In the last half of 2021, the rate of patients who contracted COVID-19 in a hospital rose at only half the rate as overall COVID-19 admissions, likely due to increased vaccination rates, researchers said.
Ultimately, the necessitated innovations of the last two years accelerated the development of a smarter, more resilient global infrastructure.
“If we’re going to respond to the behavioral health issues the pandemic has made worse … that will take legislative action,” Senate health committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said.
Medical device companies likely will face the same challenges this year that they have been dealing with since the pandemic’s start, such as procedure volatility and hospital staffing shortages.
Telehealth use rose in every census region in November as patients again avoided medical settings and some became infected with the newest coronavirus variant, according to data from Fair Health.
The authors list a range of potential positive outcomes of improved device interoperability, using the experience of the consumer technology and telecommunications industries to make their case.
Cowen analysts said the rate increase “should support another year of benefit enhancements & strong enrollment growth,” and noted that in recent years the final rate has been higher than what was first proposed.
Legislators in some states are even looking to cap the rate hospitals can pay agencies for temporary nurses as worker shortages persist across the U.S.
“We should be addressing this in a more serious fashion than we are,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Wednesday.
Part of the plan includes “optimizing” the workforce. Executives didn’t clarify whether that would include layoffs.