A new bill introduced by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Ed Markey (D-MA) would implement a one-time 60% tax on billionaires to cover the health care costs of every American for a year.

The Make Billionaires Pay Act would tax the $731 billion in wealth accumulated by the richest 0.001% of America between March 18 through August 5. This would apply towards 467 individuals.

"The legislation I am introducing today will tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during this extraordinary crisis to guarantee healthcare as a right to all for an entire year, Sen. Sanders said in a statement. "At a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a fundamental choice to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer while everyone else gets poorer and poorer. Or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders arrives to speak at a rally at the Drake University Olmsted Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

The money generated from this 60% tax would go towards covering out-of-pocket expenses for the uninsured and underinsured for one year.

The top five richest Americans Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft (MSFT) Founder Bill Gates, Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett, and Oracle (ORCL) Founder Larry Ellison would pay a combined $87.1 billion under the bill. In total, the tax would generate over $421.6 billion.

In my view, Sanders added, it is time for the Senate to act on behalf of the working class who are hurting like they have never hurt before, not the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have never had it so good."

A health care worker gives a nasal swab to a person to do a self administered test at the new federally funded COVID-19 testing site at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium on July 23, 2020 in Miami. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Make Billionaires Pay Act would cover all medical bills, including prescription drugs and coronavirus-related expenses, over the next 12 months with the tax staying in effect until January 1, 2021.

Instead of more tax breaks for the rich while more Americans die because they cannot afford to go to a doctor, let us expand Medicare and save lives by demanding that billionaires pay their fair share of taxes, Sanders said.

The popular senator also lambasted the fact that CEOs like Bezos and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk saw their net worth surge during the pandemic Bezos wealth increased by 63% while Musks nearly tripled.

Jeff Bezos would pay over $42 billion. (Photo by Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In that same period of time, over 5 million Americans have lost their employer-sponsored health care. And although President Trump pledged to reimburse hospitals for any coronavirus-related expenses for the uninsured, that still leaves non-coronavirus expenditures that could add up.

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During this unprecedented economic and public health crisis, millions of Americans are out of work and struggling to put food on the table while billionaires are getting even wealthier, Gillibrand said in a statement. Requiring billionaires to pay their fair share will help support workers and families dealing with job losses, food insecurity, housing instability and health care. Not only is this a common-sense proposal, but its a moral one and Congress should be doing all we can to assist Americans struggling right now.

This isnt the first wealth tax thats been floated through Congress: Both Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) frequently targeted the ultra wealthy throughout their presidential campaigns and each proposed their own kind of wealth tax that would go towards funding Medicare for all.

Adriana is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter@adrianambells.

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Bernie Sanders wants to tax billionaires' pandemic gains to fund health care - Yahoo Finance

Its been a long, winding road since January 2018 when Local First received impassioned feedback at our annual meeting that the price of healthcare, and health insurance premiums in particular, were crippling the business community.

As we began to explore an issue for which we had a limited track record, the importance of the Look Local lens in the complex world of healthcare became obvious.

Much like the challenges facing our downtown retail shops, our healthcare system and its local practitioners are threatened by the national trend toward consolidation of providers, which research shows leads to higher prices without measurably improving the quality of care. The corporatization and consolidation of healthcare typically results in fewer independent local healthcare providers in an increasingly complex system that lacks transparency and equity. Decisions are made in far-away corporate headquarters, making it harder to understand how to have a voice in decision-making. To tackle this trend, Local First teamed up with the local, independent healthcare practitioners of The Durango Network to listen to the community and explore options to support local, independent healthcare in the La Plata County region including Montezuma, Dolores and San Juan counties.

Thanks to initial support from the Rocky Mountain Health Foundation, we received a grant that provided critical capacity to hold focus groups with the business community to tackle local healthcare. From these discussions in 2019 came a community needs assessment recommending that we: 1) increase health literacy in the La Plata County region, and 2) develop a cooperative, local healthcare solution that increases access to care while also reducing insurance premiums. This is when we found Peak Health Alliance and their innovative healthcare cooperative hailing from the mountains of Summit County, Colorado. Similar to an agricultural cooperative, Peak Health Alliance uses the power of community purchasing to bring down the cost of healthcare while bringing the voice of the community back into the healthcare system to support transparency. The ultimate goal of this cooperative, which is officially licensed by the Colorado Division of Insurance, is to provide affordable, high-quality and locally responsive health insurance products in the marketplace. Each dollar our community saves on health insurance is a dollar that can be placed back into the economy on local produce, mortgage payments, and the other costs that make the La Plata County region a great, but expensive place to reside.

Fast forward to 2020, and we are pleased to announce that our goal of offering this type of plan in the marketplace by January 2021 is on track and heading your way - whether you are a business owner or an individual looking for affordable, local healthcare. With the incredible support and expertise of Peak Health Alliance, we have chosen to work with Bright Health who already offers coverage to Peak members in the northern part of our state. Bright Health will be new to our region for 2021, and we are pleased that our efforts appear to have driven greater marketplace diversity and interest in this remote corner of Colorado.

As we prepare for health insurance plans being available in January 2021, with rates and plan designs available this fall, we are now talking with the community about the details of engaging with us. The Southwest Health Alliance is the local decision-making arm of the Peak Health Alliance. As such, we are communicating now with local brokers to ensure they are fully equipped with information regarding the Southwest Health Alliance and Bright Health. Brokers will continue to assist both individuals and employer groups with their healthcare decision-making. Simultaneously, we are reaching out to 5,000 individuals in the business community that expressed interest in the Southwest Health Alliance plan. We are also speaking to the public at large about unique offerings such as $0 co-pays for mental health visits.

Along the way, we all get to uphold our values of transparency, choice, local self-reliance, and evidence-based decision-making. We are pleased that the Southwest Health Alliance insurance product will offer a choice of local providers as well as enhanced primary care and mental health benefits, while delivering cost-savings through partnerships with Centura (owner of Mercy Regional Medical Center), Animas Surgical Hospital, and local healthcare providers. We are still hopeful that Southwest Health System in Cortez will agree to join the Bright Health network so that Montezuma County residents can enjoy unfettered access to local care in their community.

You can find out who sits on the Steering Committee of the Southwest Health Alliance, the incredible support we have received from local governments and corporate sponsors, and how you can engage by visiting the Local First Foundation website. Sign-up for our newsletter by emailing me so that you can attend one of our many webinars to learn more about the Southwest Health Alliance before it hits the marketplace in 2021.

Get involved. The power of a cooperative is in its numbers, so our community needs to rise to the occasion, become informed, and learn what the Southwest Health Alliance has to offer. That is not only a way to engage in local healthcare and drive decisions locally, but also a way to reduce your out-of-pocket expense for healthcare. With the Southwest Health Alliance, you can now look local first in healthcare for the first time-ever. We are pleased to be offering this unique product to the community and look forward to continuing the dialogue in the upcoming months.

