Covid 19 Resources

The Washington State Department of Health's COVID-19 webpage provides answers to nearly every COVID-related question you can think of. Please check here to find most of the information you need.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have arrived in Washington. The Department of Health, in concert with the Governor's office and other statewide health care organizations and advisory committees, has developed a distribution plan for these new vaccines. We are currently in Phase 1a of this plan. Phase 1a has been further divided into 2 tiers, and you will need to consult your local health department to understand where your community is. "Phase 1a [tier 1] focuses on (a) high-risk workers in health care settings and high-risk first responders in order to protect our medical care response capacity and (b) residents and staff of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other community-based, congregate living settings where most individuals over 65 years of age are receiving care, supervision, or assistance aiming to avoid hospitalizations, severe morbidity, and mortality." Phase 1a tier 2 is to be implemented AFTER tier 1 is completed and involves "all workers in healthcare settings." Learn more about Phase 1a by clicking HERE.

Information about the vaccine(s) and distribution plan is constantly changing. The Department of Health has released a graphic of the expected vaccination roll out and timeline. Regardless, we strongly encourage you to keep yourself appraised by regularly checking the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccine page at the Washington State Department of Health. This resource provides many answers to the most common questions coming into us at the WANP, so please take a look.

COVID-19 Vaccination Program Enrollment (i.e. "How do I sign up to administer the COVID-19 vaccine?")

Providers must enroll in the federal COVID-19 Vaccination Program to receive and administer COVID-19 vaccine and supplies. The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is coordinating enrollment for providers in Washington state. Find more information and enroll here.

COVID-19 Vaccination Locations (i.e. "Where can I go to receive a COVID-19 vaccine myself?")

The Department of Health just released a resource tool that allows healthcare providers to determine their eligibility for the COVID vaccine and to locate clinics that are currently providing immunization services to healthcare providers.

We recommend that you start by completing the COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility form to determine if you are currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, or to allow the DOH to notify you directly when you do become eligible (if you are not already).

Once you determine that you are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, you can then check the DOH's current list of Vaccine Locations to find out where in your county you can go to be vaccinated. (Please note that there are some naturopathic medical clinics listed here, and we strongly encourage you to support our professional community if you can!)

We note that Snohomish County is not on the DOH list and we have been advised that **WANP sponsor** Kusler's Compounding Pharmacy is currently administering the Moderna vaccine to those providers who meet Phase 1A parameters (i.e. providers who continue providing in-person patient care and who cannot telework). Register at http://Kuslers.as.me after reading ALL of the instructions provided there.

We have also heard directly from our members that the following locations have been vaccinating naturopathic physicians who meet phase 1A criteria. We are leaving this list up for now as it contains direct contact and scheduling information.

• CHI Franciscan. Call 253.792.2385 M-F 7a-6p to schedule and for additional information on what they will need from you. Click here to learn more about their vaccination program for community healthcare workers. Click here to download the required form you will need.
• MultiCare. Call 253.792.6051 to schedule an appointment and to obtain additional information on their scheduling requirements.
• University of Washington. UW has begun rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to non-UW affiliated health care workers and first line responders. If you are not affiliated with UW Medicine, call the Non-UW Medical Health Care Scheduling Hotline at 206.520.8790 to schedule. They are scheduling appts at 3 locations: HMC - Mon-Sun 730am-8pm - Moderna Vaccine; UWMC - Mon-Sun 730am-6pm - Pfizer Vaccine; NW Hospital - Mon-Sun 8am-830am - Moderna Vaccine. On calling, they will request basic demographics as well as personal insurance information to schedule appointment.
• Kaiser Permanente. Providers who meet the requirements of phase 1A can receive the COVID vaccine at Kaiser *only if* they are covered by Kaiser Permanente insurance. Use your Kaiser insurance/member ID to schedule on their portal. Kaiser also requires a completed form, which can be found here.

(Feel free to communicate additional resources or information by e-mailing info@wanp.org and we will do our best to add to this list so long as there remains a need.)

Telemedicine Parity

SB 5385 went into effect on 1/1/2021 and requires that telemedicine services (excluding audio-only phone calls) be reimbursed at the same rate as in-person medical care, provided that the care is medically necessary.

Required Telemedicine Training for Naturopathic Physicians

SSB 6061 went into effect on 1/1/2021 and requires that all healthcare providers who provide telemedicine services undergo mandatory training as soon as possible. The required training can be found HERE.

Board of Naturopathy Guidance

BON States Current Telemedicine Guidelines are In Line with the New CMS Guidelines. CMS released new TEMPORARY telemedicine guidelines for healthcare practitioners, which will only be in effect during the Public Health Emergency declared by Health and Human Services on January 31st, 2020. We are following this closely, as many insurers will follow CMS guidelines.

