Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease. While there is limited information known about the safety and effectiveness of using remdesivir to treat people in the hospital with COVID-19, the investigational drug was shown in a clinical trial to shorten the time to recovery in some patients.
Emergency Use ICD-10-CM Code
The official guidelines for the new ICD-10-CM code go into effect April 1 through Sept. 30 and have been posted by the Centers for Disease Control. These codes will help capture and report surveillance data for the virus. The code to use for confirmed cases is “U07.1, COVID-19”.
COVID-19 Updates
ASHP is committed to bringing you the most relevant COVID-19 updates as we navigate these unprecedented times.
- Today, President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force issued new recommendations to include limiting social gatherings to no more than 10 people over the next 15 days.
- The first participant in a clinical trial for a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 received an experimental dose on Monday.
- ASHP continues to monitor for impact to drug shortages.
- ASHP sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging the Trump Administration to take immediate steps to maximize pharmacist engagement in COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts. We also asked that decisive action by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services be taken to remove barriers to pharmacists’ patient care services.
- We are also closely monitoring the impact to personal protective equipment supply and will report results of our survey later this week.
- We have made AHFS Drug Information available to the public through May 31. You may access this resource with the username “ahfs@ashp.org” and password “covid-19.”
We encourage you to bookmark ASHP’s COVID-19 Resource Center, which serves as a clearinghouse for more information on COVID-19.
New: COVID-19 Pandemic Assessment Tool
ASHP has released its COVID-19 Pandemic Assessment Tool for Health-System Pharmacy Departments, which is intended to assist in COVID-19 pandemic planning efforts in departments of pharmacy and to foster pharmacist involvement in preparedness at the institutional and community levels.
