White House Targets Long COVID with Major Interagency Initiative
Calls for a research action plan to treat chronic condition
The Biden administration has launched a major initiative to better understand and treat long COVID, which manifests as brain fog, fatigue, and a panoply of other lingering symptoms in those with SARS-CoV-2.
On April 5, 2022, President Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “develop and issue the first-ever interagency national research action plan on long COVID. The effort will advance progress in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and provision of services, supports, and interventions for individuals experiencing long COVID and associated conditions.”1
In addition, the report will address the specific issues of the effect of long COVID on high-risk communities and expand to address those dealing with a COVID-related loss, as well as people with mental health and substance abuse issues related to the pandemic. Awareness is being raised that long COVID may be a potential cause of disability that would be subject to existing federal anti-discrimination laws.
“The Administration recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in new members of the disability community and has had a tremendous impact on people with disabilities,” a program description states.
The action calls for measures that include these, summarized as follows:
- Launching Centers of Excellence and promoting evidence-based care models: These centers will be based on ongoing and emerging research to determine how healthcare systems can deliver care for people with long COVID. “This work would fund institutions across the country that bring together leading researchers and care providers across the full care continuum — including hospitals, health centers, long-term care services and supports, and other providers — and promote the implementation of new evidence into care, especially for disproportionately affected populations,” the plan states.
- Expanding and strengthening long COVID clinics: The Biden Administration calls for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to expand on the success of the 18 VA facilities have established long COVID care programs.
- Promoting provider education and clinical support: The administration will continue to work with providers to advance our recognition and understanding of long COVID and associated conditions, sharing culturally diverse information and using the new ICD-10 clinical modification (CM) code (U09.9) to support diagnosis and billing. Moreover, health insurance coverage for long COVID is being bolstered in state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs. “Additionally, the essential health benefits provided by the Affordable Care Act generally provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, including long COVID, although coverage and cost-sharing details vary by plan,” the Biden plan states
Overall, many actions and interventions depend on increasing the understanding of long COVID among clinicians and the public. This goes to the heart of the HHS interagency national research action plan on long COVID.
“This includes efforts to better identify and characterize long COVID, including with respect to its frequency, severity, duration, and risk factors; account for its impact on hard-hit and high-risk populations; and better understand its symptoms, including anxiety and depression, fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, heart palpitations, disordered sleep, chest and joint pain, and headache,” the plan states.
REFERENCE
- The White House. Fact sheet: The Biden Administration accelerates whole-of-government effort to prevent, detect, and treat long COVID. Published April 5, 2022. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/05/fact-sheet-the-biden-administration-accelerates-whole-of-government-effort-to-prevent-detect-and-treat-long-covid/
The Biden administration has launched a major initiative to better understand and treat long COVID, which manifests as brain fog, fatigue, and a panoply of other lingering symptoms in those with SARS-CoV-2.
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