Monique DiGiorgio is the director of Local First and the Local First Foundation in Durango. Contact her at director@local-first.org.

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Bringing price relief and accountability to healthcare - The Durango Herald

ExploreCoronavirus: Face masks required for K-12 students in school buildings

What inspired you to get into health care? I was an state tested nursing assistant for 10 years, which allowed me to work side by side with the residents and nurses. I realized one day that I wanted to give more to the ones I was caring for. I decide with a good friend that we would attend nursing school together. As a team we applied for school and completed our 10-month program, then we sat for our LPN boards together. We successful completed. So, I inspired myself to get into health care along with a good friend.

Whats a memorable experience youve had in health care? The most memorable experience in my career is building strong relationships with the residents and families that I care for on a daily basis.

What do you want readers to know about your job right now: The things that make me extremely happy as a nurse are knowing I was able to help my residents, whether it was with giving them pain medication, helping them to the bathroom, or assist them to walk after a meal, or that I made the call to the doctor to inform him/her of a condition change, and to obtain new orders that would benefit my resident. I love leaving my residents better than he/she was when I entered the room. I always want to leave my residents with the feeling they are important, and that I heard them and responded with kindness and dignity.

COVID-19 is intimidating because there are still so many unknowns. I personally have not had to care for a patient with it; however, I know nurses who have and are still caring for those patients. We are all in this together, and together we will get through this rough time, and things will slowly get back to normal. Some call us heroes, but honestly, we are doing what nurses have always done: caring for those in need.

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Health Care Hero from Middletown: COVID-19 intimidating because there are still so many unknowns - Hamilton Journal News

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) With no end in sight, the coronavirus pandemic is causing people to plan for worst case scenarios causing people to think about the future more than ever before.

Estate planning businesses across the Triangle are seeing an increase in people wanting to write their wills, including essential workers like health care workers and teachers.

RELATED: Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

I have had a client or two that have been educators and administrators. I expect even more as time goes on and schools open back up, said Chad Thornton, the sole practitioner of the Thornton Law Firm in Raleigh.

Parents of college students who are headed to campuses filled with thousands of their peers are also looking to get their childrens affairs in order.

Next week, Im seeing three of my clients children for this purpose before they go to school. Having HIPPA authorizationsand healthcare power of attorney for their kids before we send them off has really, well theres been an uptick, saidShirley M. Diefenbach, attorney and partner with Walker Lambe Law firm in Durham.

Both attorneys say important things to consider when drafting a will include designating an executor or person to oversee an estate, deciding what happens with property and pets, and choosing beneficiaries.

You never know when you might catch COVID or might not be able to speak with people. Its important for peace of mind to know that you have someone to make those decisions. The sooner the better, said Thornton.

Thornton Law Firm in Raleigh offers house visits for appointments and consultations, they can be reached at thorntonlegal.com or 919-740-1264.

Walker Lambe Law Firm in Durham offers free consultations and virtual appointments, they can be reached at walkerlambe.com or 919-493-8411.

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Teachers, health care workers among many in Triangle updating wills amid COVID-19 - CBS17.com

This week, we honor a team of Healthcare Heroes. The staff that makes up the Cardiac Medical Imaging Team have been put to the test during this Coronavirus pandemic. They help emergency doctors and nurses provide excellent care to COVID-19 positive patients every day.

The emergency department at Community Regional Medical Center is one of the busiest in the state, and has gotten even busier with the Coronavirus crisis. Alternative care sites have been set up to accommodate the influx of patients.

Cheryl Sutton is the manager of the Cardiac Medical Imaging Team, and said communication is key to the success of her teams work to expedite care. To make it easier on emergency staff, they now go directly to the patients, outside of the emergency room, to perform electrocardiograms and echocardiograms, essentially taking pictures of patients hearts to help physicians determine which direction a patient needs to go to for care.

Cheryl said, I talk to my staff everyday. We brief, and its anything that they can see make improvements and we talk about it and we can put it in place if its for everybody and not just one person. I think it has made things smoother for everybody because Im one of these people where if you know something is broken, try to fix it so you can work together, and the right hand has to know what the left hand is doing all the time.

Normally, they use four EKG machines at a time, but now with COVID-19, Cheryl said they have used eight in the department.

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MedWatch Today: Healthcare Hero, Cardiology Medical Imaging Team - YourCentralValley.com

Key Points:

At least 4.8 million cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported and more than 158,000 people have died in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Nowhere has the challenge been more difficult than in the nations nursing homes and other long term care facilities where approximately 60,000 residents and staff have died of COVID-19.

Given the singular importance of the countrys health care providers, long-term care facilities and frontline workforce during the pandemic, as well as concerns about the viability of their continued operations absent liability protections, there were early calls for such protections at both the federal and state levels. This alert provides an update of the recent federal liability reform efforts directed at health care providers and a detailed, state-by-state review of the liability protections for providers, including the embattled nursing homes, which are already in place at the state-level.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, it became clear that providers and their health care workers were on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis. In nursing homes, especially, the already difficult work was made far more challenging and dangerous by a lack of adequate staffing as the result of the pandemic, insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), and the extreme vulnerability of the patients and residents. With the high rates of nursing home staff sickened or killed by COVID-19, one Congressional witness testified that these jobs are now more dangerous than those in the logging and commercial fishing industries.1

As outlined in depth below, seemingly overnight, through executive order, legislation, and regulation, states took the initiative to put liability protections in place. At the federal level, however, although there were early calls for protections, Congress and the administration were keenly focused on the more immediate concerns of combating the virus, providing relief funds to health care providers, and putting in place a variety of sweeping measures in an attempt to protect U.S. citizens and the economy.

Although the federal government has yet to enact liability protections for health care providers, the topic has now taken center stage in Congress. On July 27th, the Senate GOP unveiled its $1 trillion Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act. As pertinent here, the Safe to Work Act, a part of the HEALS Act, would provide liability protections to health care providers related to COVID-19.2

The proposed legislation creates an exclusive federal cause of action for medical liability claims relating to COVID-19 care. The Act would limit liability for providers and facilities to instances where it is proven by the heightened clear-and-convincing evidentiary standard that the defendant acted with gross negligence or willful misconduct and failed to make reasonable efforts to comply with applicable public health requirements.

As written, the legislation would cover all alleged COVID-related injuries that arise between December 1, 2019 and the later of the following: (1) the end of the coronavirus state of emergency declaration or (2) October 1, 2024. The Senate proposal also establishes a one year statute of limitations for these claims. Moreover, if enacted, these measures would serve as a floor for state-level liability protections, thereby preempting any state law that does not provide equal or greater protections to medical personnel and facilities.

