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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs            

**November 29, 2020**

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THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG

COVID-19

How One Foundation Is Using Research To Enhance Its COVID-19 Response
Grant Making

By Sophie Wheelock, Mark A. Zezza, and David Sandman (11/24/20)

Dedicating certain staffers and funding to research and analytics can
help foundations target their grant making to those most in need and
provide important information to grantees, especially during the
COVID-19 pandemic.The New York State Health Foundation, with a
longstanding practice of doing research and data analysis, for example,
analyzed near real-time US Census Bureau data to determine food scarcity
trends in the state during the pandemic. Read More >>

Factors That Shape Notification Of Health Care Outbreaks Of COVID-19

By Martha Ngoh, Kate Heyer, Maureen Tierney, Dawn Terashita, and Moon
Kim (11/24/20)

Collaborative and coordinated efforts between public health agencies and
health care facilities to manage notification of COVID-19 outbreaks in
health care facilities can help prevent and control the spread of the
virus. Read More >>

DISPARITIES

Health Equity Should Be A Key Value In Value-Based Payment And Delivery
Reform

By Sahil Sandhu, Robert S. Saunders, Mark B. McClellan, and Charlene A.
Wong (11/25/20)

The COVID-19 pandemic has hastened the need to prioritize health equity
in value-based payment reform. Going beyond identifying the persistent
health disparities in our system will require taking concrete steps
related to performance measurement, reimbursement, and care delivery.
Read More >>

Ten Urgent Reforms To Protect The CDC And FDA From Harmful Political
Interference

By Peter Suwondo, Timothy Westmoreland, and Howard P. Forman (11/24/20)

Confidence in our health agencies is key to saving lives, and we have
seen the damage that comes from their politicization. The time has come
to ensure that nothing similar ever happens again. Read More >>

PHARMACEUTICALS & MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Balancing Lower US Prescription Drug Prices And Innovation-Part 1

By Steven M. Lieberman, Paul B. Ginsburg, and Kavita Patel (11/24/20)

An expert panel convened by the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for
Health Policy recently explored the implications of lower US drug prices
on pharmaceutical innovation and ways to minimize adverse effects. Read
More >>

Balancing Lower US Prescription Drug Prices And Innovation-Part 2

By Steven M. Lieberman, Paul B. Ginsburg, and Kavita Patel (11/25/20)

Balancing the tension between lowering U.S. drug prices while sustaining
robust research and development investment poses a complex challenge for
policymakers and raises the fundamental question addressed in this
two-part blog post: how can the U.S. minimize the adverse effects of
lower drug prices on innovation? Read More >>

Administration Finalizes Most-Favored-Nation Drug Pricing Rule At The
Last Minute

By Rachel Sachs (11/23/20)

As published in Interim Final Rule (IFR) form, the most-favored-nation
rule has changed in several important respects since its initial
introduction more than two years ago. For example, the IFR imposes a
mandatory nationwide program and jettisons the complex vendor model that
supported the original proposal. Read More >>

Administration Finalizes Drug Pricing Rebate Rule At The Last Minute

By Rachel Sachs (11/23/20)

As originally proposed, the rebate rule would have applied not only to
Medicare Part D but also to Medicaid Managed Care Organizations. CMS
decided to remove Medicaid MCOs from the scope of the safe harbor
changes in the final rebate rule. Also, Secretary Azar confirmed that
the rule is not projected to increase federal spending, Medicare
beneficiary premiums, or patients' total out-of-pocket costs, despite
CMS estimates to the contrary. Read More >>

TELEHEALTH

Addressing Privacy Concerns Central To Success Of Telehealth Use Among
Undocumented Immigrants

By Altaf Saadi and Jorge A. Rodriguez (11/23/20)

As telehealth plays a larger role in care delivery, privacy and security
must be at the forefront when implementing telehealth for undocumented
immigrants. Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

EYE ON HEALTH REFORM

The Election; The ACA At The Supreme Court

By Katie Keith

With states poised to certify the results of the 2020 presidential
election, Katie Keith outlines the likely legislative priorities for a
Biden administration. She also outlines the possible paths for the
Supreme Court's decision in California v. Texas, a case that
challenges the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Read More
>>

THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE

Meaningful Use And Medical Home Functionality In Primary Care Practice

By Diane R. Rittenhouse, James A. Wiley, Lars E. Peterson, Lawrence P.
Casalino, and Robert L. Phillips

To improve health care quality and decrease costs, both the public and
private sectors continue to make substantial investments in the
transformation of primary care. Central to these efforts is the
patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model and the adoption and
meaningful use of health information technology (IT). Diane Rittenhouse
and coauthors used 2018 national family medicine data to provide a
perspective on the implementation of PCMH and health IT elements in a
variety of US physician practices. Read More >>

This paper appears in an ongoing

**Health Affairs**article series, The Practice of Medicine
, which is
supported by The Physicians Foundation.

FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT: COVID-19

Ensuring Equitable Access To COVID-19 Vaccines In The US: Current System
Challenges And Opportunities

By Angela K. Shen, Richard Hughes IV, Erica DeWald, Sara Rosenbaum, Amy
Pisani, and Walt Orenstein

Angela Shen of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and coauthors offer
recommendations to public and private leaders to help ensure equitable
access to all who are recommended for COVID-19 vaccination, regardless
of ability to pay, where people live, or historic or systemic
limitations to health care. Read More >>

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New podcast!

Ensuring Equitable Access To A COVID-19 Vaccine Once It's Here

Alan Weil, Angela K. Shen

Listen to Alan Weil interview Angela Shen, lead author of today's
featured article, on equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine once it's
available.

Listen here.

BOOK REVIEWS

An American Disgrace

Jeff Goldsmith reviews Deaths of Despair, by Anne Case and Angus Deaton.

Read More >>

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Antiscience In The COVID-19 Era

Stephen Morrison reviews Stuck, by Heidi Larson. 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
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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