Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nursing Home Advocates Propose Long-Term Changes In Elderly Care
The American Health Care Association and LeadingAge Monday released reform proposals for the nursing home industry that address quality of care, workforce challenges, oversight and modernization. The federal government has offered temporary relief to the industry through the COVID-19 pandemic but the proposed reforms aim to enact long-term change. Through the joint proposal, dubbed the Care for Our Seniors Act, the nursing home advocates are calling on lawmakers to "help resolve systemic challenges." (Christ, 3/15)
Affluent urban areas saw the biggest uptick in telehealth usage over the past year, according to a new study from RAND. Experts have hailed telemedicine, in part, for its potential to help rural patients who would have to travel long distances for an in-person appointment. But the study suggests that telehealth hasn't closed the rural-urban access gap even as its overall use has soared. (Fernandez, 3/16)
Like many health care companies, Color has shifted to provide new services during the pandemic. Its Covid-19 test was authorized by the FDA in May, it added a self-administered test in July, and it’s built partnerships around the country to enable large-scale population testing (and now, in Massachusetts, vaccination). That has afforded Color the opportunity to show off what it now is marketing as its core product: last-mile health care infrastructure that reaches patients wherever they may be — a school, a workplace, a hospital. (Palmer, 3/16)
Racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes and crisis preparedness are the top concerns for patient safety that health leaders need to address, according to ECRI's annual Top Ten Patient Safety Concerns for 2021. This is the first time ECRI has made differences in how health systems treat people of color a top safety concern that poses the most risk for patients. The not-for-profit patient safety organization recommends that health systems create health equity governance committees, and devote money and other resources to organizational efforts to address disparities. (Gillespie, 3/15)