To be sure, these are sweeping protections that would be welcomed by the health care industry. There are deep divisions and disagreements in Congress, however, regarding what the fourth COVID-19 relief package should contain and it is unclear whether, or in what form, these liability protections will ultimately be included in the final legislation. That said, it is important to note that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said for weeks that he will not allow a new COVID relief package to pass the Senate without significant liability protections.

State-Level Protections are in Place

Regardless of whether Congress enacts liability reforms or not, more than thirty states already have significant protections in place.

The following chart catalogues the present liability protections available to providers at the state level. Although some states enjoyed existing emergency provisions that extended a degree of immunity to health care providers during a declared state of emergency, many have issued new executive orders or regulation, or passed legislation, to address the issue in the wake of the current pandemic.

Though it is important to review the specific authorities and nuances of the protections in each state detailed above, in general these new measures provide protection for health care providers, except in cases of willful or wanton misconduct or gross negligence. It should be noted that many measures do make reference to the impact of COVID-19 on the facility, requiring that it have been a factor in or the direct cause of the injury.

Despite the prevalence of state-level liability protections, they certainly will not bring an end to the filing of lawsuits against providers and facilities. Nursing homes and other providers may still see the plaintiffs bar file lawsuits claiming that they are not covered by the liability protections because they acted with gross negligence while treating patients, staffing the facility or providing sufficient PPE. In addition, some plaintiffs attorneys reportedly are considering lawsuits challenging the underlying validity of these laws on Constitutional grounds. In any event, as the pandemic continues, and the health care industry across the United States continues to struggle through this historically challenging period, the call for strong liability protections at both the state and federal level will certainly not abate.

1 COVID-19 and Nursing Homes Before the H. Comm on Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, 116thCong. (2020) (statement of Dr. David Grabowski, Professor of Healthcare Policy, Harvard University), available at https://youtu.be/KlTeBCX7K50.

2 The Safe to Work Act, [S. ], 116th Cong. (2020), available here.

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Health Care Providers and the State of Liability Protections in the COVID-19 Era - JD Supra

With the COVID-19 pandemic response and civil discourse on race and health disparities raising new questions about the future of U.S. health care policy, the winners of the 2020 federal elections will face a multitude of challenges and an opportunity to reshape the health care policy landscape. While there are many plausible election outcomes, by understanding ongoing health care regulatory rulemaking processes, policy wish-lists for Republican and Democratic legislators in both the House and the Senate, and the different health care priorities that would likely be pursued under a Trump administration and Biden administration, we can make measured predictions about what 2021 has in store for U.S. health care policy.

Washington is in its regulatory season, and there are two major categories of health care regulations annual payment regulations and other high-profile regulations that are in various stages of the rulemaking process.

The House Democrats will focus on its health care agenda priorities as well as policies that serve as messaging tools in preparation for the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

With Election Day drawing near, now is the time to consider and prepare for how the outcome of the presidential election could impact the future of U.S. health policy.

The Congressional Review Act (CRA), which enables Congress to vacate regulations in their entirety via joint resolutions of disapproval, is also a key consideration as Election Day approaches.

Special thanks to Faegre Drinker summer law clerk Larissa Morgan, who assisted in drafting this alert.

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Health Care Amid and After COVID-19: Public Policy Outlook - JD Supra

BY SHARRON HALEYClarendon Sun contributor

MANNING - Two health care professionals at McLeod Health Clarendon were recognized recently for going the extra steps for their patients.

Yolanda Butler, a technician in the emergency department, received a Healthcare Hero award for her dedication and commitment to patients.

"Knowing that I was able to make a difference for a patient and their family during a difficult time is priceless," Butler said.

Linda Buskey, a respiratory therapist at McLeod Health Clarendon, received a Healthcare Hero award for commitment and dedication.

"Serving others is all in a day's work at McLeod Health Clarendon," Buskey said.

The Healthcare Hero program gives patients, their caregivers, family and friends the chance to show their support of patient services and programs at McLeod Health while also recognizing the exemplary care received from a McLeod "Healthcare Hero" health care provider.

Anyone can nominate a health care professional or caregiver by logging onto http://www.mcleodhealthcarehero.org.

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McLeod names 2 Healthcare Heroes - Sumter Item

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and a handful of state legislators have been trying to change Californias landmark mental health laws to make it easier to force treatment on people who dont want it. But bills to scrap or change the law that limits forced treatment the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, signed into law by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1967 havent made it through the Legislature.

So last year critics tried a different tack: Require an official audit of LPS and how it operates in L.A. and two other counties, presumably to show how badly the act fails, and how outdated the notion is that people should have more say in choosing their own mental health treatments.

Instead, the audit released late last month found that the act gives counties all the authority they need to treat people in crisis. The real problem, the audit found, is not the patients right to self-determination, but the failure of the state and counties to provide sufficient ongoing care and housing after the forced treatment ends. Without those services, patients end up in a dismal and destructive cycle careening from a 72-hour 5150 hold to the street, to another mental health crisis that endangers themselves or others, and back to another three-day hold. Each new breakdown can cause further lasting damage.

Counties sometimes obtain renewable yearlong conservatorships but dont provide sufficient treatment, often because it is unavailable.

Perhaps its time for LPS critics to rethink their approach. The state has to find a way to fund, and counties to provide, ongoing mental health care. Sufficient and humane services (and housing, when needed) that leave patients a voice in important decisions and dont make them feel trapped could go a long way toward meeting the states mental health challenge.

There can be no doubt that California is in the midst of a mental health emergency. Serious mental illness afflicts a significant portion of the states huge homeless population, although contrary to a widespread perception far less than half of the tens of thousands of people on the streets. Between 30% and 40% of jail inmates also suffer a significant mental health condition. Less noticed are the families doing their best to care for a stricken relative. The COVID-19 crisis and the companion isolation and anxiety only exacerbate the condition of people already struggling with psychological problems.

Like other states, California once had a robust but deeply flawed system of mental hospitals that largely kept patients out of public view but too often failed to properly treat them. Forced treatment in warehouse-type institutions was phased out and was to be replaced by community-based outpatient or, when necessary, inpatient treatment.

But the community services never materialized to match the volume of need.

The LPS law, fully implemented in the 1970s, limited the states ability to institutionalize people and to treat them against their will.

Now the debate over mental health care too often breaks down along ideological lines over the question of which is paramount a persons liberty and self-determination, or that persons health and well-being. The results are often surprising. Conservatives might be expected to promote individual rights. If requiring a mask during a pandemic is an unwarranted intrusion on liberty, for example, how much more so is government-enforced psychiatric treatment? Yet many conservatives and other skeptics of government find themselves pressing for re-institutionalization. Liberals who might support masks and government-ordered business closures appear split on compelled mental health treatment.

