Correction: The Story of #GetMePPE and GetUsPPE.org to Mobilize Health Care Response to COVID-19 : Rapidly Deploying Digital Tools for Better Health Care.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/20469.].

Decreasing primary care use and blood pressure monitoring during COVID-19.

Among a group of primary care accountable care organizations, patients with hypertension were 50% less likely to have a blood pressure recorded in April compared with February.

Ensuring Racial Equity in Pregnancy Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic provoked sweeping changes in practice to care for pregnant and birthing people, and highlighted inequities that threaten to exacerbate racial disparities in maternal outcomes. Moreover, social distancing measures have made it harder for pregnant people to access support. ASSESSMENT: Prioritizing widespread access to COVID-19 testing and vaccination for pregnant people is critical to ensuring they receive safe and equitable care. Transparency in reporting outcomes including race and pregnancy status is key. Expanding telemedicine services to provide mental healthcare and labor support is necessary to maintain access to critical social networks. Additionally, resources must be allocated to pregnant people with complex social needs and are the most vulnerable. CONCLUSION: Policy centered on maintaining equity and agency in the care of pregnant people is imperative now and should continue as the standard moving forward to narrow racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.

Leveraging artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response: a scoping review to identify key use cases.

Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a valuable tool that could be widely used to inform clinical and public health decision-making to effectively manage the impacts of a pandemic. The objective of this scoping review was to identify the key use cases for involving AI for pandemic preparedness and response from the peer-reviewed, preprint, and grey literature. The data synthesis had two parts: an in-depth review of studies that leveraged machine learning (ML) techniques and a limited review of studies that applied traditional modeling approaches. ML applications from the in-depth review were categorized into use cases related to public health and clinical practice, and narratively synthesized. One hundred eighty-three articles met the inclusion criteria for the in-depth review. Six key use cases were identified: forecasting infectious disease dynamics and effects of interventions; surveillance and outbreak detection; real-time monitoring of adherence to public health recommendations; real-time detection of influenza-like illness; triage and timely diagnosis of infections; and prognosis of illness and response to treatment. Data sources and types of ML that were useful varied by use case. The search identified 1167 articles that reported on traditional modeling approaches, which highlighted additional areas where ML could be leveraged for improving the accuracy of estimations or projections. Important ML-based solutions have been developed in response to pandemics, and particularly for COVID-19 but few were optimized for practical application early in the pandemic. These findings can support policymakers, clinicians, and other stakeholders in prioritizing research and development to support operationalization of AI for future pandemics.

The hidden costs of moving care home.

As home-based care utilization rises, an exploration of potential unintended consequences is necessary. The authors focus on support gaps, informal caregiving, and failure to meaningfully engage clinicians.

Violations of Suicide-Prevention Guidelines in US Media Coverage of Physician's Suicide Death During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Healthcare workers are at elevated risk for suicide; though it has yet to be studied, this risk may be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. News media coverage of high-profile suicide is associated with an increased risk of subsequent suicides. No analysis has yet been published of US media practices for reporting on healthcare worker suicides during the pandemic. Aims: The researchers aimed to evaluate pandemic-era media practices by investigating adherence to best-practice suicide reporting guidelines in coverage of Dr. Lorna Breen's death. Methods: The researchers conducted a content analysis of all unique articles by top outlets reporting Dr. Breen's death between April 26 and 29, 2020, and scored them based on their adherence to the 15 best-practice suicide reporting guidelines. Results: Every media outlet violated an average of at least 5 of 15 suicide guidelines in reporting on Dr. Breen's death; some abided by as few as 2 of 15 recommended guidelines. Seven of 15 guidelines were adhered to by fewer than one third of articles. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, notably easy to include, appeared in only 75% of articles. Limitations: The researchers were limited to reviewing media coverage of one specific instance of COVID-era healthcare worker suicide, making these findings applicable as a prominent case study rather than forming a generalizable claim about suicide reporting during the pandemic or about reporting on healthcare suicides. Conclusion: These violations highlight a range of opportunities to improve suicide prevention in the media, which has a responsibility to ensure reporting does not exacerbate the risk of suicide. Improved adherence to these guidelines could reduce harm for healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Accountable Care Organizations during Covid-19: Routine care for older adults with multiple chronic conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens the health and well-being of older adults with multiple chronic conditions. To date, limited information exists about how Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are adapting to manage these patients. We surveyed 78 Medicare ACOs about their concerns for these patients during the pandemic and strategies they are employing to address them. ACOs expressed major concerns about disruptions to necessary care for this population, including the accessibility of social services and long-term care services. While certain strategies like virtual primary and specialty care visits were being used by nearly all ACOs, other services such as virtual social services, home medication delivery, and remote lab monitoring were far less commonly accessible. ACOs expressed that support for telehealth services, investment in remote monitoring capabilities, and funding for new, targeted care innovation initiatives would help them better care for vulnerable patients during this pandemic.

The Story of #GetMePPE and GetUsPPE.org to Mobilize Health Care Response to COVID-19 : Rapidly Deploying Digital Tools for Better Health Care.

Physicians, nurses, and other health care providers initiated the #GetMePPE movement on Twitter to spread awareness of the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Dwindling supplies, such as face masks, gowns and goggles, and inadequate production to meet increasing demand have placed health care workers and patients at risk. The momentum of the #GetMePPE Twitter hashtag resulted in the creation of a petition to urge public officials to address the PPE shortage through increased funding and production. Simultaneously, the GetUsPPE.org website was launched through the collaboration of physicians and software engineers to develop a digital platform for the donation, request, and distribution of multi-modal sources of PPE. GetUsPPE.org and #GetMePPE were merged in an attempt to combine public engagement and advocacy on social media with the coordination of PPE donation and distribution. Within 10 days, over 1800 hospitals and PPE suppliers were registered in a database that enabled the rapid coordination and distribution of scarce and in-demand materials. One month after its launch, the organization had distributed hundreds of thousands of PPE items and had built a database of over 6000 PPE requesters. The call for action on social media and the rapid development of this digital tool created a productive channel for the public to contribute to the health care response to COVID-19 in meaningful ways. #GetMePPE and GetUsPPE.org were able to mobilize individuals and organizations outside of the health care system to address the unmet needs of the medical community. The success of GetUsPPE.org demonstrates the potential of digital tools as a platform for larger health care institutions to rapidly address urgent issues in health care. In this paper, we outline this process and discuss key factors determining success.