Supplemental Award to CMSS to Improve Provider Education and Engagement to Care for People with Long COVID

Supplemental Award to CMSS to Improve Provider Education and Engagement to Care for People with Long COVID is sponsored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with HHS' Office of Long COVID Research and Practice (OLC). This supplemental funding supports the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) to coordinate across medical societies, improve provider education, and engage clinicians in the care of patients with Long COVID.

CDC Provides Supplemental Award to CMSS to Improve Provider Education and Engagement to Care for People with Long COVID - CMSS CDC Provides Supplemental Award to CMSS to Improve Provider Education and Engagement to Care for People with Long COVID In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Long COVID Research and Practice (OLC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded supplemental funding via a cooperative agreement to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS).

The funding will support CMSS to provide multidisciplinary coordination and collaboration across medical societies to improve provider education and engagement in the care of patients with Long COVID. Caring for people with Long COVID and related conditions presents unique challenges to the healthcare system, including primary and specialty care providers.

While information on Long COVID has increased, there is limited coordination in the development and dissemination of clinical guidance across specialties. As Dr. Priti Patel, who is CDC’s Senior Advisor for Long COVID pointed out, “Because Long COVID is relatively new, many clinicians are unfamiliar with how to diagnose and treat it.

Our hope is to better equip primary care providers and other clinicians with the information and tools they need to care for their patients with Long COVID.

” Dr. Ian Simon, Director for the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, shares, “We continually hear from patients with heartrending journeys and the relief that comes when they find providers who listen and understand their condition.

As part of the ongoing, whole-of-government response to Long COVID, the Office of Long COVID is thrilled to see CMSS advance the effort to adapt and disseminate clinical guidance and education. This collaboration is a great first step in bringing together primary and specialty providers to address critical gaps in Long COVID care.

Adapting and disseminating best practices and knowledge sharing will help patients while research and clinical trials discover underlying mechanisms and identify additional treatment options.

” Over the course of a one-year program , CMSS will engage primary care and specialty societies, advanced practice practitioners, patients, and other stakeholders in a series of coordinated activities to improve education and engagement in the care of people with Long COVID.

These activities include: Empaneling a multidisciplinary Long COVID Expert Panel which will encourage adoption of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) definition and offer greater specificity, when possible.

Partnering with relevant clinical societies to develop, review, adapt, and disseminate clinical guidance and other educational resources from specialty societies, federal agencies, NASEM, and other high-quality sources on the diagnosis and treatment of Long COVID for both clinicians and the public. Defining and championing management of Long COVID and related conditions by primary care and other specialists.

“CMSS is pleased to support this timely and important work on Long COVID,” said Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, MACP, Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS). “We look forward to working across the medical community to identify experts and disseminate key resources to support primary care clinicians and patients.

” Through cross-specialty collaboration, shared evidence-based information can support coordinated care across primary and specialty care that meets the diverse healthcare needs of patients with Long COVID.

The Specialty Societies Advancing Adult Immunization (SSAAI) program is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) totaling $42,675,407 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS.

The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of nor endorsement, by CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government. The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) is a coalition of more than 50 specialty societies representing nearly 1 million physicians across the house of medicine.

CMSS advances the expertise and collective voice of specialty societies and the patients they serve to drive meaningful change in the future of healthcare.