The COVID-19 pandemic has presented death, devastation, and disruption – but also an unprecedented opportunity to leverage lessons learned from the pandemic and truly transform U.S. health, health care, and health delivery.
To capitalize on this opportunity, the NAM gathered field leaders from across all major health system sectors to assess weaknesses that existed prior to COVID-19, how each sector has responded to the pandemic, and the opportunities that exist for true and meaningful health system transformation. This new NAM Special Publication collects nine previously-published discussion papers focused on discrete health care sectors with a concluding chapter that identifies and underscores critical system-wide lessons common to all of the sector assessments.
Download Emerging Stronger from COVID-19: Priorities for Health System Transformation!
Public Health COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published April 7, 2021
About the Public Health Assessment
“COVID-19 provides a stark reminder of the tremendous social value of robust public health systems and the harrowing consequences for populations when those capabilities are allowed to atrophy through neglect and underinvestment.”
The first of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 focuses on state and local public health, systemic challenges that may have hampered their response to the pandemic, and strategies to close these gaps and reinforce the system as a whole.
Tweet this! Public health leaders outline priority actions and policy considerations for reinforcing public health infrastructure after #COVID19, including addressing funding, leadership and workforce, and modernizing IT capabilities: https://doi.org/10.31478/202104c #TransformingHealth
Care Systems COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published April 7, 2021
About the Care Systems Assessment
“Although health systems adapted throughout the pandemic to meet the needs of patients, the overall pandemic experience highlights opportunities for the sector to not only improve long-term preparedness for public health emergencies but also the effectiveness of baseline operations.”
The second of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 focuses on care delivery systems, systemic challenges that may have hampered their response to the pandemic, and strategies to close these gaps and reinforce the system as a whole.
Tweet this! Care system leaders outline priority actions for reinforcing how care systems operate after #COVID19, including ensuring supply chain surge capacity, addressing health inequities, and supporting the health care workforce: https://doi.org/10.31478/202104d #TransformingHealth
Health Care Payers COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published May 17, 2021
About the Health Care Payers Assessment
“The pandemic has both provided momentum to implement long-overdue changes in health care delivery, like flexibilities for virtual care, while highlighting the need to accelerate ongoing efforts to transform payment systems, including the transition to alternative payment models.”
The third of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 focuses on health care payers, systemic challenges that may have hampered their response to the pandemic, and strategies to close these gaps and reinforce the system as a whole.
Tweet this! Health care payer leaders outline priority actions for ensuring health financing is more efficient and equitable after #COVID19, including moving to value-based payment and extending telehealth flexibilities: https://doi.org/10.31478/202105a #TransformingHealth
Clinicians and Professional Societies COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published May 17, 2021
About the Clinicians and Professional Societies Assessment
The fourth of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 is now available!
Clinicians and Professional Societies COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of the clinician experience during COVID-19, challenges encountered and lessons learned, and opportunities for reinforcing and transforming the clinician workforce after the pandemic recedes. The paper identifies long-standing structural challenges and identifies opportunities to close these gaps in the future.
Tweet this! Clinicians and professional society leaders identify key challenges in the sector’s response to #COVID19 as structural issues, including clinician burnout, inadequate staffing, disruptions to education, and financial impacts: https://doi.org/10.31478/202105b #TransformingHealth
Quality, Safety, and Standards Organizations COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published July 26, 2021
About the Quality, Safety, and Standards Organinzations Assessment
The fifth of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 is now available!
Quality, Safety, and Standards Organizations COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of how QSS organizations responded to COVID-19, by reducing data collection load on clinicians, moving to virtual surveys and site visits, and liberalizing telemedicine policies. The paper also identifies the gaps in the QSS organizations’ response and outlines priority areas and policy considerations for improving systems of quality, safety, and standards after the pandemic.
Tweet this! Quality, safety, and standards orgs leaders outline priority actions after #COVID19, including new models/standards for collaboration between health care & public health and accelerating shifting away from fee-for-service care: https://doi.org/10.31478/202107d #TransformingHealth
Biomedical Research COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published July 26, 2021
About the Biomedical Research Assessment
The sixth of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after COVID-19 is now available!
Biomedical Research COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of how the research enterprise responded to COVID-19, including fundamental scientific studies on SARS-CoV-2, public health surveillance, epidemiologic research, and supporting the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. The paper also identifies challenges that the biomedical research enterprise experienced prior to the pandemic and that impacted their ability to respond to COVID-19 and priority areas and policy considerations for reinforcing the research enterprise.
Tweet this! Biomedical research leaders reflect on the sector’s response to #COVID19 in a new #NAMPerspectives discussion paper, including unprecedented research initiatives, innovative public-private partnerships, and more: https://doi.org/10.31478/202107e #TransformingHealth
Patients, Families, and Communities COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published November 29, 2021
About the Patients, Families, and Communities Assessment
The seventh of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after #COVID19 is now available!
Patients, Families, and Communities COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of what patients, families, and communities experienced during COVID-19; opportunities for reinforcing and transforming health and health care delivery after the pandemic recedes; and making the case for centering patients, families, and communities in all aspects of health and health care delivery. The paper identifies long-standing structural challenges and identifies opportunities to close these gaps in the future.
Tweet this! The health system exists to serve society’s most fundamental need: people’s well-being. A new #NAMPerspectives outlines how the health system can be transformed to better serve patients, families, & communities after #COVID19: https://doi.org/10.31478/202111c #TransformingHealth
Health Product Manufacturers and Innovators COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published January 18, 2022
About the Health Product Manufacturers and Innovators Assessment
The eighth of nine papers focused on opportunities for health system transformation after #COVID19 is now available!
Health Product Manufacturers and Innovators COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of how health product manufacturers responded to COVID-19, focusing on diagnostics, hospital equipment, medical devices, therapeutics, and vaccines. The paper also identifies challenges health product manufacturers and innovators experienced during their response and outlines priority areas and policy considerations for reinforcing health product manufacturing after the pandemic. Read more: https://doi.org/10.31478/202201b
Tweet this! Health product manufacturers outline priority actions for reinforcing how the sector operates after #COVID19, including ensuring support for scientific research, mitigating substandard offerings, and collecting accurate data: https://doi.org/10.31478/202201b #TransformingHealth
Digital Health COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
Published January 18, 2022
About the Digital Health Assessment
The final paper focused on opportunities for health system transformation after #COVID19 is now available!
Digital Health COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of how digital health was positioned before and assisted in the response to COVID-19, including lessons learned during the pandemic that can be leveraged to help digital health reach its full potential in the coming years. These lessons include the necessity for a coherent data architecture, appropriate sizing and deployment of health care regulation, how to improve current health care data systems, and the need to consider how to overcome barriers in a holistic and comprehensive manner. Read more: https://doi.org/10.31478/202201c
Tweet this! Leaders in operationalizing digital health tools outline actions for development, implementation, and maintenance after #COVID19, including identification of business solutions, prioritizing cybersecurity & widespread training: https://doi.org/10.31478/202201c #TransformingHealth
Questions? Contact namleadershipconsortium@nas.edu