Public Comment to CMS on Hospital Acquired Infections
My formal public comment to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) on nosocomial spread of SARSCOV2.
Because life is precious, elderly, high risk, and disabled people are human beings, some people die with the first infection, and the more reinfections there are the more covid complications patients are risking.
And most of all: healthcare is supposed to protect health, not endanger it.
Here is my formal comment submitted to the Federal Register:
People with "underlying conditions" are people. Senior citizens are humans. Life is precious. We human beings don't deserve to be discarded and exposed to preventable disease spread just because some medical professionals think our lives are not worth protecting or because some healthcare systems just look at us as meat widget profit centers for money and care nothing of our outcomes. What is even the point of doing healthcare if not to mitigate diseases like pandemic virus covid19? Healthcare should be the one place I can count on that there are people who try to protect my safety when I am in their care. CMS MUST require healthcare providers to take all the known steps to prevent the spread of airborne respiratory viruses, and sarscov2/covid19 MUST be added to the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program and the Value-Based Purchasing Program. The precautionary principle must be used when lives are on the line. Tamping disease spread should be prioritized, not waiting to see how many people die, or experiencing an outbreak or staffing issues, before moving to act. Prioritize human lives. Prevention should be required.
I also attached the People’s CDC public comment with references.
Here is a guide to writing your own comment, due tomorrow, June 9th 2023
Here is a comment written by a scientist doctor, which also includes references:
You can also write to your representatives in the US Senate, and encourage them to press CMS to include covid with other nosocomial infections.
You can also write to the White House and tell the Biden Administration to release the data, that has been kept secret, on hospital acquired SARSCOV2 cases at the hospital level, so we can know which healthcare systems are letting the virus spread more.
I have heard from two other doctors who have said they’ve also made public comments, and several patients - members of the general public.
Thank you to everyone speaking up if you can on this important issue.
Together we can push for humane treatment for patients, especially the most vulnerable, in healthcare settings.
NOTE: I’ve heard from some people that they really believed that covid19 was already included in Medicare’s Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program conducted by CMS and measured by the CDC. It’s understandable because it of course should be included. But this is why we have to spread the word about these things, because many people simply won’t know until it’s too late.
"Many people rationalize that if it were really dangerous the government wouldn't let it be advertised. They are wrong in that thinking. It is dangerous and the government does let it be advertised."
- Rick Pollay, Pack of Lies: The Advertising of Tobacco (1992)
And this is why I keep emphasizing that we all need to write our representatives even about things we think should be obvious!!
It’s not about the response you get or what you think your representative does or doesn’t already support. It’s about doing your civic duty - doing your part to help in pushing and pressuring these officials toward common sense solutions and away from harmful policies.
Anyone who tells you your letter to congress or your vote doesn’t matter is wrong, and they may even be lying to you because they are the opposition.
Will your one letter change the world? When it’s combined with mine and a million others - it very well could save lives. I think that’s something worth trying for, don’t you?
Commemorating Earth Day with a Little Legislative History Jonathan Coppess Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics University of Illinois April 22, 2022 farmdoc daily (12):55
Forged in the wake of an oil spill and by the flames of a burning river, history demarks the origins of the modern environmental on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, amid the troubles and turmoil of the Vietnam War at the end of the tumultuous 1960s. Within the first four years of its existence, the movement achieved an unparalleled, impressive legislative and political trifecta. The National Environmental Protection Act (1970), the Clean Air Act (1970), and the Clean Water Act (1972) were all enacted by strong, bipartisan votes across two congresses. In addition, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 with Congressional acquiescence.
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
— Thomas Paine