Beyond ideology, California has a serious shortage of mental health services in any setting. LPS doesnt require the counties or the state to fix that problem. Some county mental health professionals want the act amended to compel them to provide care, because only then, they argue, will counties step up to avoid costly lawsuits.

And there is indeed a crisis, not addressed by LPS, of mentally ill people who are slowly deteriorating but dont recognize their condition (or dont care) and are not undergoing the kind of breakdown that the law deems fair game for a 5150 hold. But Californias priority should be providing people the services they need, not forcing them to use services that are inadequate to keep them out of the street-to-care-to-street cycle.

There will be no way to fix mental health care on the cheap. The need is profound, but its not so much the law standing in the way as it is the failure to live up to the promises of more than half a century ago to provide adequate mental health treatment where it is most effective.

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Improve mental health care before forcing it on people - Los Angeles Times

Ambulatory serviceshealthcare's largest employertook the biggest hit during the shutdown, and it is taking longer than the overall industry to rebound. The sector added 126,200 jobs last month, compared with 367,800 in June. Dentist and physician clinics suffered the most losses at the height of the shutdowns. Ambulatory employment was down just 3.9% in July compared with pre-pandemic January.

The pace of job recovery is likely tempered by providers' own caution against reopening too quickly, especially in areas where coronavirus cases are surging, Shehata said. In areas like the Southern U.S. where there have been aggressive reopenings, ambulatory providers have been slowed by backlogs in appointments due to pent-up demand.

Overall, the economy added 1.8 million jobs and the unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points to 10.2%. The biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality and food services and drinking places. The number of people on temporary layoff fell to 9.2 million, about half its April level.

Hospitals furloughed and laid off employees as they shut down divisions, but that didn't cause as big of an employment hit compared with the ambulatory sector. Hospital employment was down just 1.2% last month from January.

"I was a little surprised that in hospitals it's not worse than that," said Ani Turner, Altarum's co-director of sustainable health spending strategies.

Hospitals added an estimated 27,400 jobs in July, far more than the 2,100 they added in Junea number the BLS revised down from its initial June projection of 6,700 jobs.

That still leaves the question of whether hospitals will continue to regain jobs, or if job growth will level off at a point that's below normal. Federal grants and loans providers received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act offered a boost, but things are uncertain moving forward, Turner said.

"We'll see what the final new equilibrium is," she said.

Nursing homes continue to shed jobs even as the rest of the healthcare industry does the opposite. They lost 17,500 jobs in July and employed 7.7% fewer people last month than in January. Overall, nursing and residential care facilities have shed about 220,000 jobs since March.

Even before the pandemic, nursing home employment had been shrinking as older adults and their families opted for less intensive residential care facilities in lieu of nursing homes, Turner said.

COVID-19 has prompted more people to avoid all types of residential facilities for older adults, though, because the coronavirus tended to spread quickly through facilities where residents are older, have chronic conditions and require frequent care.

The pandemic laid bare long-running infection control and staffing problems in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, which is where a significant proportion of COVID-19 deaths are believed to have occurred.

It's possible that trend is driving an increased demand for home health services, Shehata said. Indeed, home health added 15,600 jobs in July, after having added 18,100 in June.

The pace at which healthcare jobs return is going to be a local and even regional story, with wide variation depending on the level of coronavirus activity in an area, Shehata said.

"If the economy is back to productivity, you're going to see that backlog begin to flow into the healthcare system," he said.

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Healthcare employment rebound slowed in July - Modern Healthcare

DUBLIN, Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The US Healthcare Data Interoperability Market, 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Interoperability has become a critical consideration for all health IT (HIT) applications. All the major healthcare stakeholders across the world acknowledge the need to invest in digital infrastructure capabilities to facilitate cross-continuum patient information exchanges and support evidence-based care, at scale.

Regulatory agencies are embracing forward-thinking policies that advocate the need for all the leading vendors to become fully interoperable with each other. The objective is to drive a progressive digital healthcare model, that is, a standardized, collaborative, and multidisciplinary yet modular approach that is based on an application programming interface (API).

Many leading HIT vendors and hospitals in the United States are not likely to comply with CMS' 21st Century Cures Act, although it makes provisions for the secure transfer of patient data across the care continuum (due to threats such as breach of patient privacy) and the overwhelming cost of commitment; provisions also exist to cover any significant penalties involved.

Owing to COVID-19, most health systems' essential services (both, manually driven and digitally enabled) are focused on tackling the unprecedented surge in patient footprint across primary, in-patient, and long-term care systems. Therefore, ONC in collaboration with CMS and HHS OIG has extended the timeline for the implementation of Interoperability Final Rules to 3 months post completion of the ONC Health IT Certification Program for specific value-based care tracks.

Allscripts, IBM, Change Healthcare, and InterSystems are the leading US healthcare data interoperability market participants marked on the Research Radar. Optum is the fastest-growing company, and IBM is the most innovative.

Key Topics Covered

1. Strategic Imperative and Growth Environment

2. The Research Radar

3. Companies to Action

4. Strategic Insights

5. Next Steps: Leveraging the Research Radar to Empower Key Stakeholders

6. Research Radar Analytics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6mm8m9

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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United States Healthcare Data Interoperability Market Radar 2020 - Most Health Systems' Essential Services are Focused on Tackling the Unprecedented...

MEXICO CITY - When the coronavirus epidemic began to intensify in Mexico at the end of March, Doctor Jose Garcia said his bosses at a public trauma hospital in Mexico City denied his request for masks, gloves and disinfectant.

They argued such protective equipment was only necessary for those working directly with coronavirus patients, Garcia said. Unconvinced, he bought it himself.

The hospitals director disputes this, saying all staff received protective equipment. Either way, Garcia had already contracted the virus and infected his wife and one-year-old daughter.

Garcia is one of over 70,000 medical workers to catch the coronavirus in Mexico, where the pandemic death toll is now the third-highest worldwide, behind the United States and Brazil.

Government data indicates that healthcare workers risk of dying is four times higher than in the United States, and eight times higher than in Brazil.

The coronavirus has hit health workers all over the world, but its been especially bad in Mexico, said Alejandro Macias, an epidemiologist who spearheaded Mexicos response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

Staff have had to buy their own equipment, often in informal marketplaces and of substandard quality, Macias said.

The government has said there were shortcomings in equipment provision early on but says it has worked hard to protect workers and flown in vital equipment from China and the United States. It also accuses past administrations of letting the health service deteriorate.

Mexicos deputy health minister and coronavirus czar, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, said in July that many of the nurses and doctors who died of the virus had pre-existing medical conditions, and that some did not use protective gear in optimal fashion.

