weight heparin in non-surgical patients are low and similar.

With the growing use of low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) for the treatment and prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE), it is important to provide an evidence-based comparison with unfractionated heparin (UFH) concerning rates of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). Such comparisons are essential in clinical decision-making and cost-modeling. In this paper we review data regarding non-surgical (medical) patients.