Policy

This forthcoming article discusses the application of ethical principles to resource allocation in response to a public health crisis, such as COVID-19, emphasizing both the continuity of central ethical principles such as respect for persons and the increased relevance of Read More

This article discusses the Kansas state legislature’s override of the governor’s ban on in-person gatherings of 10 or more at religious institutions, despite the risks this may pose to Coronavirus response efforts. This post also includes a brief discussion of Read More

This press release from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the resolution of a complaint against Alabama based on the state’s 2010 ventilator allocation guidelines, which were challenged as Read More

This article discusses proposed changes to privacy regulations to allow for less-restricted health information exchange. COVID-19 has created unprecedented challenges to the United States health care system. To safely care for patients, health information must flow across provider platforms seamlessly. Read More

This article reports on the Ohio Hospital Association’s adoption of new guidance for allocating scarce resources during a public health emergency, including recommending the use of a triage committee rather than bedside personnel to make allocation decisions. The guidance also Read More

This essay from Joseph J. Fins, one of the authors of New York’s 2015 guidelines on ventilator allocation during a public health emergency, contends that the Task Force’s guidelines should not be interpreted to authorize the commandeering of ventilators used Read More

This article reports on new guidelines from Massachusetts health officials for potential rationing of ventilators in the event COVID-19 case surge overwhelms available supply. According to the article, the guidance uses an 8-point scoring system based on a patient’s likelihood Read More

This report from the team of experts that published the earlier Road Map to Reopening report describes the core capabilities and processes states need to build to allow our response to be more granular than the current, broadly applied institutional Read More

This forthcoming article from the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine argues that, in allocating scarce resources, determining a patient’s potential to benefit from treatment should rely on a structured, evidence-based, and global assessment of frailty that accounts for more than Read More

This article reports on the potential that ventilators may be reallocated from long-term care facilities to hospitals to respond to resource scarcity due to COVID-19 case surge, including the controversial possibility of disconnecting ventilators currently in use by long-term ventilator-dependent Read More