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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**April 5, 2020**

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THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

COVID-19

Accountable Care And Population Health In Time Of Pandemic

By Alex Kazberouk (4/3/20)

Alternative payment models were not designed with a pandemic in mind and
will be challenged by current events. Read More >>

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Practice And Policy Considerations For Patients
With Opioid Use Disorder

By Kelsey C. Priest (4/3/20)

Structural barriers to care for people with opioid use disorder abound,
and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates issues of access and safety for
patients with this condition.
Read More >>

Equitable Access To Health Information For Non-English Speakers Amidst
The Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

By David Velasquez, Nishant Uppal, and Numa Perez (4/2/20)

Past pandemics have taught us that inadequately disseminating health
information to people with limited English proficiency magnifies health
disparities, and there are early warning signs that a similar trend is
recurring with COVID-19. Read More >>

Keeping Surprise Billing Out Of Coronavirus Treatment

By Jack Hoadley, Kevin Lucia, and Katie Keith (4/2/20)

A short-term payment standard, combined with meaningful consumer
protections from surprise medical bills, could provide significant
financial relief to individuals and families affected by the
coronavirus. Read More >>

Five Things State Medicaid Agencies Should Do Now To Improve Care For
Pregnant And Postpartum Women Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic

By Emily Eckert and Meredith Yinger (4/2/20)

As the United States continues to respond to this pandemic, it is
important that each state consider the unique coverage and access needs
of low-income women, especially in the perinatal period. Read More >>

Using Federal Reinsurance To Address The Health Care Financial
Consequences Of COVID-19

By Sherry Glied and Katherine Swartz (4/1/20)

While the recent CARES legislation, which allocates about $100 billion
toward the hospital sector, will help pay for essential equipment and
increase Medicare payments for COVID-19 care by 20 percent, additional
steps will be needed to protect patients and providers against the
health care-related financial consequences of the epidemic. Read More
>>

Getting Ahead Of COVID-19 Issues: Dying From Respiratory Failure Out Of
The Hospital

By Joanne Lynn (4/1/20)

When a person is likely to die if he or she gets this disease, we should
be clear about what treatment the person wants. Read More >>

Implement Critical Care Surge Strategies Now To Save Lives

By Mahshid Abir, Kaitlyn Entel, and Christopher Nelson (4/1/20)

Coordinating actions across state and federal governments and across
public and private spheres, and implementing creative strategies now and
in the coming weeks, could improve hospital readiness and, ultimately,
save lives. Read More >>

Native American Communities And COVID-19: How Foundations Can Help

By Heidi A. Schultz (4/1/20)

The outlook for an effective and comprehensive response to the COVID-19
outbreak among American Indians and Alaska Natives is bleak. As of March
29, 2020, 165 Natives had tested positive for COVID-19. The author, who
works for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, enumerates a number of
ways that foundations can help this population. Read More >>

'Panic Prescribing' Untested Coronavirus Treatments: A Danger To
Patients Today And Tomorrow

By Holly Fernandez Lynch, Alison Bateman-House, and Arthur L. Caplan
(3/31/20)

No matter how much we might want a COVID-19 treatment now, we don't
yet have anything that has demonstrated safety and efficacy in any sort
of reliable study. Broadly unleashing every concoction that has a
glimmer of positive data, no matter how slim, on the COVID-19 patient
population will dangerously inhibit that goal. Read More >>

'The Future Is Today': Medical Students In The COVID-19 Pandemic

By Andrew Blake (3/31/20)

If COVID-19 overwhelms our health care system's capacity to provide
excellent patient care, medical students should have the opportunity to
help their future colleagues in this fight. Read More >>

There Are Not Nearly Enough Nurses To Handle The Surge Of Coronavirus
Patients: Here's How To Close The Gap Quickly

By Joanne Spetz (3/31/20)

