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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**July 19, 2020**

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FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT

COVID-19 FEATURE TOPIC-NYC Health + Hospitals

The COVID-19 Shadow Pandemic: Meeting Social Needs For A City In
Lockdown
By Jenifer Clapp, Alessandra Calvo-Friedman, Susan Cameron, Natalie
Kramer, Samantha Lily Kumar, Emily Foote, Jenna Lupi, Opeyemi Osuntuyi,
and Dave A. Chokshi

Addressing patients' social needs is key to helping patients heal from
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), preventing the spread of the virus,
and reducing its disproportionate burden on low-income communities and
communities of color. Read More >>

Coping With Trauma, Celebrating Life: Reinventing Patient And Staff
Support During The COVID-19 Pandemic

By Eric Wei, Jeremy Segall, Yvette Villanueva, Linh B. Dang, Vladimir I.
Gasca, M. Pilar Gonzalez, Matilde Roman, Ivelesse Mendez-Justiniano,
Andrea G. Cohen, and Hyung J. Cho

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges to the New York
City Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H) system. Besides ramping up capacity
and adapting operations quickly to handle the patient surge, NYC H+H had
to find new ways to provide emotional and psychological support for
patients, families, and staff. Read More >>

Using Information Technology To Improve COVID-19 Care At New York City
Health + Hospitals

By R. James Salway, David Silvestri, Eric Wei, and Michael Bouton

As the COVID-19 pandemic surged in New York City, the city's public
hospital system, New York City Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H), recognized
that innovative technological solutions were needed to respond to the
crisis. Read More >>

COVID-19

COVID-19 And Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Health Risk, Employment, And
Household Composition

Thomas M. Selden and Terceira A. Berdahl

Thomas Selden and Terceira Berdahl used data from the Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey to explore potential explanations for
racial-ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalizations and mortality.
Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

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CULTURE OF HEALTH
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Association Of A Sweetened Beverage Tax With Changes In Beverage Prices
And Purchases At Independent Stores

By Sara N. Bleich, Hannah G. Lawman, Michael T. LeVasseur, Jiali Yan,
Nandita Mitra, Caitlin M. Lowery, Ana Peterhans, Sophia Hua, Laura A.
Gibson, and Christina A. Roberto

A number of countries around the world and cities in the US have adopted
sugar-sweetened beverage taxes with the goal of reducing consumption and
raising revenue. Sara Bleich and coauthors examine data from
Philadelphia, focusing on sales at small, independent stores, which can
receive frequent visits by residents, particularly in low-income
communities. Read More >>

Cost-Effectiveness Of A Workplace Ban On Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Sales:
A Microsimulation Model

By Sanjay Basu, Laurie M. Jacobs, Elissa Epel, Dean Schillinger, and
Laura Schmidt

Another approach to reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is
to ban their sale at the workplace. Sanjay Basu and coauthors simulate
the effect if such a ban were adopted statewide in California, based on
results from a ban implemented at the University of California San
Francisco. Read More >>

The Health Effects Of Expanding The Earned Income Tax Credit: Results
From New York City

By Emilie Courtin, Kali Aloisi, Cynthia Miller, Heidi L. Allen, Lawrence
F. Katz, and Peter Muennig

Federal and state Earned Income Tax Credits supplement the earnings of
low-wage workers and have been shown through observational studies to
have modest positive health effects. Emilie Courtin and coauthors use
experimental data to assess the health effects of Paycheck Plus in New
York City, which supplemented the relatively small Earned Income Tax
Credits available to adults without dependent children. Read More >>

Tackling Social Determinants Of Health Around The Globe

By Alan R. Weil

Alan Weil spoke with Sir Michael Marmot, who has led efforts around the
world to get policy makers to understand and act on the role social
factors play in health and health equity.
Read More >>

Increases In Women's Political Representation Associated With
Reductions In Child Mortality In Brazil

By Philipp Hessel, María José González Jaramillo, Davide Rasella, Ana
Clara Duran, and Olga L. Sarmiento

Philipp Hessel and coauthors investigate the association between female
political participation in Brazil and under-five mortality rates, as
well as potential connections to the rollout of a conditional cash
transfer program and a primary health care program.
Read More >>

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

COVID-19 FEATURE TOPIC-NYC Health + Hospitals

Using Interfacility Transfers To 'Level-Load' Demand From Surging
COVID-19 Patients: Lessons From NYC Health + Hospitals

By Leon Boudourakis, David M. Silvestri, Shaw Natsui, R. James Salway,
Mona Krouss, Amit Uppal, Alex Izaguierre, Mathew Siegler, Sonya
Sackner-Bernstein, Katelyn Prieskorn, Eric K. Wei (7/16/20)

Redistributing patients from greater- to lesser-impacted
hospitals-so-called "level-loading" demand for inpatient
capacity-may help systems reduce strain where it is most jeopardizing.
Traditional interfacility transfer processes, however, may not be
designed for transfers of large numbers of patients per day, as may be
necessary for effective level-loading during a disaster. Read More >>

How NYC Health + Hospitals Protected Its Workforce In The Face Of
Shortage

By Syra Madad, Laura Iavicoli, Paul Albertson, Danielle Dibari, Priya
Dhagat, Mary Fornek (7/16/20)

Through a rigorous stewardship of supply chain management,
centralization, and various conservation strategies, NYC Health +
Hospitals maintained supplies of vital equipment and medical supplies
such as PPE and ventilators despite numerous supply chain upheavals.
Read More >>

