health care

COVID-19 and access to controlled substance prescriptions

Author: Chan Shen, Ph.D.
Published: Oct 15, 2020

Article Topics: health care, substance use, treatment Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic brought many unexpected changes to our lives. Access to health care changed drastically due to the pandemic. For example, a large number of elective procedures were postponed or cancelled, and patients avoided visits to physician offices, outpatient facilities and hospitals. Access to controlled substance prescriptions also changed significantly. In this post, I describe past concerns around the prescribing and use of controlled substances, including opioids and benzodiazepines, the impact of COVID-19 on access to health care and prescription drugs, and…

Reflections from Living in Sweden during COVID-19

Author: Lara Fowler, JD
Published: Aug 3, 2020

Article Topics: health, prevention, international, health care This is the second of a three-part post describing my family’s experience as visiting scholars in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this post, I will provide a chronological description of Sweden’s response to COVID-19, including my husband’s personal experience with what was most likely COVID-19. In the final post, I will summarize where Sweden stands now and what can be learned from their experience. Through our personal experiences I hope to shed some light on what is happening in Sweden and to provide recommendations for the future. Introduction As noted in the original post, our…

Reflections from Living in Sweden during COVID-19

Author: Lara Fowler, JD
Published: Jul 16, 2020

Article Topics: health, prevention, international, health care This three-part post will describe my family’s experience as visiting scholars in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this first part, to appropriately contextualize our experiences, I will describe the unique dynamics of Sweden including its health care system, its citizens’ trust in government, and population demographics. In the second post, I will provide a chronological description of Sweden’s response to COVID-19, including my husband’s personal experience with what was most likely COVID-19. In the final post, I will summarize where Sweden stands now and what can be learned from…

The Manufacturing And Sterilization for COVID-19 (MASC) Initiative

Author: Timothy Simpson
Published: Jun 30, 2020

Article Topics: innovation, technology, health care For faculty, March represents a big milestone in the academic calendar. It marks the halfway point of the semester and provides a much-needed break to catch one’s breath before the big push to reach the end of the semester. Unfortunately, this spring break will live long in our memories—the Coronavirus started showing up on the shores of the United States, and everything changed. Within the span of two weeks, I went from enjoying time on the beach, relaxing with my family to leading an interdisciplinary team that has grown to over 380 people with the singular aim of helping healthcare workers…

The Impact of COVID-19 on Non-COVID Care and Population Health

Author: Joel Segel
Published: Jun 26, 2020

Article Topics: health care, rural, hospitals Much of the attention surrounding COVID-19 has focused on the incidence, the risk factors, and the medical needs of COVID-19 patients as well as the profound economic impact of the pandemic. However, an increasing area of emphasis is the profound effect the pandemic has had on non-COVID related medical care. This has important impacts not only on population health but also the financial health of providers, which can be critical to ensuring ongoing access to care currently and into the future. Here I describe the potential non-COVID population health impacts of the pandemic and how those may…