Healthcare Transformation: Addressing a Triple Crisis

Child holding hands with an adult

By: Paul Dworkin, MD

The call to transform our healthcare system by focusing on children first is nothing new. However, it is critical now more than ever to move forward with such an agenda. COVID-19, racial injustice and ongoing economic challenges present a triple crisis that cannot be ignored.

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I was honored to contribute to an article recently published by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families that addresses this very issue. The article is titled “Child Health Care Transformation: Addressing the Triple Crisis of COVID-19, Racial Injustice and the Economic Downturn.” Co-authors include Charles Bruner, Kay Johnson, Maxine Hayes, David Willis and Wendy Ellis. Together we serve as advisors to the Integrated Care for Kids Initiative, which supports leaders in defining and advancing child-focused healthcare transformation and is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Child health care will not, cannot go back to what existed before COVID-19,” we state in the article. “The challenge and opportunity are to build back better, smarter, and fairer – in ways that directly confront and address issues of racism, privilege, and social disadvantage.”

Please take a moment to read the full article, which you can access here. We must move forward with placing the children who are at greatest risk of experiencing adverse outcomes first.