Corporate Leaders and Insurance Companies are Putting Hospital and Healthcare Workers at Risk with Mask Bureaucracy, says Air Queen

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Air Queen, articles are being written on the massive lack of PPE for healthcare and industrial workers, with a particular focus on the shortage of protective masks.  A recent post in Bloomberg "Nurses' Pleas Spur U.S. Pledge to Tap 44 Million-Mask Stockpile," highlights the drastic lack of supply which is putting front line workers at extreme health risk.

Some blame Washington for not doing enough to protect health care workers, others blame the lack of home grown manufacturing supply or Chinese companies for flooding the market with substandard products. While there is probably blame that can be apportioned to all these parties it is interesting to note how little is being said about one of the primary culprits for this problem – the bureaucracy itself.

More specifically, the corporate leaders of key hospital groups and their insurance provider counterparts for refusing to make simple bureaucratic adjustments, which could be done in minutes, and if completed would drastically improve the health and safety of their workplace.  The crux of the problem lies within insurance policy riders which require NIOSH only masks.  In normal times this would be considered prudent action, but these are not normal times.

Within the marketplace there are several examples of FDA approved N95 substantial equivalent masks which are available and would substantially reduce the supply constraint stresses.   Louis Ziskin, Director at AirQueen US (airqueen.com), a N95 substantial equivalent brand distributor, explains "the issue isn't supply but rather it is closed minded management and inflexible insurance policies which unfortunately will get people killed needlessly."

"Take the Airqueen," Mr. Ziskin continued, "here we have a mask with a FDA 510K number that is approved for operating room personnel use during surgical procedures, it has been independently tested by Nelson Labs and achieves an average filtration rate of 97.8%, it has a micron rate of less than 0.1%, and since the mask has a nano filter, it operates with lower heart rates, lower micro-environment and skin surface temperatures than subjects who wore standard N95 masks.  It is a phenomenally protective mask and is comfortable.  However, hospitals are slow to adopt it, why?  This is because their insurance rider won't allow non-NIOSH masks.  So rather than spending five minutes to amend the policy to allow FDA 510K approved masks they just sit on their hands and say there is no supply while their staff suffer is Kafkaesque."

"Now in fairness to hospital groups they do have a legitimate issue with a mask like the AirQueen in that it doesn't pass the fit test for 100% of the hospital staff due to the fact that it uses earloops rather than the double strap that all NIOSH masks have. However, my solution to them is buy it and protect the 75% of the staff whom it does fit properly for and then have the remaining staff simply tie a knot - at the ¼ mark on lower side of loop so the knot does rest against the back of the ear or interfere with glasses - to shorten the ear loop to achieve the proper fit. While not a perfect solution it is safer for everyone and prevents people from having to 'brown bag' and reuse contaminated masks like they are doing now.  The lack of creative solutions by hospital management to use simple solutions like this to solve problems, never ceases to amaze me," stated Mr. Ziskin.

While Mr. Ziskin's comments may ruffle a few feathers in the healthcare industry, they may not be without merit.  Recently the FDA affirmed the prominence of FDA N95 substantial equivalent masks in their release, "Certain Filtering Facepiece Respirators from China May Not Provide Adequate Respiratory Protection - Letter to Health Care Providers," which clarified that "Consistent with CDC's recommendations, HCP should use an FDA-cleared or NIOSH-approved respirator before another authorized, imported respirator, when available."

"The supply problems will end when healthcare workers demand that the hospital management, their lawyers and insurance providers take this issue seriously and put their safety first. We offer a discount to healthcare workers and first responders and we appreciate the business, it is nonetheless discouraging to see how many healthcare workers are required to spend their own money to protect themselves while being heroes for all of us," closed Mr. Ziskin.  

For more information on the attributes of a N95 substantial equivalent nano- filter mask please see airqueen.com, where you can also find information on the children mask brand- the Airbon.

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SOURCE Air Queen