Keep in mind that the practice of medicine is defined as occurring at the location of the patient and you must be licensed to practice medicine in that location. See here for additional guidance on the Appropriate Use of Telemedicine.

MTSL Group Telemedicine Fact Sheet

The MTSL Group has developed a Telemedicine Fact Sheet for practitioners in Washington and Oregon. Please view it here: COVID-19 Telemedicine Fact Sheet

HIPAA Compliant Telehealth Platforms

1. Doxy.me https://doxy.me/ -Free
2. Zoom https://zoom.us/healthcare
3. Charm EHR https://www.charmhealth.com/
4. Updox https://www.updox.com
5. Vsee https://vsee.com
6. Optimantra EHR https://www.optimantra.com/

The Board of Naturopathy (board) issued Policy Statement BON 20-01, Continuing Education Requirements During COVID-19 Response (PDF), to address the impact COVID-19 response measures are having on the naturopathic profession with regard to meeting the continuing education (CE) requirements. BON 20-01 aligns current CE requirements with the license renewal extension authorized by the Secretary of the Department of Health. This policy will be in effect through December 31, 2021. In addition, the board will accept online courses for meeting the CE requirements through December 31, 2021.

Please continue to monitor the board’s website for updated guidance.

Message from SIG

As a reminder, Sprague Israel Giles and our carrier partner are proud to provide coverage for telemedicine services for NDs providing services to patients in both ND-licensed and ND-pre-licensed States.

Great news! Generally, our carrier charges additional costs if a practitioner’s services via telemedicine are over 49% of their total operations, but in light of the recent COVID-19 crisis, we have seen a large increase in doctors who have moved to a primarily-telemedicine model at this time. So, for the foreseeable future, we’re proud to announce that upon our request, our carrier partner has agreed to waive any and all additional costs for coverage incurred as a result of a provider having a majority telemedicine operations during this crisis.

In regards to restrictions on telemedicine across state line for medical providers, we are monitoring the situation closely and will be following the guidance of State ND Associations and the AANP, which is working on defining the guidelines as set forth in recent White House announcements on the subject.

Message from Aegis & MedPro Group

As the naturopathic community struggles with how to move forward in this unprecedented time in our country, Aegis Insurance Associates and MedPro Group (National Fire & Marine) are committed to serving our clients both in favorable conditions and through challenging times. During this time when the COVID-19 pandemic is generating concerns and questions, we remain steadfast in our mission to support our customers with peace of mind, expertise and choice.

Aegis Insurance and MedPro Group have always provided telemedicine coverage with no additional premium, whether it be part of your practice now or if your telemedicine services will be increased because of the pandemic.

We encourage you to visit the attached link from MedPro Group for updated information on the crisis as new data becomes available from the CDC and other governmental agencies.  This information can change day to day and is subject to revision as circumstances evolve.

Medpro Group has put together a list of FAQ’s to address the most common concerns you may have during this time. Visit: https://www.medpro.com/covid-19-information-and-resources

MedPro Group has been providing medical malpractice insurance since 1899 and currently insures more than 200,000 healthcare providers nationwide.  With assets in excess of $6.4 billion dollars, they are financially prepared to stand behind their insureds.

Our carrier partner is proud to be flexible, and will be working with NDs in regards to compliance and coverage as regulations change, whether temporarily or permanently. We are glad to be able to help support the ND community at this time.

The Federal Bar Association has a continuing legal education course (NO CE for NDs!) available right now that covers the legal aspects of employers requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Since we suspect many of you will field these types of questions from your patients and/or perhaps you are dealing with this yourself as a clinic owner or a clinic employee, we wanted to provide the resource. Learn more and register HERE.

Infection Prevention

• COVID-19 Announcement for Visitors (PDF)
• Healthcare Infection Prevention Guidance for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (CDC)
• Infection Control for Aerosol Generating Procedures (PDF) - Updated 4/9/2020
• Outpatient Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for COVID-19 (PDF) - Updated 5/11/2020
• Return to Work Guidance for healthcare workers (HCWs) and first responders (FRs) who have Confirmed COVID-19 Infection or are asymptomatic with High or Medium Risk Exposures* to a known case of COVID-19 (CDC)

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Washington State Prioritization Guidelines for Allocation of PPE (PDF)
• Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of PPE During Shortages (CDC)

Need PPE?

#GetUsPPE is working to build a national, centralized platform to enable communities to get PPE to healthcare providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Submit a request for PPE below and getusppe.org's volunteer team will try to match you with donations as quickly as possible. Additional resources available for those with funds to purchase at https://www.projectn95.org/.

