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DEA Officially Extends Remote EPCS Flexibility by 6 Months

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Last week, the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the US Department of Health and Human Services said they would temporarily expand the flexibility of telemedicine to prescribe certain controlled medications provided as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency, which expires May 11. .

DEA this week added some details to this pledge to allow a six-month extension, through November 11, 2023, and, in tandem with the HHS Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, by promising a grace period for virtual prescribing of certain controlled drugs that will last until at least November 2024 of the year. .

DEA Administrator Ann Milgram said the agency received a “record” 38,000 comments on its proposed telemedicine rules and responded with an extension accordingly.

On Tuesday, the American Telemedicine Association again thanked the agencies for recognizing the value of telemedicine and remote care.

“ATA and ATA Action appreciate the actions the DEA has taken in conjunction with SAMHSA to temporarily expand flexibility for remote prescribing of clinically acceptable controlled substances for six months,” said Kyle Zebley, Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Drug Enforcement Administration. ATA and Executive Director of ATA Action.

He noted that the ATA recognizes “the importance of continued care for these patients and is responding appropriately and thoughtfully to the countless concerned Americans who commented on the earlier draft rules.”

In two letters to federal agencies, the ATA outlined several of its arguments and submitted proposals for updating the proposed rules to maintain mechanisms to prevent rejection while ensuring that patients do not lose access to the care they need.

“It is particularly important and encouraged that these actions address access to clinically acceptable controlled substance prescriptions, which are needed by patients in a wide variety of medical settings, including mental illness and substance use disorders,” Zebli said.

He added that the ATA hopes federal agencies will use the extension period to further remove “unnecessary restrictive barriers to fair and proper clinical care, such as mandatory in-person visits.”

Andrea Fox is a senior editor at Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.

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HEALTH

Traditional kung pao chicken from The Woks of Life cookbook.

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2 hours ago

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May 10, 2023

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when i took “Life’s Works” cookbook written by the Leung family, I felt a pang of envy. Inside, there is something that many of us would love to receive: recipes approved by mom and dad, interspersed with stories and photographs – even a timeline – of the history of one family.

Get a prescription: Kung Pao Chicken

The cookbook grew out of a decade-old family recipe blog of the same name that began when the younger Leungs realized that while they inherited their parents’ love of cooking, they didn’t know how to prepare the food they ate as children.

“This book and our blog together is kind of like a family album,” said Sarah Leung, who co-wrote the book with her parents Bill and Judy and younger sister Caitlin during the pandemic. “We call our blog culinary genealogy. We wanted the blog to be our family’s story told through food.

“We grew up in a family obsessed with food,” she said, noting that she and her sister learned how to cook from television personalities like Rachel Ray and Ina Garten and from cookbooks like The Joy of Cooking.

For homemade meals, the sisters could boil rice or wash vegetables, but “my parents were at the wok adding ingredients. My sister and I haven’t really explored that aspect.”

“Honestly, I, at 22, had no idea how to cook any of this cookbook, and now I develop a quarter of these recipes myself,” Sarah said. “Over time, we achieved our goal of becoming competent Chinese chefs with my sister.”

They have also compiled over 1,000 recipes on their website, which has garnered such a loyal fan base since its inception in 2013 that Sarah began working full-time in 2019.

Both the blog and the cookbook feature dishes that can be prepared in a Chinese home and restaurants across China, as well as Chinese-American takeaway restaurants.

“Everyone is equally important, but they are different,” Sarah said, adding that the family discussed how to respect each point of view. Her own family reflects some of these differences in approach: Patriarch Bill was born in New York, while their mother Judy was born in Shanghai and immigrated in 1983. Bill’s father owned a Chinese takeaway restaurant in New Jersey.

She said she hopes the recipes will appeal to Chinese Americans like her family, as well as those less familiar with Chinese cuisine. For the uninitiated, Sarah suggests approaching the book like this: “First, try a recipe you know. … Start with egg soup or beef with broccoli. You’ll say, “Wow, I was able to make this dish I know and love, and it tastes just the way it should.” This will build trust.” She then suggests moving on to a dish you haven’t tried yet.

