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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**May 3, 2020**

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FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT

Thousands Of Lives Could Be Saved In The US During The COVID-19 Pandemic
If States Exchanged Ventilators

By Daniel Adelman

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, concerns have been raised about a
nationwide shortage of mechanical ventilators, a necessary element in
saving lives. With the peak number of COVID-19 cases varying by state,
there have already been voluntary exchange efforts to make ventilators
available when and where they are needed most. Daniel Adelman assesses
the benefits of a potential nationwide logistical operation, to be
organized and administered by the US military. Read More >>

SPONSORED BY THE PRIMARY CARE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION  

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Primary Care in COVID-19 Relief, Response, Resiliency Webinar Series

What does primary care need to strengthen COVID-19 response? How can
primary care reboot and reopen? Join the Primary Care Development
Corporation (PCDC) and special guests in a free, 3-part webinar series
to share insights and conversation on primary care's role in the "new
normal" and what primary care needs to sustain essential services going
forward and reopen even stronger.

Register Now >>

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

COVID-19

The COVID-19 Pandemic And Rural Hospitals-Adding Insult To Injury

By Adrian Diaz, Karan Chhabra, and John Scott (5/3/20)

Amidst turbulent times, not only do we have the opportunity to use rural
hospitals to help end this pandemic, but we can also financially secure
the backbone of health care delivery for the 20 percent of Americans who
receive care at rural hospitals. Read More >>

State Strategies For Helping Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder
Through The COVID-19 Epidemic

By Jocelyn Guyer and Karen Scott (5/2/20)

In the days and weeks ahead, it will be critical for more states to
dedicate attention and resources to the needs of this particularly
vulnerable population, not just by updating their policies, but also by
providing frontline providers and consumers with clear, authoritative
information on their options during the crisis. Read More >>

Protecting Incarcerated People In The Face Of COVID-19: A Health And
Human Rights Perspective

By Donald M. Berwick, Leanne Gale, Faith Barksdale, and Megan Hauptman
(5/1/20)

Reports are proliferating of incarcerated individuals and staff members
in detention facilities testing positive for COVID-19, and these cases
are likely to increase exponentially unless immediate action is taken.
We must do everything we can to preserve the health, dignity, and human
rights of incarcerated people before it's too late. Read More >>

The Harm Of A Colorblind Allocation Of Scarce Resources

By Nathan T. Chomilo, Nia Heard-Garris, Malini DeSilva, and Uché
Blackstock (4/30/20)

To achieve equitable access to and distribution of care, critical race
theory must be a part of the process utilized to create broad,
population-focused guidelines. This is particularly true in the face of
the COVID-19 pandemic, which is stressing both our health care system
and society. Read More >>

In Case Parenting Wasn't Hard Enough...Here Comes Coronavirus: How One
Health System Offers Support

By Rob Lott (4/30/20)

Since 2015, Parent Connext has embedded "parenting
specialists"-experienced counselors-within the offices of a
Cincinnati health system's pediatrics practices. We spoke to the
program's director about how it's helping families cope with the
coronavirus pandemic.
Read More >>

Congress Left Big Gaps In The Paid Sick Days And Paid Leave Provisions
Of The Coronavirus Emergency Legislation

By Steven Findlay (4/29/20)

In their understandable rush to respond to the crisis, lawmakers created
access to paid sick days and paid leave which is profoundly
unfair-with arbitrary limits and winners and losers.
Read More >>

How California Counties' COVID-19 Response Benefited From The "Whole
Person Care" Program

By Nadereh Pourat, Emmeline Chuang, and Leigh Ann Haley (4/28/20)

In our April 2020 Health Affairs article, "Integrating Health And Human
Services In California's Whole Person Care Medicaid 1115 Waiver
Demonstration
," we
describe an ambitious program implemented through 25 pilots in 26
California counties to address the medical and social service needs of
the most vulnerable and highest-utilizing Medicaid beneficiaries, such
as those experiencing homelessness. In April 2020, we asked those pilots
to describe whether and how they used Whole Person Care (WPC)
partnerships and infrastructure to respond to COVID-19 and whether the
pandemic affected WPC implementation.
Read More >>

