I’m glad to have the chance to update you on our whole-of-government, HHS-wide COVID-19 response and how AHRQ continues to play a role in our efforts to deliver Americans a patient-centered healthcare system with better care, lower costs, and more choice.
Hello, AHRQ team! Thank you so much for inviting me to address your all-staff meeting.
I’m glad to have the chance to update you on our whole-of-government, HHS-wide COVID-19 response and how AHRQ continues to play a role in our efforts to deliver Americans a patient-centered healthcare system with better care, lower costs, and more choice.
We face very concerning COVID-19 trends around the country, with case counts and hospitalizations on the rise in many states. We have a great deal of work to do to beat the virus. But, at the same time, we’ve made real progress. This week, we received the incredibly exciting news about very promising data from Pfizer’s vaccine candidate.
As we bridge to the rollout of safe and effective vaccines, we keep getting better at caring for patients who do have the virus. Death rates for hospitalized patients over 70 have dropped by more than 80 percent since April.
We’re seeing these improvements in part because we have new therapeutic tools, but also because heroic frontline healthcare workers are learning and spreading knowledge about how to best care for patients.
In other words, we’re seeing the point Director Khanna likes to make: that cure and care are two sides of the same coin. Just as we need 21st-century cures to beat the pandemic, we need 21st-century care, too.
I want to recognize Director Khanna and thank him for the work he has done with all of you to formulate a rapid response to the pandemic and to focus the agency’s work on valuable ways to improve our healthcare system in general.
COVID-19 is redefining how healthcare services are delivered, now and in the future. As just one example, it’s shining a light on the need for bringing new research and practices to patients as rapidly as possible.
One important way you’re helping to do that is AHRQ’s National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network.
As many of you know, nursing home residents are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age, underlying frailty, and communal living conditions. Nursing home staff who care for them are among the most important and most at-risk essential workers.
As we’ve looked at the data and listened to providers, we’ve learned that slowing the spread and reducing infection risk in nursing homes is not a matter of will, but of skill. That’s exactly where AHRQ is making a contribution.
Your network now has more than 75 training centers, including academic medical centers and large health systems. By the time you hear this, the network will have launched 100 training and mentorship cohorts, supporting more than 2,000 nursing homes.
AHRQ and your partners built this network in less than six weeks, and I’ve been told you intend to launch an additional 100 cohorts and be supporting 4,000 to 5,000 more nursing homes in the coming weeks. That’s a remarkable accomplishment.
You’ve continued to make critical information and research available to support front-line healthcare workers, state and local decision-makers, and others responding to the pandemic. That includes recent evidence reports on allocation of scarce resources and no-touch modalities for disinfecting patient rooms, as well as updates on the rapid expansion of telehealth.
As pressing as COVID-19 is, AHRQ has continued executing on the vision for healthcare we’ve been working toward over the last several years.
For instance, next week, AHRQ will be holding a summit to address the needs of people with multiple chronic conditions. We’ve learned that having multiple underlying conditions can be a risk factor for COVID 19, but we also know that they account for an outsized amount of spending and morbidity in normal times.
I know that AHRQ’s work continues on other important HHS priorities as well. Your Evidence-Based Practice Center Program recently issued seven comprehensive reports on pain management and opioid prescribing. CDC will use the reports to update its prescribing guidelines, and CMS will use them to reassess its coverage for pain management and treatment of opioid use disorder, as required by the SUPPORT Act.
I am deeply grateful for the work that you are doing to combat the pandemic and to continue improving the health and well-being of all Americans.
I’m especially appreciative for your dedication at a time when the pandemic has disrupted and impacted so many lives.
Please continue to keep yourselves, your families, and your communities safe during this challenging time, and keep up the good work.
We’re going to beat this virus—and we’re going to keep making progress as a Department on improving the health and well-being of every American. Thank you again.