I started my research with Kung Pao chicken, my favorite, but when I cooked it, I realized that it was very different from the softer, spicier options I ate as a child.

Sarah explained that there is a reason for this: often in Chinese-American restaurants, food is prepared through a Cantonese lens, because many Chinese immigrants come from southern China.

“Kung pao is a dish you find in restaurants in China’s Sichuan province, and this makes it different from sesame chicken and General Tso’s chicken. If you ask these dishes in China, they will say, “What is this?”

Sweet and Sour Pork Brings Favorite Takeaway Home

Traditional kung pao should combine flavors and textures: chicken and green onions should be about the same size as peanuts, with a little of each in each bite; the sauce should be balanced in spiciness and sweetness, “no permanent sauce” on the serving plate.

A light pinch of ground Sichuan pepper balances out the spiciness of the chili, she says.

Kung Pao Chicken, like all recipes in the cookbook, was tested and approved by all four family members before it was included.

How do the Leungs govern personalities and family hierarchies?

“In a nutshell: we are used to it,” said Sarah. “After 10 years of work, we have found a good rhythm. We still argue and fight, but we have learned how to work together effectively. Boundaries are really important. When we are in work mode, we are almost colleagues, not family.” For Sarah, the success of the cookbook lies in the fact that it honors tradition while also reflecting contemporary interpretations, mixing old and new. It also offers building blocks for home cooks who want to learn how to cook Chinese food.

“I love the idea that Chinese food is becoming the preserve of home cooks in the United States,” she said. For too long, “this has been a cuisine that many are accustomed to eating only outside the home.”

Get a prescription: Kung Pao Chicken

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HEALTH

When You Might Need a French Gutter (And How to Build One Yourself)

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3 hours ago

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May 10, 2023

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If you want to use the power of water at will, French runoff path. Whether you have pools of water outside during rain, areas of your garden that get too much water, or a garage or house that floods, a small rock and pipe can solve these problems before they turn into costly repairs.

Any water in your home is obviously too much water. While small amounts can be mitigated, let’s say basement dehumidifier, if you see any signs of water intrusion on your ground floor, you want to have it dealt with quickly. In the patio, you look for places where water accumulates during a rainstorm. On a paved patio, these areas often become indented, which only exacerbates the problem.

Gardens are probably the easiest to soften another the easiest place to miss what is too much water. Where your downspouts are empty, this is an obvious place for too much water, but you can choose plants specifically for biological downspouts designed to make the most of the water. If you find that your plants regularly experience swelling (the result of too much water) or root rot, You must soften the situation.

What is french drain?

Think about itguttering as the second half of a water management system that starts at the roof with their gutters that blow the rain off the roof and then use the downspouts to divert water away from the house. These drainpipes can spill into your yard or sometimes connected to a series of pipes to carry water directly to an underground storage or city sewer. French drains are a version of this, underground.

Simply put, French drain quickly disperses water using pipes and rocks. The trench is created where the water accumulates, and it must exit where you want the water to be distributed. This trench is filled with a drainage pipe with many holes along it, so water can quickly enter and move as it exits, and is then filled with rocks. When water meets the ground, it will naturally flow to the place of least resistance, and a rocky trench will offer less resistance than soil, grass, plants, etc. or brick, wood, or other material in your home.

As soon as water enters this rocky trench, it enters the pipe through the holes and is quickly distributed along the entire length of the trench and pipe.

French drains make sense around the house, next to the garage, under the patio, or from downpipes. They so let you turn water from trouble to friend: You Maybe Redistribute rainwater in your yard up or down. AFrench runoff really works the same way as a stream – wThe ater finds a way in it, collects, and then moves quickly to where there is the least resistance.

as Mdo a french drain

illustration: Amanda Bloom

Start by figuring out where water accumulates and where it comes from. We have indicated several sources at the beginning of the article. Next, figure out where the water should flow, remembering that it doesn’t have to be a straight line, but it should go down the slope, even if only a little (one inch for every eight feet of ditch). This is what directs the water. Without this slope, the water simply accumulates at the lowest point, with nowhere to go, which can exacerbate your problems.