Stop Using The Term "Social Distancing"-Start Talking About "Physical
Distancing, Social Connection"

By Harris Allen, Brent Ling, and Wayne Burton (4/27/20)

We urge governmental leaders at all levels to present guidelines for
interpersonal distance in all public communications going forward as
"physical distancing, social connection."
Read More >>

Putting A Stake Through The Heart of Public Health's Eeyore Complex

By Tom Frieden (4/27/20)

Politicians ignore a public health approach to the coronavirus at their
own peril-and at the peril of their people. The world depends on
public health to prevent COVID-19 infections and deaths, as well as to
minimize social and economic disruption. Read More >>

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HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

How AI Will Change the Regulation and Organization of Medicine

By Anthony Weiss, Luke Sato, and Barak Richman (5/3/20)

Artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms present new
relationships between physicians and their tools, raising new questions
about the organization of medicine and the role of physicians. Read More
>>

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Supreme Court Rules That Insurers Are Entitled To Risk-Corridors
Payments: What The Court Said And What Happens Next

By Katie Keith (4/28/20)

The court's ruling upholds "a principle as old as the nation itself:
the government should honor its obligations." Insurers will receive
billions in unpaid risk-corridors payments, but it could take time, and
the impact will vary significantly by state and insurer. The impact of
the court's decision on litigation over cost-sharing reduction payments
is uncertain.
Read More >>

PAYMENT

Consumer Protection Realignment: Shifting Consumer Billing From
Providers To Health Plans

By John A. Sackett and Allen Dobson (5/1/20)

Consumer protection realignment would alter the balance of
responsibility between plans and providers-plans would have an
increased incentive to manage population health, and providers could
enjoy lower costs and less consumer "collection" hassle. Read More >>

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COSTS & SPENDING

What Do High Drug Prices Buy Us?

By Richard Frank, Jerry Avorn, and Aaron Kesselheim (4/29/20)

If the government negotiated for prices based on a drug's real
advantage over existing products, it could provide a better incentive
for more useful innovation as well as improve the affordability of
prescription drugs. Read More >>

PHARMACEUTICALS AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Medication "Lotteries": Is This The Most Ethical Way To Ration Scarce
Drugs?

By Jacob M. Appel and Mira Michels-Gualtieri (4/24/20)

What begins as an altruistic tool for distributing one drug will soon
become a marketing tool for distributing many. Patients' lives will
come down to numbers on a ticket-as though they were playing Powerball
or competing for a prize at the state fair. It is hard to imagine a
system more unseemly. Read More >>

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CULTURE OF HEALTH

Anchor Businesses Can Be Change Makers For Community Health Improvement

By Megan McHugh, Claude R. Maechling, and Jane L. Holl (4/27/20)

Among the priority areas for Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams is the link
between the health of a community and economic prosperity. Many business
leaders have offered wellness benefits to their employees, but leaders
have historically felt less responsibility for advancing the health of
the community at-large. An RWJF program looks at how anchor businesses
could advance health and well-being-and build a culture of health-in
their communities. Read More >>

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH

Saving Moms, Saving Lives

By Lauren Underwood (4/27/20)

Taken together, the nine bills included in the Black Maternal Health
Momnibus Act of 2020 represent a sweeping effort to address our
nation's urgent maternal mortality crisis.
Read More >>

ELDER CARE

The Health Care System Is An Untapped Resource In Combating Social
Isolation And Loneliness In Older Adults

By Dan G. Blazer and Lisa Marsh Ryerson (4/30/20)

Loneliness and social isolation are linked to more hospitalizations and
more readmissions among older adults, while chronic loneliness is
associated with more doctors' visits.
Read More >>

ELSEWHERE @HEALTH AFFAIRS

Meet The Winners Of The Narrative Matters Poetry Contest

By Jessica Bylander (5/1/20)

