Preparing for the Future of Health Care: 4 Major Changes and Challenges Post-Covid

As the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, changes are looming in the US healthcare system. The Biden administration’s decision to end the Covid-19 public health emergency in May will bring sweeping changes to various aspects of health care, including nursing homes, addiction treatment, hospitals, and infectious disease surveillance. In this article, we will discuss the four major changes and challenges that are coming up.

1. Training Rules for Nursing Home Staff Get Stricter

Nursing homes will have to meet higher standards for training workers. Advocates for nursing home residents are eager for stricter training requirements, but the industry is concerned about staffing shortages. During the pandemic, the federal government relaxed training requirements to help nursing homes function under the virus’s onslaught. However, CMS has signaled that, after the looser standards expire, some of the hours that nurse aides logged during the pandemic could count toward their 75 hours of required training. Advocates for nursing home residents fear that the quality of care could deteriorate, despite the training exceptions ending.

Adequate training of aides is crucial so “they know what they’re doing before they provide care, for their own good as well as for the residents,” said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy. The American Health Care Association, the largest nursing home lobbying group, released a December survey finding that roughly 4 in 5 facilities were dealing with moderate to high levels of staff shortages.

2. Treatment Threatened for People Recovering From Addiction

A looming rollback of broader access to buprenorphine, an important medication for people in recovery from opioid addiction, is alarming patients and doctors. During the public health emergency, providers could prescribe certain controlled substances virtually or over the phone without first conducting an in-person medical evaluation. One of those drugs, buprenorphine, is an opioid that can prevent debilitating withdrawal symptoms for people trying to recover from addiction to other opioids. Amid a national epidemic of opioid addiction, if the expanded policy for buprenorphine ends, “thousands of people are going to die,” said Ryan Hampton, an activist who is in recovery.

3. Hospitals Return to Normal, Somewhat

During the pandemic, CMS allowed hospitals to make broader use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants when caring for Medicare patients. And new physicians not yet credentialed to work at a particular hospital could nonetheless practice there. Other changes during the public health emergency were meant to shore up hospital capacity. However, hospitals will lose some of the flexibility they had during the pandemic, such as the broader use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Hospitals are trying to persuade federal officials to maintain multiple Covid-era policies beyond the emergency or work with Congress to change the law.

4. Surveillance of Infectious Diseases Splinters

The way state and local public health departments monitor the spread of disease will change after the emergency ends. Without a uniform, federal requirement, how states and counties track the spread of the coronavirus will vary. In addition, though hospitals will still provide Covid data to the federal government, they may do so less frequently. Public health departments are still getting their arms around the scope of the changes. Public health officials don’t think “getting all test results from all lab tests is potentially the right strategy anymore,” said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. In some ways, the end of the emergency provides public health officials an opportunity to rethink Covid surveillance.

As the US healthcare system undergoes these changes, it is crucial for the public to stay informed and advocate for policies that ensure quality care and access to essential services. Encourage readers to contact their representatives, voice their concerns, and participate in discussions surrounding the future of healthcare post-Covid. We must work together to ensure that these changes do not compromise the quality of care that patients receive. By staying informed and actively engaging in discussions, we can help shape the future of healthcare for the better. Let’s use this opportunity to create a healthcare system that is resilient, equitable, and sustainable.

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