AFRench drain can be any length, but the longer it is, the more effective it is. Once you’ve mapped out your path, you can start digging a trench. The depth and width of the trench will depend on how much water you are redirecting, I recently watched a series Manor rescue where they redirected a raging river away from home using what was essentially just a river-size Franch stock.

For most of us, your trench will be 18-24 inches deep, and in not less than twelve inches wide. Since trenching sucks, you should consider renting a trencher from your local hardware store.

Now you need a lot of stone, at least ½-inches in diameter, and you’ll want to flush it out before you put it in the trench. You will use the stone to soften the pipe so that it completely surrounds it. This helps filter the water. Between stones and pipe weed fabric ensures plant roots don’t grow into your pipe, ruining your drain. Start by placing gravel an inch or two into the trench along its entire length. Place a weed rag on top of this gravel.

The exciting part starts now. If your trench is mostly a straight line, you will use rigid PVC for this purpose and it has holes already drilled into it; but if you are going to do hardcore DIY you can drill holes in PVC pipe, too much. If your trench is winding, you will choose a downpipe that is corrugated to bend. It has slots that act as holes.

Given a choice, you would most likely choose PVC, which has the advantage of beingIt is so stable that you can clear blockages with equipment that can damage thinner drain pipe. IN in fact, you can even expose the pipe to the surface by attaching a gusset to the end of the PVC so that the end is perpendicular to the ground. When you want to clean it, just open the top of the pipe.

In any case, you will lay it on the weed cloth with the holes facing down.towards the ground. Wrap the pipe in a seaweed cloth and then cover it with the rest of the rocks to the level of dirt. If the appearance of the rock bothers you, you can fill it with rocks a few inches below ground level and then cover with earth. You will not see the trench, but you must remember that it is there.

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HEALTH

Mammography should start at age 40, US panel recommends: NPR

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4 hours ago

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May 10, 2023

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The Federal Task Force recommends that women with an average risk of breast cancer get a mammogram every two years, starting at age 40.



STEVE INSKIP, HOST:

A new breast cancer screening recommendation says women should start getting mammograms at age 40. Allison Aubrey of NPR reports.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: There has been some confusion over the years about when to start screening for breast cancer. A leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists has long advised women to start at age 40. But this went against the advice of the US Preventive Services Task Force to start at age 50. There is now a growing consensus that 40 is the time to start. Here is Dr. Carol Mangione of UCLA, who co-authored the new recommendation.

CAROL MANGIONE: New and more inclusive scientific evidence has allowed us to expand our previous recommendations and encourage all women to be screened every two years starting at age 40.

OBRI: Mangione says that in recent years there has been a steady rise in breast cancer among women in their 40s. So, rather than advising women in their 40s to consider mammograms, the message will be clearer.

MANGIONE: We want to make the point that all women should really start getting screened at 40.

OBRI: The new recommendation applies to people at average risk of developing breast cancer, which continues to be the second leading cause of cancer death among women. About 42,000 women and 500 men die of breast cancer each year. And black women with breast cancer are 40% more likely to die from the disease. Dr. Yolanda Tammaro, a mammologist at Hackensack Meridian Health, says early detection can help save lives.

YOLANDA TAMMARO: We know that when we can detect breast cancer at its earliest stages, we have the highest cure rates. So I think this is definitely a step in the right direction.

AUBRIE: It is estimated that if all women followed screening recommendations, it could prevent about 8,000 deaths a year. Dr. Tammaro says he recommends yearly mammograms, which is in line with the American College of Radiology’s recommendation. But dr. Mangione says that after careful analysis, weighing the benefits and risks, the task force came to a different conclusion.

MANGIONE: We’ve found that once every two years is the optimal strategy.

OBRI: The draft recommendation is open for public comment until 5 June. At this point, the task force will review all comments and make its final recommendation.

Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

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