In Mexico, 19 percent of confirmed infections are of medical staff, almost three times the global average, according to figures from the International Council of Nurses and the Mexican National Association of Doctors and Nurses.

The plight of health workers is complicating efforts to contain the outbreak, which has killed close to 50,000 people in Mexico, battered the economy and cost millions of jobs.

The Morning Rundown

Get a head start on the morning's top stories.

Garcia, 48, said in an interview that he believes he was one of about a dozen medical staff indirectly infected by a patient who arrived at the Lomas Verdes hospital with coronavirus symptoms and later died.

Theyve been very irresponsible with us, he said, referring to his employer and its alleged failure to provide protective equipment.

The hospitals director, Gilberto Meza, said that 213 Lomas Verdes staff had contracted the virus. Citing an epidemiological study he said the hospital had conducted, he said that all were infected outside the facility.

He said all staff had received goggles, face shields and masks. He declined to say when they were provided.

Garcia and his family survived and he is now back at work. But the two weeks they had coronavirus symptoms were, he said, hell: headaches, fever, diarrhea and shortness of breath.

As of July 24, 72,980 Mexican medical staff had caught the coronavirus, and 978 died, government figures show.

In the United States, which has a population 2.5 times that of Mexico, 123,738 medical personnel have tested positive for coronavirus and 598 have died, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures.

The health ministry of Brazil, which is about two-thirds more populous than Mexico, had reported 189 deaths of medical practitioners by end-July. Some private data in Brazil give higher figures, but still well below Mexico.

Over a dozen nurses and doctors interviewed by Reuters said they got the virus in part because they did not receive timely information or protective equipment.

Many have protested about having to reuse disposable gear and launched petitions for better kit.

In one public hospital in northern Mexico, medical workers told Reuters in April their managers told them not to wear protective masks to avoid unsettling patients.

Zoe Robledo, head of Mexicos main public health service, IMSS, said in April that it had suffered equipment shortages, as well as delays, oversights, and errors that needed correcting.

Mexicos spending on health as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the lowest in the 37-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A recent study by the OECD put Mexicos health spending at 5.5% of GDP, compared to 9.1% in Chile and 7.3% in Colombia in 2019. In Brazil it was 9.4%, though the latest data available were from 2017.

Nurses often work in multiple hospitals to supplement wages of about 8,500 pesos ($377) per month, according to Mexico Citys government. Movement between hospitals heightens the contagion risk, said Oliva Lopez, the citys health minister.

Our health personnel combine multiple jobs and are exposed in multiple spaces, Lopez told Reuters, saying her ministry had gone to great lengths to get staff protective equipment, and blaming previous governments for pauperizing the profession.

More than 600 nurses had died by the end of June in some 30 countries surveyed by the Geneva-based International Council of Nurses. Mexico accounted for 160 of the deaths, or over a quarter.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one nurse at a Mexico City public hospital said she felt abandoned by authorities.

But we cant say: Now I cant work, or dont want to, she said. This is what we trained for.

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Coronavirus is killing more healthcare workers in Mexico. Here's why. - NBC News

Its that process that creates the dichotomy Silvey lamented. The reason that lawmakers are out of touch with statewide voters isnt just because of the states longstanding rural-urban divide, its also because they long ago gerrymandered legislative districts to protect incumbent Republicans. Doing so made the districts look less like their actual communities and created primaries where, in most cases, only the most extreme Republican could win.

There are very few legislative districts left in Missouri that could elect a thoughtful Republican voice like Silvey or Barnes, and that puts the state at a loss.

So in November, as Parson is running from his COVID-19 record and his opposition to providing health care to the working poor, the bipartisan coalition that passed Medicaid, passed the minimum wage, fought right-to-work and supported medical marijuana, will be back to defend Clean Missouri.

I think you will see similar voices of support, for the Vote No on Amendment 3 campaign that Missouri saw with Medicaid expansion, says political strategist Sean Nicholson, who is getting the Clean Missouri band back together. There will be business and labor groups and community groups. There is a disconnect between what the Legislature has been working on and where the people are at.

The people, says Silvey, want health care. They want the government to solve problems. Yes, even Republicans. Medicaid expansion passed overwhelmingly in Kansas City, St. Louis and Columbia, but it also passed in the two Republican hotbeds of St. Charles County and Green County.

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Messenger: From COVID to Medicaid expansion, Missouri governor's race revolves around health care - STLtoday.com

Gov. Janet Mills has led Maines response to the health crisis with compassion and clarity. Yet Maine is not immune from the seismic impacts of COVID-19. A $1.4 billion budget shortfall is estimated over the next three years, including a loss of more than $520 million this fiscal year. Maine holds the unsavory distinction of the greatest racial disparity in COVID-19 infection rates, with Black Mainers more than 20 times more likely to contract the virus than their white neighbors. A recent report shows 14,000 Mainers will be newly uninsured after tens of thousands have lost employer-provided insurance since February.

Health insurance companies are proposing raising rates for small businesses, with initial filings showing the highest requested increase for 2021 topping out at over 10 percent, following rate hikes in the double-digits last year for many plans. The Maine Health Data Organization reports that overall, the 25 most costly drugs in Maine increased in cost by nearly 11 percent last year and the cost per person increased by 27 percent. In 2018, Maines per-capita health expenditures were 10 percent higher than the U.S. average.

Our most recent polling shows over two-thirds of Mainers are concerned about not being able to afford health coverage, copays and deductibles. Nearly three quarters are concerned about prescription drug prices, with two out of three worried they wont be able to afford the medicine they need. These concerns are growing with more Mainers losing coverage.

State policymakers have taken significant steps to improve health care affordability, and this moment calls for continued action to control rising costs and expand accessibility without cutting vital access to programs. We need solutions that not only stop the spread of the virus but make sure Maine can reopen its doors and stay open. This is especially important as vulnerable Mainers return to work, caring for older Mainers and providing other essential services.

Expanded MaineCare is helping thousands access the coverage and care they need, and laws enacted last year improve affordability and access to health care in Maines individual and small business markets. Bipartisan support of measures to address skyrocketing prescription drug prices, including the creation of a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to help contain drug costs in public health programs, shows Maine policymakers can work together to address the problems we face. And that work must continue with urgency.

It starts with our federal lawmakers. Initial increases in federal match rates for state Medicaid programs have been helpful but are nowhere close to what is needed to help fill the gaps in state revenue. The HEROES Act passed by the House includes increased Medicaid funding to help avoid devastating health care cuts at the state level, but the Senates HEALS Act does not.