Revisiting The Role Of Law And Politics In Pandemic Response At NYC
Health + Hospitals

By Deborah Brown and Andrea G. Cohen (7/16/20)

The regulatory mindset that typically limits innovation can be turned on
its head in an emergency or pandemic like the one we are confronting. In
those unique, life-altering situations, there is a recognition from
policy makers that providers must be able to operate more freely, pivot
and adjust to meet emergent needs, and keep our patients and communities
safe. Read More >>

COVID-19

Supporting Health Care Delivery In Low-Income Areas During COVID-19

By Shivani A. Shah, Michael E. Chernew, and Nancy D. Beaulieu (7/17/20)

COVID-19 has created significant financial hardship for health care
providers. In the course of crafting and implementing policy responses,
it is important to consider their potential impact on the most
vulnerable providers and the patients that depend on them. Read More >>

Early Impact Of CMS Expansion Of Medicare Telehealth During COVID-19

By Seema Verma (7/15/20)

Today, we share data highlighting the impact of telehealth on
beneficiary access, following the expansion of telehealth for Medicare
during the coronavirus pandemic. We also discuss how we are using this
information to assess whether these expanded telehealth policies should
remain in place beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency. Read More
>>

Creating Incentives To Narrow The Gap In Health Outcomes: Expanding
Value Assessment To Incorporate Health Inequality

By Jason Shafrin and Meena Venkatachalam (7/15/20)

Treatments developed for patient populations with disproportionately
poor outcomes should be valued more than those for individuals who
already can expect good health outcomes.
Read More >>

Socially Relevant Variables In US State COVID-19 Surveillance Reporting:
A Report Card

By Marion Boulicault, Ann Caroline Danielsen, Joseph Bruch, Amelia
Tarrant, Alexander Borsa, Sarah S. Richardson (7/14/20)

To understand disparities in COVID-19 incidence and outcomes, socially
relevant variables such as age, gender/sex, race/ethnicity, and
comorbidity status must be analyzed in correspondence with one another.
Only with data on a range of variables and the interplay between them
can we effectively respond to the pandemic. Read More >>

For Pediatric Primary Care Providers, Federal Relief Funds During The
Pandemic May Be Inadequate

By Kao-Ping Chua (7/14/20)

The substantial delay in support for pediatric primary care providers
during the pandemic raises troubling questions about the degree to which
the federal government prioritizes pediatric primary care. A more
inclusive approach to allocating relief funds would go a long way toward
putting these questions to rest. Read More >>

1,000 Serious Illness Conversations: Delivering On What Matters Most
During The Pandemic And Beyond

By Juliet Jacobsen and Vicki A. Jackson (7/15/20)

In addition to rethinking how hospice is provided, we need to think
beyond the period of time encompassed by hospice-the last six months
of life-to better align care with the values and goals of medically
complex patients with uncertain prognoses. Read More >>

**Asian Americans Facing High COVID-19 Case Fatality**

By Brandon W. Yan, Fiona Ng, Janet Chu, Janice Tsoh, and Tung Nguyen
(7/13/20)

In San Francisco, a steady trend in COVID-19 deaths has gone largely
unnoticed until recently: Asian Americans consistently account for
nearly half of COVID-19 deaths. For a city that is one-third Asian
American, the disproportionate number of deaths appears striking, yet
this highlights an even more worrisome statistic: Asian Americans
experience a four-times higher case fatality rate than that of the
overall population. Read More >>

In The Shadows Of COVID-19, A Devastating Epidemic Rages On

By Marcus Plescia and Elizabeth Ruebush (7/13/20)

As the health care system responds to surges of COVID-19 cases across
the country, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis
reminds us that there's another epidemic that doesn't show signs of
slowing down: sexually transmitted infections. Read More >>

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FOLLOWING THE ACA

New Proposed Rule On Grandfathered Plans; Court Strikes Abortion Double
Billing Rule

By Katie Keith (7/13/20)

On July 10, the federal government proposed allowing grandfathered group
plans to impose higher cost-sharing requirements without losing
grandfathered status. Separately, a Maryland district court vacated and
enjoined the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing its
"double billing" rule, under which insurers must send and enrollees
must pay two separate monthly bills, one for abortion services and one
for all other services. Read More >>

PAYMENT

Critical Considerations For Condition-Based Alternative Payment Models:
A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

By Prakash Jayakumar, Jonathan O'Donnell, Olivia Manickas-Hill, Mark
Japinga, Chad Mather, Mark B. McClellan, and Kevin Bozic (7/17/20)

Condition-based payment offers a viable and exciting path forward for
specialist-driven, value-based care, but efforts are still in early
stages. Diverse initiatives will be needed in the coming years to expand
new model designs to a wider range of conditions and assist in the long,
difficult process of integrating and transforming delivery models. Read
More >>

ELSEWHERE@HEALTH AFFAIRS

Narrative Matters: Poems About Health Care

(7/17/20)

In April, three winning poems from Health Affairs' second poetry
contest were published in the journal. Here we feature some of our other
favorites from the contest on the Blog.
Read More >>

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About Health Affairs

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at the intersection of health,
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through healthaffairs.org , Health Affairs Today
, and Health Affairs Sunday
Update .  

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published Health Affairs since 1981.

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