March 21 COVID-19 Update – Pennsylvania American College of Physicians

March 21 Pennsylvania COVID-19 Update

The Wolf Administration continues to review and adjust non-life sustaining, essential industries list. The list is available here.  Enforcement now delayed until Monday, March 23 at 8 am.

  1. Numbers – statewide total at noon was 371, with an additional 103 cases today.  Second patient died in Allegheny County.  Most new cases in middle agreed people, and a “significant number” of young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s, Levine said.  Another 3,766 tested negative. Dr. Levine said the spiking was because of infections, not just additional testing.
  2. The PA Department of Revenue announced that the state income tax filing deadline has been moved to July 15, 2020.
  3. State House to be in session Tues/Wednesday with committees meeting Monday – caucusing remotely via meeting apps.  We’ve been told the agenda to be COVID-19 focused.
  4. Unemployment Compensation – The State temporarily eliminated both the waiting week and work search and work registration requirements for all UC claimants – who are no longer required to prove they have applied or searched for a new job to maintain benefits; claimants are not required to register with www.pacareeerlink.pa.gov.
  5. New Jersey passed two emergency bills that allow any health care practitioner to provide and bill for telemedicine services, including practitioners who are not licensed or certified to practice in New Jersey if licensed in another state and within their scope of practice; and to allow licensing boards to expedite licensure of out-of-state professionals, waive licensing fees and some licensing requirements. The PA Department of State had already extended PA telemedicine to out-of-state licensed practitioners. 
  6. Today the Department of State extended nursing license expiration dates, and took many other steps.  This included waiving expiration dates and some testing requirements for graduate and temporary permits, extended CRNPs practice to more than one clinical specialty, lowered the collaboration requirement to one physician, and allowing them to prescribe drugs outside their established formulary. The State also waived the requirement for out-of-state CRNPs to meet the educational equivalence requirement.