State policymakers have an opportunity to address rising costs with Senate President Troy Jacksons bill, LD 2110, An Act to Lower Health Care Costs. It passed in the Maine House and Senate, but sits awaiting final action as the Legislature contemplates a special session. The bill creates an independent entity to examine and identify ways to lower health care costs. It would also provide staffing to Maines Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which has only met once since its creation due in part to the lack of dedicated staff.

With an ongoing pandemic and revenue losses, reining in health care costs while also ensuring access to care has never been more important. A similar effort in Massachusetts has already produced very promising results.

There are real opportunities to protect the health care gains we have made in Maine and to help those who are going without. I am more than hopeful and confident policy makers at both the federal and state level will put politics aside and work together to protect the health and well-being of the people they represent.

Ann Woloson is the executive director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care.

More here:

COVID-19 and Maine's budget crisis require action on health care costs - Bangor Daily News

Editors note: This is the fourth in a series celebrating our local health care workers.

I never thought spending a week in the North Ottawa Community Hospital intensive care unit with my almost 98-year-old mom would feel like such a blessing.

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Hospital's food delivery service is a blessing | Health Care - Grand Haven Tribune

What I'm Hearing: USA TODAY Sports' Mike Jones breaks down the numerous fines and possible suspensions that the NFL is ready to issue to players if they don't follow proper safety protocols. USA TODAY

After spending parts of five years as a wide receiver in the NFL, anesthesiology resident Nate Hughes said he certainly plans to tune in to football season this fall. He still has friends in the league, after all, and relationships with some of the coaches.

But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, with more than 4.8 million confirmed cases across the country, Hughes admitshe probably won't watch NFL games in the same way. Not after working on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic.

"Im caught in the middle," Hughes told USA TODAY Sports."I love sports, but at the same time, I wish we would do more to protect each other.

Hughes is one of many front-line health care workerswho are now watching the return of professional sports leagues with mixed feelings, or a pit in their stomach a certain uneasinessas they try to reconcile theirfandom with the knowledge that playing games may put athletes and others at risk of transmitting COVID-19.

Nate Hughes, a former NFL wide receiver now training to be an anesthesiologist, poses for a 2017 photo.(Photo: Courtesy of University of Mississippi Medical Center Communications)

Doctors and nurses understand better than most the positive impact that sports can have on mental health, both for themselves and their patients. They love being able to watch a game after a long shift, or see a patientuse sports as a temporary escape from his or her hospital bed. But they also understand better than most what COVID-19 can do to the human body, leaving many of them torn.

"I think that sports are great, and I think theyre positive, and I think we need them," said Laura Rosenthal,a nurse practitioner at University of Colorado Hospitaland professor at the university's College of Nursing. "(But) when I hear, 'Oh were going to open up the stadium,'it gives me that kind of underlying prickly feeling like 'ugh, is that really a good idea?' "

COVID-19 COVERUP: 'Horrified' Colorado State president vows to 'get to the bottom' of athletic department's COVID-19 handling

FALL WITHOUT FOOTBALL: How America would look without its favorite sport

Rosenthal has been a nurse for two decades, but she's also a fan of Michigan football, and the Denver Broncos. When she thinks ahead to football season, she can't imagine watching two players collide in a game on TV and notwondering whether one of them has COVID-19. She can't think about seeing fans in the seats even in a limited capacity without also thinking of them streaming into and out of the stadium in crowds, or lining up at a bathroom or concession stand.

"It would always be in the back of my mind," she said."And then thinking, 'Now am I going to see half of these people in the hospital?' "

That feeling of uneasiness lingers even for some nurses and doctors who are not actively treating COVID-19 patients, but might have colleagues who do.

Keith Buehner, a retired nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, said he's been a Miami football season-ticket holder for 35 years. He's performed at Miami Heat games as part of the team's senior dance squad, "The Golden Oldies." But when he watches the Heat now, or thinks about going to a Hurricanes game in the fall, he thinks about the resources that sports leagues might be using that could otherwise be helping his former colleagues.

"I get it. I miss (sports), too," Buehner said."I just dont think its right."

Those views are hardly unanimous, however.

Chris Hutchinson,an emergency room physician at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, was an All-American defensive lineman for the Wolverines and now has oneson,Aidan, on the team. He knows how financially important sports like college football are to athletic departments, universities and local economies. He views the return of sports as vital, and has no qualms or concerns about his son playing this fall.

An undated photo of Chris Hutchinson, an emergency room physician at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.(Photo: Courtesy of Chris Hutchinson)

"Its a sport (but) it has a lot of other ramifications," Hutchinson explained."And as long as the risk is smalllets be honest, these (college athletes) are the healthiest kids. ... Im not going to mince words: Their risk is not zero. No ones risk is zero. But I think at some point you have to say what risk is acceptable?And again, everybodys going to have a different level of that."

Hutchinson acknowledged that there are other front-line health care workers who disagree with him including an older doctor at his own hospital, with whom he works regularly. Hughes, who now works at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and is training to be an anesthesiologist, would be another.

The former Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions wide receiver said his medical experience previously as a nurse, and now as a resident has shaped the way he watches sports these days. He said he's become a big fan of mixed martial arts over the past month, for example, in part because he's comfortable with the sport's COVID-19 protocols. There are no fans, two fighters at a time and only a handful of people in each corner. He can watch comfortably because he believes it's safe.

"I just kind of wish we could pause a little bit longer," Hughes said, "until we got things better controlled."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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Front-line health care workers have mixed feelings watching sports amid COVID-19 - USA TODAY

In summary

Mistrust in the health care system by people of color persists, which is why we need more doctors and nurses who look like the people theyre treating.

Dr. David M. Carlisle is president and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, president@cdrewu.edu.

When I was a young doctor, an older faculty colleague like me, an African-American made a request that I thought was unusual. He asked me to be his personal physician.

I said I would but reminded him that, since I was a researcher, it was unlikely, should he need to go to the hospital, that Id be the doctor who would make rounds on him on the floor and manage his day-to-day care.

I asked him why he wanted me to take care of him, and his response stays with me to this day: Because youre the only African-American physician here, and if I need a serious, or even life-or-death decision made about my care, I want someone I can trust.

Nearly 50 years after the end of the Tuskegee experiments that withheld syphilis treatments from African Americans, mistrust in the health care system by African-Americans and other people of color still persists for good reason. And until we have more physicians, nurses and other health professionals who look like the people theyre treating, it will continue.

Keep tabs on the latest California policy and politics news

Just in case people think were past Tuskegee, there are many recent studies that prove otherwise. A 2016 study of residents our young doctors in training revealed that 50% had false beliefs about African-Americans. For instance, that they had thicker skin or were less sensitive to pain.

A 2019 study demonstrated that patients of color presenting in emergency rooms were less likely to get pain medication than white patients: African-Americans 40% less likely, Latinx 25% less likely. Even in the case of a diagnosed bone fracture an extremely painful condition African-Americans were 41% less likely to get pain medication than white people.

