Friday, October 14, 2022 | The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Dear John,
In case you missed it, we hosted a briefing last week at Main Street Connect in Rockville, Maryland. Watch the recording from the event on our LinkedIn page, and sign up for our Events list to receive updates about our monthly programming.
Standing Up For My Sister
In her Narrative Matters essay, featured in October’s Disability & Health themed issue, Courtney Van Houtven discusses the importance of integrating family caregivers into the health care team for patients with intellectual disabilities.
In the piece, Van Houtven tells the story of caring for her sister, Megan, who had Russell-Silver syndrome, after complications following a heart surgery.
Despite initial improvements while staying in the intensive care unit, Megan passed away after
twenty-one days in the hospital. Van Houtven, Megan’s secondary caregiver, was not even notified.
"When I think of my sister’s final hospital stay, I am grateful for the times I had by her side, trying to make her feel less alone, trying to advocate for her... But I regret that I was not able to be even more a part of her care team," writes Van Houtven.
Van Houtven writes that health care is not set up for efficient information exchange with families, and caregivers are not always present when morning rounds occur at a patient’s bedside
She writes that using forms with simple prompts—"Does your loved one seem worse today?" or "What are you noticing that we should know?"—could help caregivers prioritize communicating information that is vital to treatment planning.
Van Houtven also narrates her story on the Narrative Matters podcast, which you can listen to here.
Yesterday one of our previously featured authors, Emily Wang of Yale University, was recognized as one of the recipients of the MacArthur Foundation's new "Genius"
grant.
Wang has worked to improve the health of individuals and communities affected by mass incarceration and has published several papers in Health
Affairs.
Elsewhere in Forefront, Sean Tunis and coauthors discuss the debate over Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies (TCET), which is expected to be a pathway for improving Medicare coverage of new medical devices.
Edith G Walsh and couauthors discuss four learnings from the FAI that are not part of the Medicare Advantage CY 2023 Final Rule but may be considered by Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) to better meet enrollee needs.
Are you enjoying articles from Forefront? Join Health Affairs Insider to show your support for high-value health policy news, commentary, and
analysis.
Disability And Health Spotlight: Art Enables
Health Affairs' Ryann Tanap and Vabren Watts interview Tony Brunswick, executive director of Art Enables, about his organization and its work and impact on artists with disabilities.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat 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.