With most states operating under a state of emergency, governors have
wide-reaching latitude, and many have already issued orders aimed at
expanding the health care workforce during the pandemic. Read More >>

Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccine Affordability: Existing Mechanisms Should Not
Be Overlooked

By Richard Hughes IV, Kelly Cappio, and Alessandra Fix (3/30/20)

As the country grapples with the challenges presented by the
coronavirus, policy makers should remain mindful of existing mechanisms
that provide widespread access to affordable vaccines. Read More >>

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Final Marketplace Enrollment Data For 2020

By Katie Keith (4/2/20)

On April 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
released the Marketplace open enrollment report for 2020. Read More >>

PRIMARY CARE

Realizing The Vision Of Advanced Primary Care: Confronting Financial
Barriers To Expanding The Model Nationwide

By JP Sharp, Leslie McKinney, Scott Heiser, and Rahul Rajkumar (3/30/20)

We need solutions that achieve better health outcomes with fewer
resources by loosening the reliance on physical infrastructure and using
innovative approaches to staffing, technology, and administration that
are adaptable for the specific needs of each population.
Read More >>

MEDICAID

Alternative Drug Purchasing Arrangements Do Not Justify Raising The
Prices Medicaid Pays For Brand Drugs

By Edwin Park and Andrea Noda (4/3/20)

Drug manufacturers and some federal policy makers support statutory
modifications to the best-price requirement that they believe will
increase uptake of alternative purchasing arrangements. Such
modifications, however, could sharply increase federal and state
Medicaid drug costs and lead to harmful Medicaid cuts that reduce access
to needed care for the tens of millions of low-income people who rely on
Medicaid. Read More >>

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IN THE JOURNAL

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

State Politics And The Uneven Fate Of Medicaid Expansion

By Philip Rocco, Ann C. Keller, and Andrew S. Kelly

Philip Rocco and coauthors look at how state-level politics affected
adoption of the Medicaid expansion. Read More >>

Health Insurance Coverage: What Comes After The ACA?

By Benjamin D. Sommers

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to the largest expansion of health
insurance in the US in fifty years, bringing the uninsurance rate in
2016 to its lowest recorded level. But even at that point, nearly thirty
million people lacked health insurance, and millions more still
struggled to afford needed medical care. Benjamin Sommers identifies the
underlying causes of these problems and evaluates potential policy
remedies. Read More >>

The ACA's Effect On The Individual Insurance Market

By Sabrina Corlette, Linda J. Blumberg, and Kevin Lucia

Sabrina Corlette and colleagues, who note that "a key element of the
strategy of the [Affordable Care Act] to expand coverage was to fix
flaws in the individual market that made it difficult for people with
health problems to obtain adequate, affordable insurance," describe the
significant transformation of this market. Read More >>

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Specialty Substance Use Disorder Treatment Admissions Steadily Increased
In The Four Years After Medicaid Expansion

By Brendan Saloner and Johanna Catherine Maclean

Brendan Saloner and Johanna Catherine Maclean present new evidence on
how the Medicaid expansion led to rapid increases in specialty substance
use disorder treatment. Read More >>

LEADING TO HEALTH

A New Approach To Mental Health Care, Imported From Abroad

By Rob Waters

Rob Waters examines how a transformative care strategy, tested and
proven in Trieste, Italy, works in Los Angeles, California. Read More >>

This article appears in Health Affairs' series Leading To Health.

GRANTWATCH

Foundation Funding To Research And Advance The ACA

By Lee L. Prina

Uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues. Aligning with
the theme of the journal's March 2020 issue, the Affordable Care Act
Turns 10, the March GrantWatch column (free access) contains examples of
foundation-funded efforts-from California to Maine-related to the
ACA, including on Medicaid expansion. Read More >>

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About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal
at the intersection of health,
health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal
is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found
through healthaffairs.org , Health Affairs Today
, and Health Affairs Sunday
Update .  

Project HOPE is a global health and
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health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

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