Tag: Hospitals

NHS building

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

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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.

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Man in hospital.

Following the Yellow Brick Road Toward Hospital Price Transparency

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By Laura Karas

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) scored a victory on the price transparency front in June of this year with the D.C. Circuit decision in American Hospital Association v. Azar, No. 1:19-cv-03619-CJN.

The CMS final rule at issue in the suit requires price transparency for hospital items and services. The legal victory will begin to remedy the information asymmetry that has kept patients in the dark about hospital prices for far too long.

As the final rule states, its aim is to empower patients to become “active consumers” of health care “so that they can lead the drive towards value.” The rule is part of a federal effort to improve the ability of patients to make informed choices based on price and gain leverage to negotiate unreasonable hospital charges.

The American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and several other groups brought suit to contest the CMS final rule mandating that hospitals make public and update annually certain “standard charges” for hospital “items and services.”

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Money.

Conflicts of Interest in the Hospital Sector: A Q&A with Rina K. Spence

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By Chloe Reichel

Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently made headlines when the Boston Globe reported that the hospital’s president, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, held a seat on the board of Moderna, a Cambridge biotech company that is working to develop an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The hospital has a major role in a national study of the vaccine.

The hospital maintained that safeguards were put in place to protect against conflicts of interest during the collaboration. Nevertheless, amid public outcry, Nabel stepped down from the board.

But this story is just one high-profile case of what is commonplace in the hospital sector. A 2014 research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 40 percent of pharmaceutical company boards of directors had at least one member who also held, at the same time, a leadership role at an academic medical center.

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

Value-Based Reimbursement Can Decrease Spending on Medicare During COVID-19

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By Sravya Chary

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus’ disproportionate threat to the Medicare patient population has been widely discussed and acknowledged. In light of the public health crisis and an increasing financial burden placed on entities involved in Medicare cost sharing, a value-based Medicare system would not only reduce costs, but also better protect the elderly and chronically ill during the pandemic.

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hospital equipment

Taking Control During COVID-19 Through Advance Care Planning

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Stephanie Anderson and Carole Montgomery

A deep divide exists in the American health care system between patients’ values and the care they receive.

Let’s start with a story – Marcus was in his mid-40’s when he underwent high-risk heart surgery during which he suffered a brain injury. Afterward, the surgeons at first reassured his family that the surgery itself was successful (his heart was working fine) in spite of his brain injury.

Unfortunately, after many days in the ICU he remained unconscious and was not able to get off the ventilator. Specialists told the family that his brain injury was severe, and he would likely not be able to carry on a meaningful conversation or live independently ever again.

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Busy Nurse's Station In Modern Hospital

A Physician Reflects on COVID-19 and Advance Care Planning

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Shoshana Ungerleider

It was the end of a 24 hour shift in the ICU when the 85-year-old woman I had just admitted with end stage heart failure began having trouble breathing. While I knew she did not desire “aggressive measures” taken to prolong her life, I wondered what that meant in the context of this moment. Even though I was a young medical resident, I knew without swift intervention, she would not be able to survive the night. I ran into the waiting room to search for her son, her medical decision maker, but he had gone home for the night.

I returned to the bedside to see that my patient was tiring as her breathing was becoming shallow and fast. She was awake and I sat down to explain why she was feeling breathless. I explained that her condition had rapidly worsened and asked if she had ever considered a scenario where she may need a breathing tube. She had not. As her oxygen levels dropped, it quickly became clear that we had to act. What wasn’t clear to me was whether this frail woman would actually survive this hospital stay, and if she truly understood what intubation and mechanical ventilation were and whether this would cause her to suffer.

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empty hospital bed

The COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights the Necessity of Advance Care Planning

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Marian Grant

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the importance of clearly expressing personal wishes for medical care in emergency situations.

Health systems and providers across the country are seeing how important it is that all of us discuss our medical goals in advance. Not having one’s medical goals known in advance puts a burden on frontline clinicians and loved ones, because it leaves important medical decisions up to them.

You can and should speak up about the kind of medical care you would want, and tell doctors what matters to you. You also should tell those who matter most to you what you’d want if you couldn’t make decisions for yourself.

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Main Entrance Of Modern Hospital Building With Signs.

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

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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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Busy Nurse's Station In Modern Hospital

COVID-19 Clinical Negligence and Patient Safety Update

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By John Tingle

Health care law is evolving particularly rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, families in England who have lost loved ones to the virus are considering filing clinical negligence claims. And there have even been calls in some quarters to bring global lawsuits against China for breaches of international health regulations over its handling of COVID 19.

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