What Can States Do to Promote Healthcare Access, Affordability, and Autonomy?

January 27, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the U.S. healthcare system like never before. In response, many states have issued temporary reforms to help deliver more rapid care to patients who need it most. Such reforms—like allowing pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 tests—are giving healthcare workers more flexibility, letting them practice at the top of their education and training. And patients are benefiting.

But such helpful measures shouldn’t go away once the pandemic is over. Earlier this week, Goldwater Institute Visiting Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Singer joined R Street Institute Resident Fellow Courtney Joslin for an R Street discussion moderated by Goldwater’s Director of Healthcare Policy Naomi Lopez to talk about how to make these reforms permanent and help create the more patient-centric healthcare system we need long after the pandemic is done. Dr. Singer and Joslin are the authors of a recent R Street-Goldwater report on the importance of states expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice.

You can watch the full event above.