Tag: Disparities

Main Entrance Of Modern Hospital Building With Signs.

To Address COVID-19 Disparities, 340B Hospitals Need More Flexibility

Sravya Chary Leave a comment

By Sravya Chary

Many racial minorities and low-income individuals rely on 340B hospitals and associated child sites for access to discounted drugs and charity care.

In 1992, Congress enacted the 340B program as an avenue of access to prescription medication for “the nation’s most vulnerable patient populations.” Hospital savings incurred from purchasing 340B drugs at a steep discount are invested in charity care programs to enhance patient services and access to care.

The 340B program is an essential component of the COVID-19 response. Increased flexibility for 340B covered entities is necessary to address disparities faced by marginalized communities.

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empty hospital bed

COVID-19 Underscores Racial Disparity in Advance Directives

Stephen Wood Leave a comment

Cross-posted from The Hastings Center Bioethics Forum, where it originally appeared on May 26, 2020. 

By Stephen P. Wood

During a recent shift, I was the primary provider for a man in his 70s who was brought in by ambulance with respiratory failure. He had been sick for two days with a fever and a cough, weak and short of breath. The chest x-ray performed at his bedside revealed the diffuse, fluffy markings that are familiar signs of pneumonitis from COVID-19.

After giving him oxygen to improve his breathing, treating his fever, and running tests that are standard for COVID-19 patients, I clicked the admission button to cue him up for a bed. My patient and I then discussed goals of care and had a frank discussion about advance directives. He did not have an advance directive, but he knew he did not want to be resuscitated. He did not want to be put on a ventilator, go on dialysis, or receive artificial nutrition. He was quite clear and did not hesitate about these decisions. We signed the advance directive and filed it away in his chart.

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view of Chicago

What Two Neighborhoods in Chicago Show About Disparities During COVID-19

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Michael Atalla

Minorities, especially African-Americans in metropolitan areas, are being infected with and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than their white counterparts.

This phenomenon is occurring in many large cities like New York, Detroit, and New Orleans. This piece focuses on Chicago — arguably the most segregated city in all of America. Comparing two zip codes within Chicago city limits with similar population sizes but divergent racial composition, the disparities are striking.

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A data set that looks like America

Oliver Kim Leave a comment

By Oliver Kim

May marks the annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which recognizes the history and contributions of this diverse population in the United States. Accounting for that diversity though is one of the challenges facing the Asian American-Pacific Islander (AAPI) community: for example, the Library of Congress commemorative website recognizes that AAPI is a “rather broad term” that can include

all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).

Understanding that diversity has huge policy and political implications, particularly in health policy. Read More

Housing Equity Week in Review

Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research Leave a comment

This week was all about fair housing. Particularly, the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing rule and recent attempts to dismantle it. Here’s the round-up for last week, January 29 – February 5, 2017:

  • Two bills are attempting to abolish the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing rule of the Obama administration. A review of Fair Housing, the rule, and the proposed bill in the context of a tradition opposing desegregation, via City Lab
  • Scott Burris and Abraham Gutman contribute to Philly.com and dive into Section 3 of the bill, which bans funds for geo-spatial data on housing disparities and the dangers of that to evidence based policy.
  • “Ten States where People Can’t Really Afford Rent.” CheatSheet.org shares the 2016 National Low Income Housing Coalition Out of Reach Report

We’ve talked a little about fair housing before. In case you missed it, we interviewed Christopher Bonastia about his book, “Knocking at the Door” back in November.

Did we miss any big housing, law and equity stories this week? Let us know!

To Watch: Rural Enrollment on Exchanges

mlawrence Leave a comment

As we gear up for a second year of exchange marketplace enrollment, one issue to keep an eye on is the success we have at getting people who live in rural areas onto the healthcare rolls.  As pointed out in today’s Kaiser Health News write-up (here), there is potential for the ACA to increase rural health disparities, even while it gets more people insured, because many of the efforts to encourage enrollment–think navigators, enrollment centers, advertising, and outreach–just work better in urban areas.  For some reading on this issue, see the Kaiser Family Foundation’s posting here, the HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration’s report here, and the Rural Health Foundation’s roundup here.