COVID-19 has placed additional burdens on our already-strained primary care system. Patients struggle to access care and frequently do not have their needs met, while primary care providers (PCPs) face increasing administrative burden and burnout.
In an effort to facilitate more vaccinations, the Biden Administration announced earlier this month that it will now require Medicaid, the public insurance program for low-income Americans, to pay health care providers for simply talking with families about kids’ vaccinations. While states still have to implement the new policy, Medicaid provides health insurance for more than 40% of children across the country, so the impact could be significant.
Much has been made of the gap between more-vaccinated and less-vaccinated states or red counties and blue counties. The difference is even starker in big counties with overwhelming adoption of the vaccines.
Much has been written about the yawning gap in outcomes between less-vaccinated and more-vaccinated areas, especially as deaths in less-vaccinated, red states significantly and increasingly outpace more-vaccinated, blue states. The Washington Post’s Philip Bump also reported this week that deaths in red counties are more than 50 percent higher than in blue counties.
A new health-equity scorecard released Nov. 18 by the Commonwealth Fund finds deep-seated racial and ethnic health inequities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia — disparities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Check back regularly for the latest survey results and updates.
For data from the previous clinician survey, see Round 30 Results.
The Primary Care Collaborative is partnering with the Larry A. Green Center to regularly survey primary care clinicians and patients to better understand the impact of COVID-19 in real time.