In honor of National Poetry Month, the Narrative Matters section of
Health Affairs is pleased to announce the three winning poems of its
second-ever poetry contest, and tell you a bit about the poets
themselves. Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

INTEGRATING SOCIAL SERVICES & HEALTH

Assessing The Capacity Of Local Social Services Agencies To Respond To
Referrals From Health Care Providers

By Matthew Kreuter, Rachel Garg, Tess Thompson, Amy McQueen, Irum Javed,
Balaji Golla, Charlene Caburnay, and Regina Greer

Health care providers are increasingly screening low-income patients for
social needs and making referrals to social services agencies to assist
in resolving them. A major assumption of this approach is that local
social services providers have the capacity and resources to help. To
explore this assumption, Matthew Kreuter and coauthors examined 711,613
requests related to 50 different social needs received from callers to
211-helplines in seven states during 2018. Read More >>

Buying Health For North Carolinians: Addressing Nonmedical Drivers Of
Health At Scale

By Zachary Wortman, Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, and Mandy Krauthamer Cohen

Since 2017 the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
has asked how its resources could be optimized to buy health, not only
health care. Zachary Wortman and coauthors describe four interconnected
initiatives that the department has implemented or is implementing to
begin integrating medical and nonmedical drivers of health. Read More >>

Integrating Health And Human Services In California's Whole Person
Care Medicaid 1115 Waiver Demonstration

By Emmeline Chuang, Nadereh Pourat, Leigh Ann Haley, Brenna O'Masta,
Elaine Albertson, and Connie Lu

California launched the Whole Person Care Pilot in 2016 with the goal of
integrating care for high-utilizing Medi-Cal (California Medicaid)
enrollees. Emmeline Chuang and colleagues describe the early experience
of the pilot, which brought together county health agencies, Medicaid
managed care plans, community-based providers, and other public
agencies.
Read More >>

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Innovative Integrated Health And Social Care Programs In Eleven
High-Income Countries

By Onil Bhattacharyya, James Shaw, Samir Sinha, Dara Gordon, Simone
Shahid, Walter P. Wodchis, and Geoffrey Anderson

Recent reports suggest that integrated health and social care programs
target specific high-needs population segments, coordinate health and
social care services to meet their clients' needs, and engage clients
and their caregivers. Onil Bhattacharyya and coauthors identified thirty
health and social care programs in eleven high-income countries that
delivered care in new ways. Read More >>

Innovative Policy Supports For Integrated Health And Social Care
Programs In High-Income Countries

By Walter P. Wodchis, James Shaw, Samir Sinha, Onil Bhattacharyya,
Simone Shahid, and Geoffrey Anderson

Walter P. Wodchis and coauthors describe the innovative policies that
national, regional, and local policy makers have used to support the
development, spread, and scale of thirty integrated health and social
care programs in eleven high-income countries. Read More >>

ENTRY POINT

Treating Children, Coaching Their Parents

By Rob Lott

The Parent Connext program in Cincinnati, Ohio, integrates social
services for families into pediatric care visits. Read More >>

(See also on Health Affairs Blog: "In Case Parenting Wasn't Hard
Enough...Here Comes Coronavirus: How One Health System Offers Support.
")

GRANTWATCH

Funders Support Integrating Health And Social Services

By Lee L. Prina

Aligning with the theme of the journal's April 2020 issue, which is
Integrating Social Services & Health, the April GrantWatch column
contains examples of foundation-funded efforts in related areas. These
include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Systems for Action national
research program; a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and
Medicine report-funded by numerous foundations-on integrating social
care into health care delivery; the Kresge Foundation's grants to five
counties to integrate health and human services systems; and more. In
the Key Personnel Changes section, read about Debbie Chang's new job and
the new president and CEO of Grantmakers In Health. Read More >>

NARRATIVE MATTERS

Read the three winning poems in the Narrative Matters poetry contest:

The Headache

By Anjali Jain

Epidemic

By Ronald O. Valdiserri

Admission

By Alex Sievert

Listen to the poems here.

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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
humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local
health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

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