Theres plenty of evidence from the coronavirus pandemic that feeds into this distrust, too. According to testing data, African-Americans and Latinx are dying from COVID-19 at disproportionate rates. Social determinants of health, inability to social distance due to cramped living conditions, the economic need to stay at work in low-income, public-facing jobs and lack of access to health care explain some of it. However, its also due to failures of their interactions with the health care system, even while presenting with COVID-19 symptoms: patients of color being turned away from an ER, not being deemed ill enough for treatment or hospital admission or simply knowing, based upon experience, that they wouldnt be treated well in the hospital.

To address this mistrust, we need more health professionals of color: The demographics demand it. California is already a majority-minority state: 39% Latinx, 36% white, 15% Asian, 6.5% African-American. Yet, the percentage of Latinx and African-American physicians in California is very low: 5% Latinx; 5% African-American. Nationally, the figures are no more impressive: 5.8% of physicians are Latinx, 5% are African-American.

It isnt for simple cultural comfort that we need health practitioners of color though, given our diversity and the history of mistrust and mistreatment, that is a reasonable request of our health care system. It produces better health outcomes.

A 2018 study demonstrated that African-American patients were more likely to follow an African-American physicians orders, particularly on preventive measures, such as flu shots. So, when patients have a cultural rapport with a health provider, they are more inclined to pay attention and do what they are told to do.

All health practitioners need technical competence and good professional judgment to ensure their patients get the best care possible. Thats the essence of the Hippocratic Oath and other oaths that physicians and other health providers swear to uphold.

But in our diverse country, wrestling with both a pandemic and our painful history of systemic racism and gross health disparities, we have an obligation to do all we can to recruit and educate more physicians, nurses and other health professionals of color.

It will be better for everyones health.

As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on the generosity of Californians like you to cover the issues that matter. If you value our reporting, support our journalism with a donation.

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Rx for health care inequities: More health professionals of color - CALmatters

Michael Goldberg | Aug 6, 2020

On Monday, State of Reform hosted our 5 Slides: The Health Care Systems Response To COVID in AZ virtual conversation with Ann-Marie Alameddin: CEO, Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, Will Humble, Executive Director, Arizona Public Health Association, Roland Knox, CEO, Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center.

During this convening, the panelists discussed how the Arizona health care system, particularly hospitals, have responded to the pandemic across various fronts.

State of Reform contributed the first slide, which featured data from a Eurosurveillance epidemiological survey of COVID-19 cases in Jerusalem. In Israel, the school year began in May. Jerusalem experienced an early spike in cases before getting the virus under control for a period. But the week of May 17 24, the city experienced a significant spike in cases among 10-19 year olds, causing over 125 schools to close. School closures, in turn, resulted in more parents getting sick.

The panelists discussed each of their perspectives on what to consider as students prepare to go back to school, in one capacity or another.

The first panelist slide was offered by Alameddin, who wanted to underscore the work done and sacrifices made by health care workers on the front lines of the crisis.

To highlight the very human element of this and our clinical staff is not an endless resource were hearing from hospitals this week that a lot of staff are calling in sick, because they actually are sick or theyre just exhausted. Theyve been taking seven shifts in a row. We have a clinical staff shortage, and we need reinforcements. This is a finite resource that we need to make sure we are preserving and protectinga lot of staffing agencies are in Arizona. I think its difficult for hospitals to secure additional staff. Weve seen prices going up tremendously four times what they normally are. So some hospitals are unable to afford additional staff because of these price wars.

The next slide, presented by Knox, was a graphic displaying the Mount Graham Regional Medical Centers response to the pandemic for Provider Backup Coverage a focus for the Inpatient Medical Surgical Unit and the ICU Hospitalist Coverage.

This slide reflects the strategy put in place by the medical center to ease the strain on providers.

It became very nerve-racking for all the providers to know, what happens if I get sick or need a few hours of rest? What happens if our census goes up from the normal 40% up to 85%, and Im just exhausted because the acuity level is higher and we have more people on ventilators. It is their job is to manage all that and they need at least 4-5 good hours of sleep, so how can we help them? asked Knox.

Knox went on to point out that the pandemic has forced health care systems to translate concepts into action.

Humbles slide was a graph measuring Re-Opening Excursions. Specifically, the data compared original scenarios from April to current estimates.

This slide emphasizes the importance of public health officials and governors working with their academic partners to inform the really important policy decisions they need to make during events like this. What this slide representsis predictive modeling to inform the policy decisions at the very top of state governmentto show elected official how the various scenarios are likely to play out depending on the decisions they make intervention wise.

To hear about these slides in depth as well as a few more, a video of the full conversation is available above.

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Video & highlights from "5 Slides: The Health Care System's Response To COVID in AZ" - State of Reform - State of Reform

Share This Article:A class at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. Courtesy of the universityBy Dr. David M. Carlisle | Special for CalMatters

When I was a young doctor, an older faculty colleague like me, an African-American made a request that I thought was unusual. He asked me to be his personal physician.

Support Times of San Diego's growthwith a small monthly contribution

I said I would but reminded him that, since I was a researcher, it was unlikely, should he need to go to the hospital, that Id be the doctor who would make rounds on him on the floor and manage his day-to-day care.

I asked him why he wanted me to take care of him, and his response stays with me to this day: Because youre theonlyAfrican-American physician here, and if I need a serious, or even life-or-death decision made about my care, I want someone I can trust.

Nearly 50 years after the end of theTuskegee experiments that withheld syphilis treatments from African Americans, mistrust in the health care system by African-Americans and other people of color still persists for good reason. And until we have more physicians, nurses and other health professionals who look like the people theyre treating, it will continue.

Just in case people think were past Tuskegee, there are many recent studies that prove otherwise.A 2016 study of residents our young doctors in training revealed that 50% had false beliefs about African-Americans. For instance, that they had thicker skin or were less sensitive to pain.

A2019 study demonstrated that patients of color presenting in emergency rooms were less likely to get pain medication than white patients: African-Americans 40% less likely, Latinx 25% less likely. Even in the case of a diagnosed bone fracture an extremely painful condition African-Americans were 41% less likely to get pain medication than white people.

Theres plenty of evidence from the coronavirus pandemic that feeds into this distrust, too. According to testing data, African-Americans and Latinxare dying from COVID-19 at disproportionate rates. Social determinants of health, inability to social distance due to cramped living conditions, the economic need to stay at work in low-income, public-facing jobs, and lack of access to health care explain some of it. However, its also due to failures of their interactions with the health care system, even while presenting with COVID-19 symptoms: patients of color being turned away from an ER, not being deemed ill enough for treatment or hospital admission, or simply knowing, based upon experience, that theywouldnt be treated wellin the hospital.

