The below links provide relevant information and resources from a variety of organizations and entities involved in COVID-19 matters. Click on topic areas in the green bars for additional information. If you have resources that you would like to contribute, please contact marketing@sts.org.
3/4/21 - COVID-19 FAQs on Medicare FFS Billing to Administer Vaccines
2/25/21 - CMS Holds Physicians Harmless from MIPS penalties amid COVID-19 PHE
STS Supported Guidance
- Ramping Up Delivery of Cardiac Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guidance Statement from the STS COVID-19 Task Force (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Safe Reintroduction of Cardiovascular Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidance from North American Society Leadership (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Adult Cardiac Surgery and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Aggressive Infection Mitigation Strategies are Necessary in the Operating Room and Surgical Recovery (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Adult Cardiac Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tiered Patient Triage Guidance (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery) A companion webinar also is available: Stratifying Patients for Cardiac Operations.
- COVID-19: Crisis Management in Congenital Heart Surgery (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- COVID-19 Guidance for Triage of Operations for Thoracic Malignancies (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
Real-Time Tracking
- COVID-19 Tracking Map (Johns Hopkins)
- COVID-19 Projections (Institute for Health Metrics and Evalution)
- ECMO Center Map (ELSO - Be patient; the map takes a few minutes to populate. See additional map participation information under ECMO below)
- Dashboard of ECMO COVID Cases in ELSO Database (ELSO)
Resource Utilization
- Information for Health Care Facilities and Providers on "in use time" (FDA)
- COVID-19 Resource Prediction Instrument (STS Research Center)
- STS Resource Utilization Tool for Cardiac Surgery (STS Research Center)
PPE
- PPE Burn Rate Calculator (Centers for Disease Control and Protection)
Surgical Triage
- Elective Case Triage Guidelines for Surgical Care (American College of Surgeons)
- General Guidance on Deferring Non-Urgent CV Testing and Procedures (American College of Cardiology)
- Physiologic Assessment for Lung Cancer Surgery (Mayo Clinic Thoracic Surgery & Pulmonary Medicine - A Guide During the COVID-19 Pandemic)
- Adult Elective Surgery and Procedures Recommendations (CMS)
Clinical Care
Guidance Documents Supported by STS
- Ramping Up Delivery of Cardiac Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guidance Statement from the STS COVID-19 Task Force (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Safe Reintroduction of Cardiovascular Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidance from North American Society Leadership (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Adult Cardiac Surgery and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Aggressive Infection Mitigation Strategies are Necessary in the Operating Room and Surgical Recovery (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- Adult Cardiac Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tiered Patient Triage Guidance (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- COVID-19: Crisis Management in Congenital Heart Surgery (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
- COVID-19 Guidance for Triage of Operations for Thoracic Malignancies (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery)
Guidance Documents
- Treatment of patients with nonsevere and severe coronavirus disease 2019: an evidence-based guideline (CMAJ)
- Roadmap for Resuming Elective Surgery After COVID Pandemic (ACS)
- Local Resumption of Elective Surgery (ACS)
- Combating COVID with Medical Devices (FDA)
- Combating COVID with Therapeutics (FDA)
- Cardiac Surgery in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons)
- COVID-19 Treatment Guidance (Massachusetts General Hospital)
- Guidelines on the Management of Critically Ill Adults with COVID-19 (SCCM)
- Clinical Guidance for Critical Care Management of Patients with COVID-19 Infection (Johns Hopkins)
- Care of the Critically Ill and Injured During a Pandemic (CHEST Consensus Document)
- Care for Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 (JAMA)
- Clinical Management of Patients with Moderate to Severe COVID-19 - Interim Guidance (Public Health Agency of Canada)
- Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected Interim guidance (WHO)
- Guidance for Community-based Care of the Cardiovascular Patient (Canadian Cardiovascular Society)
- Interim Clinical Guidance for Management of Patients with Confirmed Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) (CDC)
- Precautions and Procedures for Coronary and Cardiac Structural Interventions (CAIC-ACCI)
- Recommendations for Management of Elective Surgical Procedures (American College of Surgeons)
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Potential Implications of COVID-19 for the 2020-2021 Residency Application Cycle (JAMA)