REQUEST HERE

Receive Updates from DOH

https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADOH/subscriber/new?qsp=WADOH_555

New Testing Guidelines

CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/testing-overview.html

WA DOH (Updated July 1)

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/Interim-2019NovelCoronavirusQuicksheetProviders.pdf

New ICD-10 Code

U07.1 COVID-19

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd/Announcement-New-ICD-code-for-coronavirus-3-18-2020.pdf

FDA-Approved COVID Tests

Here are currently commercial COVID tests that have emergency use authorization from FDA.

• ePlex SARS-CoV-2 Test (GenMark Diagnostics, Inc.)
• Simplexa COVID-19 Direct (DiaSorin Molecular LLC)
• Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 assay (Abbott Molecular)
• Quest SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR (Quest Diagnostics Infectious Disease, Inc.)
• Lyra SARS-CoV-2 Assay (Quidel Corp.)
• COVID-19 RT-PCR Test (Laboratory Corporation of America)
• Panther Fusion SARS-CoV-2 (Hologic, Inc.)
• TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.)
• cobas SARS-CoV-2 (Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.)
• New York SARS-CoV-2 Real-time Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Diagnostic Panel (Wadsworth Center, NYSDOH)
• CDC 2019-nCov Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel (CDC)

Interim Guidelines for Collecting, Handling, and Testing Clinical Specimens from Persons for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/guidelines-clinical-specimens.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fguidelines-clinical-specimens.html

Here is a link that shows the test kit and gives instructions for collecting a nasopharyngeal and/or throat swab.

https://health.ri.gov/publications/instructions/COVID-19-Specimen-Collection-Kit.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0rJv2dlaxClpEtMvjOzchXzEEnSlS-3nfbB7DFetN1lKsawUhNkaEUVEs

Testing Facilities

Here is a list of testing facilities we have compiled for you for King and Snohomish counties.

This link provides clinical resources as well as patient education resources and videos.

https://wsma.org/covid19

Symptoms remain to be cough, fever and shortness of breath and may appear 2-14 days after exposure. For more information and to access a symptom self checker for your patients, visit:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/index.html

Here is a list of CE classes regarding COVID-19. Always make sure to confirm with your state that these credits qualify.

https://accme.org/coronavirus-resources

WA DOH LIT REP

2019-nCoV Literature Situation Reports

The scientific literature on COVID-19 is rapidly evolving and these articles were selected for review based on their relevance to Washington State decision making around COVID-19 response efforts. Included in these Lit Reps are some manuscripts that have been made available online as pre-prints but have not yet undergone peer review. Please be aware of this when reviewing articles included in the Lit Reps. READ MORE HERE

• July 31 (PDF)
• July 30 (PDF)
• July 29 (PDF)
• July 28 (PDF)
• July 27 (PDF)
• July 24 (PDF)
• July 23 (PDF)
• July 22 (PDF)
• July 21 (PDF)
• July 20 (PDF)
• July 17 (PDF)
• July 16 (PDF)
• July 15 (PDF)
• July 14 (PDF)
• July 13 (PDF)
• July 10 (PDF)
• July 9 (PDF)
• July 8 (PDF)
• July 7 (PDF)
• July 6 (PDF)
• July 6 - Summary of School Re-Opening Models and Implementation (PDF)
• July 2 (PDF)
• July 1 (PDF)

COVID-19 Naturopathic Support Clinical Registry

Your Support is Needed!

Physicians can now upload chart documents for entry into the Naturopathy COVID-19 Support Registry. The NUNM IRB has granted a Waiver of HIPAA Authorization to allow physicians to upload case documentation directly from their medical records to a secure electronic platform, such that research assistants can extract relevant information for the registry. These records do not need to be redacted or de-identified.

https://redcap.nunm.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=YXELDDCEEF

Need help? View Registry Video HERE

View the AANP COVID-19 Resources Webpage Here

The AANP put together a summary of all the benefits and allowances that are now available due the signing of the CARES ACT.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed, H.R. 748, “The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES ACT). It is a $2 trillion bipartisan agreement to address the needs of the American people and health care providers confronting the coronavirus pandemic. The House passed the stimulus bill on Friday, March 27, 2020.

The AANP has highlighted areas of specific interest to Naturopathic physicians including:

• Deferment of student loan payments, interest and principle for 6 months
• $377 billion in support to small businesses, including low-interest and forgivable loans and grants for small businesses (less than 500 employees), including physician practices
• Tax credits and assistance for small businesses and physician practices
• Additional telehealth funding and coverage

And more...

Learn more

Find replays of the WANP's COVID-related webinars here.