Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Nurses Are Exhausted; Oregon's Death With Dignity Act Right To Remove Residency Requirement
Modern Healthcare: Many Of America’s Nurses Are Angry—And They Have Every Right To Be
March 11 began year three of the COVID-19 pandemic as declared by the World Health Organization. This global crisis has taken its toll in suffering, economic distress and over 6 million lives lost. As the vanguard of the pandemic response, nurses continue to face unrelenting and long-standing challenges. Healthcare leaders in every setting must sustain solutions to support and retain their nursing workforce. The delivery of quality and equitable patient care today and post-pandemic depends on leaders’ actions now. (Loressa Cole and Ernest Grant, 4/5)
Seattle Times: Allow Terminally Ill Patients From Out Of State To Access Aid-In-Dying
Last week, Oregon became the first state to stop enforcing its residency requirement for medical assistance in dying. Following a lawsuit brought by an Oregon physician and Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group campaigning for better end-of-life options, the state settled in favor of ending the restriction. The case was prompted by a southwest Washington resident who felt the care he was looking for was not easily available and sought help in nearby Oregon. For the first time since 1997, terminally ill patients from out of state can now avail themselves of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. (Anita Hannig, 4/4)
The Boston Globe: Every Child Deserves Good Health. That Requires Urgent Action On Equity
The statistics are grimly familiar: A child born in Roxbury has a life expectancy almost 30 years lower than a child born in Back Bay. Infant mortality rates are more than twice as high in Black families compared with white families in the United States. As leaders who have worked in the health care field for decades, we believe the racial disparities that lead to such heartbreaking inequities in health outcomes for children must be addressed immediately. (Kevin B. Churchwell and Michelle A. Williams, 4/5)
Bloomberg: NHS Shropshire Maternity Scandal Shows Danger Of Dogma
A five-year investigation into the avoidable deaths of 201 babies and nine mothers at a U.K. hospital — described by one British newspaper as “the worst maternity scandal in history” — has ignited a debate over health care that has ramifications outside of Britain. (Martin Ivens, 4/5)
Stat: Congress Should Extend A Home Hospital Care Waiver
Hospitals can be places of healing and, at times, harm, particularly for older adults with complex medical conditions. For appropriately selected patients requiring hospital care, home hospital care offers the benefits of hospital care in the comfort and safety of the home and facilitates better understanding of patients’ medical and social context. Home hospital programs across the country expanded after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began to pay for these services in November 2020 as a remedy for the pressures hospitals faced during the pandemic. (Constantinos Michaelidis and Candra Szymanski, 4/5)
Modern Healthcare: Dueling Opinions: What’s Challenging The Nation’s Nursing Homes?
In late February, the White House released an outline on proposed nursing home reforms, including minimum staffing requirements and other goals concerning quality, safety and oversight. Like hospitals, nursing homes have been hammered by workforce issues during the pandemic. What are some changes that could help with staffing? (Brian Perry and Susan Reinhard, 4/5)
Stat: In The Future, We Should Spend More On Prescriptions Drugs, Not Less
The conventional wisdom that we need to reduce spending on prescription drugs is all wrong. In an ideal health care system, we’d spend more on drugs, not less. Rather than spending trillions of dollars on hospital infrastructure, moderately effective palliative treatments, and burdensome administrative processes, the U.S. could spend a smaller sum on powerful medicines that prevent, control, and even cure disease. Access to a larger pool of innovative medicines would improve life for everyone, but especially for historically marginalized groups who bear the heavy economic and health burdens of disease. If more medical conditions could be managed with medications rather than with frequent doctor or hospital visits, we would likely see reduced overall health care costs and less variation in health status across social groups and geography. (Jean-Francois Formela and John Stanford, 4/5)