- Effect of Convalescent Plasma Therapy on Time to Clinical Improvement in Patients With Severe and Life-threatening COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial (JAMA)
- Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients with Severe Covid-19 (NEJM)
- Severe COVID-19 (NEJM)
- Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study (The Lancet)
- Comparison of Clinical Characteristics of Patient with Asymptomatic vs Symptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan China (JAMA)
- Epidemiology of and Risk Factors for Coronavirus Infection in Health Workers (Annals of Internal Medicine)
- Global Effort to Collect Data on Ventilated Patients with COVID-19 (JAMA)
- Interpreting Diagnostic Tests for SARS-CoV-2 (JAMA)
- Prognosis When Using ECMO for Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients in China (Critical Care)
- In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes Among Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia in Wuhan, China (Resuscitation)
- Pharmacologic Treatments for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (JAMA)
- COVID-19, Arrhythmic Risk and Inflammation: Mind the Gap! (Circulation)
- Clinical Evidence Does Not Support Steroid Use in COVID Patients (The Lancet)
- COVID-19 Pneumonia: What Has CT Taught Us (The Lancet)
- Correlation of CT and RT-CRP Testing in COVID-19 (Radiology)
- Time Course of Lung Changes on Chest CT During Recovery from COVID-19 (Radiology)
- Imaging Profile of COVID-19 Infection (Radiology)
- Radiological Characteristics of 81 Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia (The Lancet)
- Radiology Perspective on COVID-19: Lessons Learned (American Journal of Radiology)
- Predicting Outcomes of High-Flow Nasal Cannula for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. An Index that ROX (American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine)
- Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 (NEJM)
- Critical Care Management of COVID-19 (Harborview Medical Center, Seattle)
- Critical Care for Non-ICU Clinicians (Society of Critical Care Medicine)
- Care of the Adult Critically Ill COVID-19 Patient (Alberta Health Services)
- Care of the Pediatric Critically Ill COVID-19 Patient (Alberta Health Services)
Telehealth
- Telehealth Payments in Response to COVID-19 (Hart Health Strategies)
- State Telehealth Laws and Reimbursement Policies (Center for Connected Health Policy)
Videos and PowerPoints
- Personal Protective Equipment and COVID-19 (VIDEO: NEJM)
- How to Obtain a Nasopharyngeal Swab Specimen (VIDEO: NEJM)
- COVID-19: 8 Weeks Later (VIDEO: University of Manitoba)
- COVID-19: Getting Back to Normal (PODCAST: TopMedTalk)
- Haemodynamic Management in COVID patients (VIDEO: ESICM)
- Doing Things Safely: Airway Management and COVID-19 Disease (VIDEO: Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society)
- COVID-19 Diagnosis and Ventilator Management (VIDEO: Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society)
- COVID-19 Pandemic #5 - Questions and Answers (Drs. F. Siddique, S. Lother, D. Funk)
- Can the Biology of Other RNA Respiratory Viruses Make this COVID-19 Pandemic Less "Unprecedented"? (VIDEO: Grand Rounds by Sylvan Lother, MD)
- Imaging Findings of COVID-19: More than Just Ground Glass Opacities (VIDEO: Dr. Henry Guo)
- Creating a COVID-19 Safe Chest Tube Drainage System (Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal)
- COVID-19 Intubation Checklist for Outside of the OR - (VIDEO: Vancouver General Hospital)
- How to integrate video teleconferencing into inpatient rounds and develop a tele supervision model for the critical care surge in the covid-19 pandemic (Johns Hopkins webinar)
- Reducing In-Hospital Spread and Optimal Use of Resources for the Care of Hospitalized Cardiovascular Patients During the COVID19 Pandemic (Canadian Cardiovascular Society)
- Intubation in the ICU - COVID-19 (VIDEO: Peninsula Health)
- Underlying Medical Conditions and People at Higher Risk for COVID-19 (CDC webinar and slide deck)
ECMO Availability and Use
- ECMO in COVID-19: The Power of Connection - VIDEO (ELSO)
- ECMO in COVID-19 (ELSO)
- Dashboard of ECMO COVID Cases in ELSO Database (ELSO)
- Guidance Document: ECMO for COVID-19 Patients with Severe Cardiopulmonary Failure (ELSO)
- Guide for Adult ECLS and ECMO Patient Selection During COVID-19 Crisis
- ECLS Recommendations for COVID-19 (Alberta Health Services)
Regional Availability
- At this time the Maryland/Virginia/Washington document is no longer available. Information from that region is included in the comprehensive ELSO Center Map. It takes a few minutes to populate. Anyone can access the ELSO map, but you need a login to edit it. The areas in gray indicate status unknown.
Please Note: The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) is offering free participation for 3 months to non-member organizations to help ensure that the real-time map and other resources are as up-to-date and as comprehensive as possible. Please contact membership@elso.org for more information.
