How Will A New Administration Change How You Administer Healthcare? | Five To Save

The United States is probably about to get a new President. That will probably impact your day-to-day very little.

It seemed like every news source - hospital, supply chain, and otherwise - was trying to predict what impact a Biden presidency would have on healthcare. Where coronavirus response is concerned, we can make some guesses but mostly will need to rely on our shared experience thus far to see us through something else that's probably coming: a surge in new COVID-19 cases. 

1. The Biden camp has begun to assemble a new coronavirus task force, which will hopefully coordinate with the existing government response. But any greater change to the healthcare administration landscape is unlikely, given another probability: congressional and judicial deadlock. 
2. Before the end of the year, though, there are going to be more COVID-19 hospitalizations, and as prepared as hospital executives feel, supply chain leaders are more skeptical. For example, the demand for gloves outstrips the supply. And that was before gloves became the target of high-profile theft. (Could you have imagined us talking this much about PPE that five years ago? Even one year ago?)
3. So what about the logistics of vaccine distribution? CMS just released some increased guidelines for when a vaccine is ready. But even the most promising solution being tested won't cure the disease or prevent infection. It just reduces symptoms. 
4. The good news is that areas where COVID-19 cases have remained a threat have gotten better at responding and providing patients better outcomes. What's difficult is finding time to communicate best practices and experience to areas like Scandinavia and the American Midwest where cases are just now spiking for the first time. 
5. But case volumes have dramatically impacted providers' solvency. So what will patients do if the looming wave of hospital bankruptcy crashes down? What will a new administration do? Biden was previously part of an administration that was no stranger to bailouts. Will the same sort of thing become necessary - again - for healthcare providers? 

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