With no hope that manufacturers will pick up the slack and furnish the reagents, swabs, PPE and other desperately needed COVID-19 testing supplies before the end of the year, laboratories are in the position of having to ration the resources that they do have available. And they are calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for help in making those difficult decisions. Specifically, they want the agency to establish new testing guidelines that prioritize testing patients who are ill, symptomatic or in other immediate medical need at the expense of the asymptomatic. Providers to HHS: Let Us Focus on the Medically Needy On Aug. 11, seven healthcare organizations sent a letter to HHS asking the agency to update its COVID-19 testing prioritization guidelines. “We are increasingly concerned about the serious strains being placed on testing services for COVID-19, the impact those strains have on our ability to provide timely medical care to our patients, and ultimately on our ability to contain the spread of this dangerous virus,” the letter begins. “Without improvement in available supplies, we simply do not have the resources to meet the huge demand for testing.” Since we cannot test everyone, please tell […]