Indications for VA + VV ECMO
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- PPE Burn Rate Calculator (Centers for Disease Control and Protection)
- ECMO & COVID-19: Indications, Initiation, and Proper PPE Use (VIDEO by Drs. Karianna Milewski, Josh Grimm, Salim Olia, and Christian Bermudez - Penn Medicine)
- Donn and Doff Your PPE Safely (Baystate Health)
- Pandemic Planning N95 recommendations (FDA, CDC, NISOH)
- Safe Respirator Usage When Supplies Are Short (ECRI - formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute - webinar)
- Healthcare Supply of Personal Protective Equipment (CDC)
- Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of PPE (CDC)
- Personal Protective Equipment (Hart Health Strategies)
Operating on a COVID-Positive Patient or Suspected COVID Patient
- Interim Guidance for Healthcare Providers During COVID-19 Outbreak (American Heart Association)
- Ventilator Supply Mitigation Strategies: Letter to Professional Societies (Department of Health and Human Services)
- Z6Ms True Volume Transesophageal Transducer Care Guide (Siemens Healthineers)
- Transesophageal Transducer Cleaning and Care Guide (Siemens Healthineers)
Research
Active Research
- Anti-Coronavirus Therapies to prevent progression of COVID-19 (ACT), a randomized trial (The Canadian COVID-19 Collaboration) - ENROLLING NOW CONTACT Act.projectteam@phri.ca
- Summary of COVID RCTs and List by Drug (Compiled and Updated by University of Manitoba and McMaster Trainees)
- COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (extensive collection of scientific literature from Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence)
- NCI Funding During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (National Cancer Institute)
- COVID-19 Core Outcomes (Australian Living Evidence Consortium National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce guidelines initiative)
- intubateCOVID (Intensive Care Society, Royal College of Emergency Medicine, and Association of Anaesthetists)
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Association of Cardiac Injury With Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China (JAMA Cardiology)
- Severe SARS‑CoV‑2 infections: practical considerations and management strategy for intensivists (Intensive Care Medicine)
- Response and Perioperative Implications (Anesthesiology special article series)
General Information
Government
- CMS Announces Relief for Clinicians Participating in the Quality Payment Program in 2020 (CMS) + QPP Exception Application
- HHS Announces Enhanced Provider Portal, Relief Fund Payments for Safety Net Hospitals, Medicaid & CHIP Providers (HHS)
- Re-Opening Facilities to Provide Non-COVID, Non-Emergent Healthcare (CMS)
- CARES Act Provider Relief Fund (US Department of Health and Human Services)
- A Letter to Clinicians (CMS)
Medical Society Resources
- Coronavirus (American Heart Association)
- COVID-19 FAQs (American Medical Association)
- Physician's Guide to COVID-19 (American Medical Association)
- Statement on Discrimination (American College of Surgeons)
- CARES Act Provides Protection for Surgeons Affected by COVID-19 (American College of Surgeons)
- Coronavirus Update (JAMA Livestream Channel)
- United States Resource Availability for COVID-19 (Society of Critical Care Medicine)
STS Member Perspectives
- COVID-19 Challenges Surgeons to 'Embrace the Change" in Health Care (Dr. Sara Pereira)
- How Leaders Make Decisions During Times of Crisis (by Dr. Tom Varghese)
- Opinion on COVID-19: An Opportunity to Re-Examine How We Provide Health Care (by Drs. Ansar Hassan, Rakesh C. Arora and Jean-Francois Legare)
- Staying Grounded During the COVID-19 Pandemic (by Drs. Erin Gillaspie, Gabriel Loor, and Mara Antonoff)
- COVID-19: The US Perspective (by Dr. Sloane Guy)
- COVID-19: The Hong Kong Perspective (by Dr. Alan Sihoe)
- How Will COVID-19 Impact My Upcoming Surgery? (Patient-focused article by Drs. Robbin Cohen and Elizabeth David)
News Media
- Mapping the Coronavirus Worldwide (Bloomberg) - April 3
- Life as a Health Care Worker on the Coronavirus Pandemic Front Lines (US News & World Report - Includes quotes from Dr. Glenn Whitman)
- How Will the Pandemic End? (The Atlantic)
- Doctors Recommend Delaying Non-Urgent Medical Visits During Coronavirus Pandemic (USA Today Network - Includes quotes from Dr. Seenu Reddy)
- Keeping the Coronavirus from Infecting Health-Care Workers (The New Yorker)
- Trump Signs Law to Grant Paid Leave Benefits Amid Coronavirus (TIME)
Other
- Healthcare Workers on the Front Lines (Hart Health Strategies)