COVID-19

If it weren’t for the annual reminder from our primary care offices, how many of us would get our flu shots? In a new Milbank blog post, Ariadne Labs’ Rebecca Weintraub and Asaf Bitton and the Milbank Memorial Fund’s Christopher F. Koller say that these nudges — and the trust we have in our primary care clinicians — should inform how federal, state, and local governments plan for an effective distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine. More

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated risks for isolation and loneliness, especially for older adults who face heightened risks from the virus and who are more likely to live alone. More

Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island announced last week a commitment to a common framework for COVID-19 testing for high-risk, asymptomatic residents and for financing this testing. More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s Leadership Forward podcast series, I recently spoke with LaQuandra Nesbitt, MD, MPH, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, and Suzanne Bierman, JD, MPH, administrator of the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss how they have remained focused on a long-term vision throughout COVID-19 and used strategic communications and other approaches to advance that vision. More

What role has storytelling played in the successes and failures of state government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic? In an article published… More

Yul Ejnes is worried. A primary care doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, he and his team have done all they could in the wake of COVID: shutting down… More

As part of the Public Sector Leadership Consortium’s new Leadership Forward series, Erica Brown, program officer at the Milbank Memorial Fund, recently spoke with Jami Snyder, director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and Kody Kinsley, deputy secretary for behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss leadership strategies they implemented to fortify themselves and their staff during the pandemic. More

This is the moment for payers and policymakers to invest in collectively strengthening primary care and community health organizations, say David Labby, founding Chief Medical Officer of Health Share of Oregon, and colleagues in this blog post. More

Future federal COVID-19 recovery and stimulus efforts—whether new funds or allocation of existing ones—should prioritize primary care practices, their workforce, and the patients they serve. More

The practice of public health bumps along in heroic obscurity—its practitioners resigned to a lack of attention and respect compared to their life-rescuing medical care siblings—until suddenly it doesn’t. More