Health Care - Bill of Health

LOMBARDIA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 26, 2020: Empty hospital field tent for the first AID, a mobile medical unit of red cross for patient with Corona Virus. Camp room for people infected with an epidemic.

The Fourth Wave of COVID-19: The Effects of Trauma on Health Care Workers

March 11, 2021March 29, 2021 Stephen Wood Leave a comment

This post is the introduction to our newest digital symposium, In Their Own Words: COVID-19 and the Future of the Health Care Workforce. All contributions to the symposium will be available here.

By Stephen Wood

On this day one year ago, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared COVID-19 a pandemic, sounding the alarm about the international threat posed by the virus.

Today, one year later, I fear the end is not in sight. In fact, I believe that we are on the precipice of a fourth wave.

The fourth wave will strike the people on the frontlines of this pandemic — health care workers. It will be the effects of the trauma that health care workers entrenched in this pandemic have faced. And it is likely to have significant and lasting effects on our health care system.

Hundred dollar bills rolled up in a pill bottle

Ensuring 340B Discounts Trickle Down to Low-Income Patients

March 2, 2021March 1, 2021 Sravya Chary Leave a comment

By Sravya Chary

The 340B prescription drug program was created with the original intent of providing discounted drugs to vulnerable patients. However, this program inadvertently created a revenue stream for for-profit retail pharmacies and intermediaries, which is cutting into the benefit received by low-income patients.

In a previous blog post, I discussed the pitfalls of a recent 340B advisory opinion released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The aim of this opinion was to provide more clarity regarding contract pharmacy use within the 340B program. However, the opinion ultimately did not alleviate the tension between pharmaceutical manufacturers and 340B representatives.

As one facet of a long-term solution to this ongoing issue, I proposed further investigation of 340B savings to analyze whether discounts are truly trickling down to vulnerable, low-income patients.

HHS’s 340B Advisory Opinion: Helpful or Harmful?

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 Sravya Chary Leave a comment

By Sravya Chary

A recent advisory opinion released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) left many 340B advocates hungry for answers and pharmaceutical manufacturers frustrated.

The 340B program discounts the price of drugs paid by safety net hospitals to pharmaceutical manufacturers. The program is of critical importance to low-income and uninsured patients, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

HHS should take timely measures to resolve the concerns raised by the advisory opinion and resume the free flow of 340B discounted drugs to vulnerable patients.

Blue stethoscope with gavel on white background

Two Conceptions of the Right to Health Care: Video with Gabriel Scheffler

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

The Health Law Policy, Bioethics, and Biotechnology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of new scholarship in these fields from the world’s leading experts.

The workshop is led by Professor I. Glenn Cohen, and presenters come from a wide range of disciplines and departments.

In this video, Gabriel Scheffler gives a preview of his paper, “Health Care Reform and Two Conceptions of the Right to Health Care,” which he will present at the Health Law Policy workshop on November 30, 2020. Watch the full video below:

COVID-19 and the State of Health and Social Care in England

October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 John Tingle Leave a comment

By John Tingle

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated challenges facing the provision of health and social care in England, a recent report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) finds.

The CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Every year they produce an assessment of the state of the country’s health and social care. The yearly lookbacks include information on trends, challenges, successes, failures and opportunities.

The most recent report analyzes service provision both pre- and post COVID-19, and draws key conclusions from this information. From a patient safety perspective, the report contains important lessons about issues the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus. The report also highlights trailing patient safety problems that existed before the pandemic, and are still present as England grapples with the pandemic’s second wave.

Medicine doctor and stethoscope in hand touching icon medical network connection with modern virtual screen interface, medical technology network concept

Regulation of Access to Clinical Data in Chile’s New Constitution

October 7, 2020October 6, 2020 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Gabriela Y. Novoa and Alexis M. Kalergis

As Chileans prepare to vote on whether or not to create a new Constitution, an issue worth considering relative to this reform concerns access to clinical data.

The Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile dates back to 1980, and, in the past decades, has undergone several amendments, including key reforms in August 1989, August 2005, and August 2019. As part of this last modification, it was agreed to organize a plebiscite to democratically decide whether or not to elaborate an entirely new constitutional text. If the alternative of generating a new constitution is adopted, it will consist of a constitution written from square one, rather than a modification to the existing text.

As part of the public discussion relative to the potential approval of the need for a new constitution, an open debate has taken place about which issues should or should not be incorporated into this new text.

Among several important themes, the need to regulate the access to clinical data of patients, also called “interoperability,” arises as a major one. Such an issue is linked to the rights to life, to health and privacy protection, individual honor and personal data and property, which are currently established as constitutional guarantees by Article 19 of the current Constitution. Further, the legal framework dealing with this issue is currently mainly found in Law No. 20,584, which regulates the Rights and Duties of individuals in connection with actions associated to their health care, and in Law No. 19,628 (on the protection of the privacy of individuals).

Violence Against Health Care Workers: Legislative Responses

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 Stephen Wood Leave a comment

By Stephen Wood

COVID-19 and other diseases aren’t the only threat to health care workers. Violence in the workplace is a common occurrence and on the rise.

Despite these troubling trends, the policy response at both federal and state levels has, so far, been lacking.

In a recent survey of nurses, 59% reported that they had been the victims of workplace violence. More than half of those respondents went on to report that they were not satisfied with how the incidents were handled.

Santiago, Chile - Crosswalk in long-exposure.

Chile’s New Constitution, the Right to Health, and Health System Reforms

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Marco Antonio Nuñez

During these months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile, the need to align the constitutional process with long-postponed structural reforms to the health system has become evident among public health experts.

Capitalizing on this moment might avoid the possibility of a constitutional right to health becoming a dead letter or being reduced only to the prosecution of particular cases, postponing again the aspirations of the majority of Chileans.

Although the Chilean Constitution promulgated under the dictatorship in 1980 and subsequently reformed in several of its chapters recognizes “The right to the protection of health,” it has been tainted by authoritarianism from its origin, and promotes a subsidiary role of the state in health.

Health care workers in personal protective equipment attend to a patient.

How Much Help Do Health Care Systems Need to Survive Coronavirus?

May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Michael Simkovic and Laleh Jalilian

Coronavirus has caused health care institutions’ precariously balanced finances to deteriorate by requiring the suspension of elective procedures in order to mitigate the spread of disease.

One of us has previously noted that less than 8% of the CARES Act stimulus package may reach the health care system, although there are options available to state governments and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to increase this amount. How much additional funding would it actually take to enable the health care system to continue functioning at close to normal capacity?

hospital equipment, including heart rate monitor and oxygen monitor functioning at bedside.

Why COVID-19 is a Chronic Health Concern for the US

April 6, 2020April 7, 2020 Daniel G. Aaron Leave a comment

By Daniel Aaron

The U.S. government has ratified a record-breaking $2 trillion stimulus package just as it has soared past 100,000 coronavirus cases and 1,500 deaths (as of March 27). The U.S. now has the most cases of any country—this despite undercounting due to continuing problems in testing Americans on account of various scientific and policy failures.

Coronavirus has scared Americans. Public health officials and physicians are urging people to stay at home because this disease kills. Many have invoked the language of war, implying a temporary battle against a foreign foe. This framing, though it may galvanize quick support, disregards our own systematic policy failures to prevent, test, and trace coronavirus, and the more general need to solve important policy problems.

Coronavirus is an acute problem at the individual level, but nationally it represents a chronic concern. No doubt, developing innovative ways to increase the number of ventilators, recruit health care workers, and improve hospital capacity will save lives in the short-term — despite mixed messages from the federal government. But a long-term perspective is needed to address the serious problems underlying our country’s systemic failures across public health.

Tag: Health Care