AHA Stat Blog

By Elisa Arespacochaga and&nbs

In 2016, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu spent one week together in deep discussion about joy. How to obtain it and hold on to it in a changing and often chaotic world.

Congress returns to Washington, D.C., on Monday, and the stakes are extremely high. The Senate will begin serious negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief package, and we expect Congress to pass legislation before the August congressional recess.

Raymond Waller, hospital administrator at Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery in Brighton, Mich., and 2020 chair of AHA's Behavioral Health Council, looks at substance use rates, stigma and the lack of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) behavioral health care providers. Read more in this guest blog about the work hospitals and health systems can do now to help future generations.

Now more than ever, the leadership of nurses and physicians is invaluable to the teams, organizations and patients they serve. They help those around them keep perspective, and their vision and guidance pave the road to a healthier future.

The sight of families re-emerging to gather at community playgrounds and pools brings mixed emotions. While it’s gratifying to see people enjoying themselves again, it’s also clear that COVID-19 is not in the rearview mirror, as spiking infection rates in many states demonstrate.

Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. These are three simple actions we know that will stop the spread of COVID-19. The AHA, American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association shared those messages in an open letter to the American public.

In this AHA Stat Blog, former AHA Board Chair John Bluford says we need action now to improve health equity. “A good place to start is by our health care systems attacking social and economic determinants of health and racism ZIP code by ZIP code, community by community and city by city in pursuit of better communities and a better nation,” writes Bluford.

As we mark July as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, Harsh Trivedi, M.D., president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt Health System based in Baltimore, Md., and a member of the AHA Board of Trustees, writes that hospitals and health systems must improve behavioral health care access for Black, Indigenous and people of color.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about coronavirus infections in hospitals speaks to the spread of this disease and the importance of taking the utmost precautions – everywhere and at all times.

The AHA releases Stem the Tide: Opioid Stewardship Measurement Implementation Guide, a new data-driven guide as the “how to” part of the Stem the Tide initiative. It connects knowing to doing, offering hospitals and health systems actionable ideas for program development and implementation.

As James Madison wrote in the First Amendment of our Bill of Rights, we have the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” We also have an important right that many in other countries don’t – the right to vote. These two rights go hand in hand as a foundation of our democracy.

“I just can’t imagine going back because people recognize the value of this.” That’s what Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said recently about the increased use of telehealth, signaling that doctoring from a distance — which has shown itself to be a lifesaving tool during the COVID-19 pandemic — could be here to stay. 

Expanding access to telehealth services to provide much more patient-centered, convenient care. Creating additional health care workforce capacity and avoiding workforce shortages. Removing barriers for patients and communities to access needed care.

As front-line health care workers move beyond the immediate pandemic crisis, now is the time to reflect on the psychological toll, writes Jesse Burgard, a regional chief mental health officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and AHA Behavioral Health Services Council member. Read more in this blog marking PTSD Awareness month.

Among the many lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the critical importance of leadership.

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spiking in a number of states, hospitals and health systems — and the women and men on the front lines — continue to battle the virus. At the same time, hospitals continue to confront the greatest financial crisis in their history, as our recent report estimates more than $200 billion in losses from COVID-19 from March through June.

Eight minutes and forty-six seconds. A lot goes through your mind when you stand or kneel in silence for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. You think about justice and injustice. About despair and struggle.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life in ways we never expected. For patients across the country, the cancellation or postponement of non-emergent surgeries, clinic visits and procedures delayed important medical care and financially devastated many hospitals and health systems, even threatening the ability of many to keep their doors open.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world. For hospitals and health systems this meant canceling non-emergent surgeries and other services – many of which are often for care that is potentially life-saving, necessary to alleviate pain and suffering, or to restore individuals to full health.