We would be grateful if you can please pass on the following COVID-19 Care in the Community updates to your networks where relevant. 

COVID-19 Care in the Community 

• Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand sent out a letter to primary care last Wednesday, 31^st August, about its updated claiming guidance for primary care clinical assessments of COVID-19 patients, which comes into effect from Monday, 12 September 2022. For any questions about these changes, please contact COVIDCareintheCommunity@health.govt.nz.  
• Manatū Hauora – Ministry of Health has published some new FAQs for healthcare professionals about providing Evusheld, a Pre-Exposure Phophylaxis (PrEP) for people who do not mount an adequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccine due to comorbidities or other health conditions, or when COVID-19 vaccination is contraindicated. 
• Some new accessible format resources about COVID-19 medicines have been added to the Unite Against COVID website, which includes Braille, large print, NZSL, audio and easy read. 
• This week, the data and digital team is implementing a new process for the National Contact Tracing Solution (NCTS) to automatically handle retrospectively uploaded test results. If a test taken more than 7 days ago is uploaded and an NCTS case is automatically created for it, the Case record will be automatically closed with a new Closed Status of ‘Retrospective Case’. Once implemented, you can resume uploading retrospective RAT results. We still encourage you to upload RAT results within the 7-day window wherever possible. For more assistance, please contact CITC@contacttracing.health.nz.   
  

Webinar on Monkeypox (MPX) and COVID-19  

• A recording of last Wednesday’s (31^st August) webinar on MPX (Monkeypox) and COVID-19 will be shared this week with all primary care clinicians who registered, along with all presentations’ slides. There was an excellent turnout on the night and HealthPathways has received very positive feedback about the event from some of the more than 700 people who attended, despite a few technical glitches. 
  

COVID-19 response 

• Clinical codes to record cases of people diagnosed with long COVID are being rolled out across all medical record IT systems used in primary care, which will help provide a clearer picture of the condition’s impact in Aotearoa over time. 
• Clinical management guidelines of COVID-19 in hospitalised adults have been updated, including new recommendations about Evusheld, rebound and prescribing Paxlovid for patients with advanced kidney disease and dialysis. 

Noho ora mai