The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has leveraged the Defense Production Act (DPA) to apply priority-rated orders for contracts with BD (Becton Dickinson, and Company) and Quidel Corporation through September, according to a press release from the HHS.
The department said the acquisitions, which were originally announced in July, fulfill a large-volume purchase of diagnostic systems and assays for COVID-19 testing and will expedite shipments of these systems and assays to every nursing home certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services (CMS) with a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) Certificate of Waiver – approximately 14,000 nursing homes – in the United States. The tests can diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection in approximately 15 minutes.
CMS requires nursing homes in states with a 5 percent positivity rate or greater for COVID-19 to test all staff each week.
