The Hill convened a panel of medical experts on Thursday morning to reflect on the lessons learned from the pandemic and discuss the future of U.S. healthcare after major shifts in health policy.
The 2023 Future of Healthcare Summit, hosted by Editor in Chief Bob Cusack and National Political Reporter Julia Manchester, highlighted several common concerns among the speakers, starting with the issue of misinformation about COVID-19 and health literacy in general.
According to former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the pandemic only exposed existing problems.
Adams said, “COVID was just a magnifying glass on the problems that have existed for decades, for centuries. It was a magnifying glass on misinformation.”
Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), also emphasized the challenge of false information. O’Connell explained that HHS addresses this by being transparent about what the department knows and doesn’t know.
O’Connell said, “We’ve just tried to be very transparent. But it is a problem, and it’s something that we’re all going to have to wrestle with.”
Adams also highlighted the politicization of health as an obstacle to progress in public debates. He noted that his role in the Trump administration made it difficult to engage in conversations because the media often turns preventative health into a political issue.
Adams said, “It’s impacting our ability to have rational conversations about important issues that, again, are about so much more than Donald Trump.”
Health inequity was another issue exacerbated by the pandemic. Adams pointed out that the same communities most vulnerable to COVID-19 were also at risk for other illnesses.
Adams took individual action to combat inequity by staying in his position, despite public skepticism of his work under the former president. As the second African American male surgeon general in history, he believed it was important to represent people who share his background and perspectives.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives and co-director of the Health Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed other underlying problems in the healthcare system.
Emanuel said, “One of the things we saw with COVID is how fragile parts of the system were, how easy it was to overwhelm. The hospital sector, in particular, is economically teetering, facing staff burnout and shortages in critical areas. It wouldn’t take much to create a crisis in this sector.”
“The public, politicians, and policymakers don’t fully understand how precarious the situation is,” he added.
Shortages were also evident at the highest levels of government. O’Connell revealed that HHS had to rely on the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard, and FEMA to speed up contracts with vaccine developers and address staffing shortages.
O’Connell is now requesting Congress to grant HHS the power to hire and acquire resources quickly. She stated, “For whatever comes next, I’ll need to be able to move swiftly. We’re living in an era of poli-crisis. I can’t always depend on FEMA, as they’re often occupied with wildfires and other weather events. I need to be able to address healthcare issues independently.”
Despite her optimism that HHS will be given those authorities, healthcare staffing shortages continue to persist throughout the country.
Dr. Elena Rios, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, emphasized the importance of students of color in shaping the future healthcare workforce. She stressed the need for representation of professionals of color in leadership roles.
Founder & CEO of Global Liver Institute Donna Cryer mentioned that power is central to these decisions and agendas. She said, “If more people from diverse communities are involved in setting the agenda, then the needs of those communities will be better reflected.”
Rios also highlighted the need to increase residency slots for doctor training, establish more community-based clinics, and provide training in multiple languages.
Cryer added, “By building up a workforce from the community, for the community, we not only create jobs and an economic engine but also have more healthcare professionals who can provide care in multiple languages and understand the cultural nuances of the communities they serve. This approach addresses the problem in various ways.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
