Senate Aging Committee examines COVID-19 and racial health disparities

Jul 22, 2020 - 03:33 PM
senate-hearing-rountable

The Senate Special Committee on Aging yesterday held a hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic and seniors, which focused on racial health disparities.

Former AHA Board Chair Gene Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health in Charlotte, N.C., testified about Atrium’s initiatives to address the needs of minority and underserved communities, including the use of geospatial hotspotting to identify zip codes most impacted by COVID-19 and direct needed resources to those areas. 

Woods also noted the benefits of telehealth in reaching underserved communities and advocated for extending its expanded use beyond the pandemic.

Also testifying at the hearing were Dominic Mack, M.D., director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta; Mercedes Carnethon, vice chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago; and Rodney Jones Sr., CEO of East Liberty Health Center in Pittsburgh.

Related News Articles

Headline
CDC: Flu activity remains high, COVID-19 increasing while RSV peaks 
Respiratory illness activity remains high across the country, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seasonal flu…
Headline
AHA releases 2025 Advocacy Agenda
The AHA yesterday released its 2025 Advocacy Agenda that details the association's key priorities for Congress, the Administration, regulatory agencies and…
Headline
OSHA ends efforts to establish COVID-19 safety standard 
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Jan. 13 announced that it terminated efforts to establish a final COVID-19 safety standard to protect workers…
Headline
AHA podcast: A Health Equity Transformation Fuels Behavioral Health Access at Boston Medical Center 
In this conversation, three experts from Boston Medical Center discuss the development of its Health Equity Accelerator, the partnerships needed to sustain the…
Headline
AHA podcast: Health Equity at the Center of Rural Care
In this conversation, Terry Scoggin, CEO of Titus Regional Medical Center, discusses how the organization designed a system of care to ensure that every…
Headline
Certain PREP Act liability protections for COVID-19 countermeasures extended through 2029 
The Department of Health and Human Services Dec. 10 amended the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act declaration for COVID-19, extending liability…