|
The ideas and innovators shaping health care | | | | |  | | By Ben Leonard , Carmen Paun , Ruth Reader and Grace Scullion | | | | | 
A mobile clinic on the road in Leland, Miss., on Jan. 18, 2022. | Rory Doyle/Politico | Health care is getting more nimble as providers repurpose Covid vaccination vans for new needs. President Joe Biden this week signed a bill into law — dubbed the MOBILE Health Care Act — from Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), which would allow federally qualified health centers funded by Medicare and Medicaid to offer mobile health care clinics. Mobile clinics have taken off since the outset of the pandemic, with 40 percent growth since 2019, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers. They were often used as Covid-19 vaccination sites, rolling into neighborhoods to reach people where they live. Mobile health clinic advocates see them as a way to expand health care access for people who can be difficult to reach. “[It will benefit] underserved communities, rural communities, but sometimes there are also people who just can’t get out as easily,” Rosen told Future Pulse . “The outreach we’re going to be able to do with this flexibility that this bill gives for community health centers … that’s going to be life-changing.” As Covid-19 vaccination drives are waning, the clinics on wheels are being repurposed and new mobile clinic uses are emerging:
- One organization in South Carolina turned their fleet into primary care and behavioral health mobile clinics, said Elizabeth Wallace, executive director of the Mobile Healthcare Organization.
- And internationally, Dutch conglomerate Philips uses mobile clinics in India that were once used to add intensive care unit bed capacity to close urban and rural divides.
Advocates argue the clinics build trust if executed properly. That requires engaging early and often, embedding themselves in the community and partnering with organizations, Wallace said.
Getting a steady federal funding stream will help. “Expanding mobile clinics in [federally qualified health centers] is really just the beginning,” said Harvard Medical School’s Mollie Williams, executive director of the Family Van, a mobile clinic provider, and the Mobile Health Map, which provides data analysis for mobile clinics.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today . | | | | | | | | This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Good news for runners: Distance running makes most people’s knees stronger. Now I have no excuses not to run, but I’m sure I’ll find one. Share news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at bleonard@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com or Grace Scullion at gscullion@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp. Today on our Pulse Check podcast, Krista Mahr talks with Grace Scullion about the Biden administration's Covid vaccine messaging strategy and whether it's working. Plus, William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, on the CDC's limitations.
| | | | | | |  A health care worker instructs people with Ebola symptoms to get in an ambulance in Uganda last month. | AP | A vaccine to counter the deadly hemorrhagic fever Ebola, now spreading in Uganda, would be a major breakthrough. The U.S. has a candidate, and it’s waiting for the World Health Organization and Ugandan officials to approve a clinical trial in the central African country. “We are ready to go,” said Karin Bok, the acting deputy director of pandemic preparedness and emergency response at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center. The vaccine candidate, developed by the Vaccine Research Center, is thought to be the most advanced in testing after completing Phase I clinical trials. The shot, based on a chimpanzee adenovirus, was licensed to the Sabin Vaccine Institute, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that promotes vaccine development.
| | 44 Ebola’s death toll so far in the current outbreak in Uganda
| | The NIAID has 100 vialed doses and 7,000 doses in bulk, Bok said, adding that Sabin has more. “Right now, we have, between Sabin and NIAID, enough doses to respond,” she said. Vaccines and treatments for Ebola were successfully developed for the Zaire disease strain, which caused a massive outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 and more recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But to this point, there is no vaccine for the Sudan strain. | | | | TUNE IN TO THE PULSE CHECK PODCAST: Keep your finger on the pulse of the biggest stories in health care by listening to our daily Pulse Check podcast. POLITICO’s must-listen briefing decodes healthcare policy and politics, and delivers reality checks from health professionals on the front lines. SUBSCRIBE NOW AND START LISTENING . | | | | | | | | | 
A study found Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz's website wasn't accessible to people with disabilities. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo | Candidates for public office have a big incentive to reach the maximum number of potential voters with their messages. But a September report from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, which connects people who are blind or who have impaired vision with supportive services, found the 14 candidates’ websites it reviewed have much room for improvement in reaching people with disabilities. The report found:
- None of the websites were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Whether the ADA applies to websites is the subject of ongoing litigation.
- None of the candidates had an accessibility statement with contact information, including an email address and phone number that users can use to get assistance.
- Candidate websites did not allow users to easily adjust color and font size.
Miami Lighthouse examined sites for gubernatorial and Senate candidates in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania. Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams had the most accessible site, while Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Mehmet Oz had the least. Miami Lighthouse CEO Virginia Jacko said that small fixes could make those sites accessible — like adding a widget that allows for contrast changes to help people with visual impairments. Sites can also fail for people with hearing loss if they don’t provide captioning for videos or for people with dexterity issues if links aren’t easy to click. The number of people affected is significant. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 12 million Americans over 40 have a vision impairment, while 37.5 million have hearing loss. Jacko did notice that the websites’ donation pages were more likely to be accessible than those detailing policy positions. “Isn’t that interesting?” she asked. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
