How can we eliminate restrictions that prevent new companies from entering the health care market?
Responses
Alec Mena
Lobby state governments to make permanent some of the regulatory loosening they’ve passed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, such as exemptions to certificate of need laws, and suspensions of medical practitioner licensing rules allowing providers to legally work across state lines and via telemedicine. Then we should also loosen scope-of-practice laws for professionals who may substitute for MDs in certain situations such as physicians’ assistants, nurse practitioners, EMTs, and midwives, and also lobby state governments to continue to permit providers to receive Medicaid reimbursements for providing care via telemedicine. On the federal level it would be good to similarly allow Medicare reimbursements for telemedicine as well as other non traditional providers like outpatient surgery centers, and it would help to streamline the FDA’s drug and medical device approval process and potentially lift the requirement for phase 2 efficacy testing for drugs for noninfectious diseases.
These are some of the needed supply-side reforms I know of, but I don't know where to begin advocating for them politically, and I’m not sure that simply circulating online petitions is going to cut it. Any suggestions? What’s the lowest-hanging fruit that reformers can prioritize?
Responses
Lobby state governments to make permanent some of the regulatory loosening they’ve passed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, such as exemptions to certificate of need laws, and suspensions of medical practitioner licensing rules allowing providers to legally work across state lines and via telemedicine. Then we should also loosen scope-of-practice laws for professionals who may substitute for MDs in certain situations such as physicians’ assistants, nurse practitioners, EMTs, and midwives, and also lobby state governments to continue to permit providers to receive Medicaid reimbursements for providing care via telemedicine. On the federal level it would be good to similarly allow Medicare reimbursements for telemedicine as well as other non traditional providers like outpatient surgery centers, and it would help to streamline the FDA’s drug and medical device approval process and potentially lift the requirement for phase 2 efficacy testing for drugs for noninfectious diseases.
These are some of the needed supply-side reforms I know of, but I don't know where to begin advocating for them politically, and I’m not sure that simply circulating online petitions is going to cut it. Any suggestions? What’s the lowest-hanging fruit that reformers can prioritize?