To address this mistrust, we need more health professionals of color: The demographics demand it. California is already a majority-minority state: 39% Latinx, 36% white, 15% Asian, 6.5% African-American. Yet, the percentage ofLatinx and African-American physicians in Californiais very low: 5% Latinx; 5% African-American. Nationally, thefigures are no more impressive: 5.8% of physicians are Latinx, 5% are African-American.

It isnt for simple cultural comfort that we need health practitioners of color though, given our diversity and the history of mistrust and mistreatment, that is a reasonable request of our health care system. It produces better health outcomes.

A 2018 study demonstrated that African-American patients were more likely to follow an African-American physicians orders, particularly on preventive measures, such as flu shots. So, when patients have a cultural rapport with a health provider, they are more inclined to pay attention and do what they are told to do.

All health practitioners need technical competence and good professional judgment to ensure their patients get the best care possible. Thats the essence of the Hippocratic Oath and other oaths that physicians and other health providers swear to uphold.

But in our diverse country, wrestling with both a pandemic and our painful history of systemic racism and gross health disparities, we have an obligation to do all we can to recruit and educate more physicians, nurses and other health professionals of color.

It will be better for everyones health.

Dr. David M. Carlisle is president and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. He wrote this commentary for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters.

Opinion: To Treat Health Care Inequity, Train More Doctors and Nurses of Color was last modified: August 6th, 2020 by Editor

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Opinion: To Treat Health Care Inequity, Train More Doctors and Nurses of Color - Times of San Diego

Theater on your personal device By Erik Schreiber 7 August 2020

A major role of art is to examine and clarify social reality. The new play The Lineaddresses the ongoing coronavirus pandemic squarely and with great immediacy. Writer-directors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen wrote the play using interviews that they had conducted with health care workers in New York City this spring, when the city was the national epicenter of the pandemic. This approach has produced a drama with the impact of a dispatch from the front. The actors performances are all the more impressive for having been given in isolation in front of their computers.

The Line was performed live on YouTube on July 8 and will be available for viewing, free of charge, until September 1. A production of New York Citys Public Theater, the play already has been watched more than 38,000 times.

Blank and Jensen have examined contemporary issues in several previous plays. The Exonerated(2002), which won several theater awards, was based on interviews that they had conducted with exonerated death row inmates. Interviews with Iraqi civilian refugees in Jordan formed the basis of Aftermath(2008).

Although it was amply documented in the media, the catastrophe that health care workers in New York faced this spring is hard for the average person to imagine. Hospitals had staff shortages and reassigned workers to care for infected patients even when they were not qualified to do so. Workers scrambled to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, IV pumps and medicines such as fentanyl and propofol. As hospital beds became occupied, break rooms were used to house patients. The city dug mass graves on Hart Island for unclaimed victims of the pandemic. Health care workers said they felt extreme stress, emotional exhaustion, and abandonment by their unions.

One of the strong points of The Line is that it shows how the pandemic has affected workers in various parts of the health care system. The characters include a first-year intern, an oncology nurse, an emergency room doctor, a paramedic, an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a nurse at a long-term care home for the elderly. The need for isolation and social distancing likely influenced the decision for the actors to perform the play from their homes. This bare-bones staging, born of necessity, creates a documentary feel, as well as a level of intimacy.

The characters address the camera directly in interwoven monologues. We get to know them as they introduce themselves and tell us how they chose their careers. Soon they describe their initial concern after hearing warnings of the novel coronavirus. Each character sees his or her first cases, and these cases quickly become a flood. Pressure mounts as the characters struggle to manage utter chaos, as the doctor puts it. The EMTs number of daily calls swells from 3,000 to 7,000. The paramedic says that adapting to the pandemic was harder than providing medical care in Iraq during the war.

The characters firsthand accounts are more forceful than any news report. Several characters describe the appalling lack of medical supplies that resulted from decades of attacks on health care funding. The geriatric nurse, for example, is told to reuse PPE rather than discarding it after each patient. This instruction violates the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and those of the World Health Organization. The rules were changing every damn day, says the nurse. She soon becomes infected by the virus.

When her hospital runs out of oxygen, the intern says, I really felt like I was in another country. She and her colleagues rig up bilevel positive airway pressure machines as makeshift ventilators when none of the latter are available. Patients lie in hallways, and medical staff are forced to turn away other sick patients when all the beds are occupied. I felt like I was in a war, and we had no support, says the intern. I felt like nobody cared.

Several characters criticize the way management at their facilities handled the crisis. The geriatric nurse opposed the administrations policies, but, under duress, kept her opinions to herself. The intern recounts her impulse to go to the media to publicize her hospitals desperate state, but management warns her that this act would be grounds for termination. I was so upset, I ended up having to talk to a psychiatrist.

All the characters express their torment and sorrow at having to turn away distraught family members who want to see their dying loved ones for a final time. After the EMT is told to bring bodies directly to the morgue instead of the hospital, he allows family members to assemble around his ambulance for brief, impromptu wakes.

When the geriatric nurse recovers from the virus and returns to work, she finds that half of her facilitys residents have died, and her coworkers are traumatized. Weeks later, a manager announces that she will bring a grief counselor to the facility for one day, supposedly for the employees benefit. The geriatric nurse can no longer suppress her anger. Im not going to go, because its been almost a month, and if you really wanted a grief counselor in here, you wouldve had that person come in here when our residents were dying. Right now, what I really feel is that youre just sending that person in so that you could say that you gave us support, right? Its too little. Its too late.

Many of the characters are uneasy about being lauded as heroes, and one rejects the designation outright. The doctor suggests, If you really want to help doctors and show them appreciation, give their patients health care. Referring to the military flyover of New York City, which was allegedly staged to honor health care workers, he adds in exasperation, Dont fly weapons of destruction and death over people who are trying to prevent destruction and death!

Espousing a view promoted by the media and sections of the upper-middle class, the doctor implies that racism is the reason that certain ethnic groups have suffered more from the pandemic than others. It is true that the pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on African-Americans, for example. But African-Americans also are disproportionately poor, and the pandemics heavy toll on underscores the primary effect of class on health outcomes. Various studies have established a correlation between socioeconomic status and vulnerability to the pandemic. Identity politics distorts this reality and elevates race above all other factors.

Blank and Jensen deserve praise for critically examining the health care systems response to the pandemic, and for putting workers experiences in the forefront. The Line is a salutary artistic response to this historic health crisis. It is an indication of the potentially vital new forms that playwrights and actors can create, even without stage or set, during a period of isolation.

Read more from the original source:

The Line movingly conveys health care workers' struggles during the pandemic - WSWS