AFMC : A CLOSER LOOK
There is still room for improvement in health care coverage , so we have a healthier population and a healthy workforce .
graduations , and football games with vaccines available for the general public . Our work continues with providing vaccines to Historically Black Colleges and other universities in Arkansas .
Health care research also allowed us to develop new treatments quickly . We developed monoclonal antibodies and new anti-virals that allowed highrisk patients to lower their risk of getting sicker . AFMC hosted several webinars on the treatment of monoclonal antibodies for health care providers .
While telemedicine was emerging , providers did not prefer it for managing patients . Although the technology was not new , many health care systems had not adopted and implemented telemedicine into the routine care of patients . The health care community quickly learned how to best use this technology , and payors responded , paying for these services . Many patients still have limited access due to a lack of devices and connectivity . Remote patient monitoring continues to grow as we learn more from research and best practice . The shortage of health care professionals was also apparent and then exacerbated by some leaving health care and sadly because many got sick and died from the virus . Not only did we run out of hospital beds , but we also ran out of nurses and doctors to care for patients . Many nurses and other health-related professionals responded by going to the hospitals that needed the most help . While this filled a need , it also created a loss for other hospitals .
There is still room for improvement in health care coverage , so we have a healthier population and a healthy workforce . Access to providers is still limited , especially in rural areas . We need more health care professionals .
During the pandemic , AFMC reached out to providers to see where we could assist in responding to the pandemic and collaborated with other organizations to help meet needs as they arose . We assisted all providers with improved use of telemedicine within practices to better reach patients and get reimbursement . We also reached out to the community to respond to the increased stress on everybody . We sought to increase knowledge of Adverse Childhood Experiences and how to build and sustain resilience . We continued to work with hospitals , clinics and other health care facilities to ensure good quality of care despite the stresses of the pandemic .
Although the pandemic may go on for a while , it is time to think about what life will be like on the other side . Or at least how to better respond to a pandemic and other health care needs . We have all used COVID for an excuse ( often well warranted ), but things must continue to move forward . s Dr . Rodgers is chief medical officer at AFMC .
SPRING 2022 | VOLUME 118 | NUMBER 9 177