Health Equity blog

On April 9, the Arizona Supreme Court, in its Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc. v. Hayes decision, upheld a state law dating back to 1864, which makes it a felony to perform, or even help a woman obtain, an abortion at any time following conception. The one exception is if the procedure is to save the pregnant woman’s life. Despite the Court’s decision, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has vowed that she will not enforce the abortion ban. Fervent reaction to the Arizona decision quickly made its way up to President Joe Biden, who decreed Arizona’s abortion law as “cruel” and an affront to women’s reproductive rights.

SCOTUS EMTALA Oral Arguments. This week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States, cases asking whether the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) preempts, under certain emergency circumstances, an Idaho law banning most abortions. The Idaho argument is April 24 at 10 am ET, with an expected ruling by the end of the Supreme Court’s term in June.  Read more about these cases here.

California’s Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), along with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), continue to make progress on their recently launched Health Equity Roadmap initiative to advance health equity among Medi-Cal enrollees and eliminate health disparities they currently face. This endeavor is an ongoing, phased process, which seeks to create a more equitable and person-centered health delivery system for California’s largest public health program. What is most promising about this latest policy-driven effort is that DHCS/CHCF are directly engaging Medi-Cal members from across the state to hear their concerns and better understand what they perceive is working with the current program and what needs fixing. In addition, DHCS/CHCF are working with payors, local governments, providers, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders to help pinpoint opportunities that will clearly lead to advancing health equity among the most underserved of Medi-Cal’s beneficiaries, especially BIPOC communities.

Massachusetts (MA) holds the enviable position of being the first state to have all its hospitals meet The Joint Commission’s (TJC’s) new health care equity accreditation standard. The standard requires hospitals to develop an action plan to improve healthcare equity and identify an individual to lead its related activities; analyze quality and safety data to identify disparities; assess patients’ health-related social needs; take action when the hospital does not meet the goals in its action plan; and inform groups, such as patients, staff, and health care partners, about progress to improve healthcare equity. The current plan is that each MA hospital will earn the advanced TJC Health Care Equity Certification by 2025.

New research claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has overstated its reported figures of maternal death rates during the past 20 years. The primary alleged culprit is the CDC’s introduction in 2003 of a new “pregnancy checkbox” on death certificates, which did not require corroborating cause-of-death information. CDC has stated they disagree with the study’s findings and claim methods used in research are known to undercount the mortality rate. Regardless, this potential discrepancy in reported data does not undermine the fact that a maternal health crisis continues to exist in the United States.

A new report examining maternal health care in Louisiana following that state’s near total ban on abortions found that pregnant women are commonly being denied timely procedures–often in the face of life-threatening medical situations–primarily because physicians are acting cautiously to avoid even the appearance of performing an abortion.

Last month, as required by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released its highly anticipated Final Rule modifying standards applicable to the confidentiality and release of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records (a/k/a “Part 2”) to more closely align with HIPAA’s privacy and related regulations. You can read our alert on the Final Rule here: Part 2 Update: HHS Final Rule Aligning Federal Protections for Substance Use Disorder Records with HIPAA.

On March 26, the US Supreme Court heard arguments related to a challenge to the use of mifepristone, a drug originally approved by the FDA in 2000, with changes to the FDA’s approval allowing for expansions to access in 2016 and 2021 by permitting prescriptions to be made via telehealth and for the medication to be sent to patients by mail. While the outcome is far from certain, a majority of the Justices appeared to side with the government, as opposed to those challenging the FDA’s approvals, with much of the argument focused on the question of standing. Regardless of the outcome of this case, mifepristone remains illegal in many states that have enacted near-total abortion bans.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released an Issue Brief, detailing the steps it is taking to strengthen the delivery of primary care in the US, including reducing disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity across the nation. As part of this objective, HHS intends to develop additional, data-informed interventions to ensure that it is able to refine its dedication of resources appropriately. However, HHS acknowledges that it cannot achieve all these goals on its own and appeals to other stakeholders, including payors and state/local governments, to actively participate in the efforts to reform primary care delivery.

On March 26, the US Supreme Court heard arguments related to a challenge to the use of mifepristone, a drug originally approved by the FDA in 2000, with changes to the FDA’s approval allowing for expansions to access in 2016 and 2021 by permitting prescriptions to be made via telehealth and for the medication to be sent to patients by mail. While the outcome is far from certain, a majority of the Justices appeared to side with the government, as opposed to those challenging the FDA’s approvals, with much of the argument focused on the question of standing. Regardless of the outcome of this case, mifepristone remains illegal in many states that have enacted near-total abortion bans.

Last month, as required by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released its highly anticipated Final Rule modifying standards applicable to the confidentiality and release of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records (a/k/a “Part 2”) to more closely align with HIPAA’s privacy and related regulations. You can read our alert on the Final Rule here: Part 2 Update: HHS Final Rule Aligning Federal Protections for Substance Use Disorder Records with HIPAA.