Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1348345
27 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Johns Hopkins shares proposal for equitable vaccine distribution By Gabrielle Masson B altimore-based Johns Hopkins Uni- versity has released a proposal meant to guide officials working to advance equity in the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Immediate efforts to ensure that historically underserved populations receive potentially life-sustaining vaccines can propel an even broader process of social reparation and im- provement for communities of color, accord- ing to the proposal "Equity in Vaccination: A Plan to Work with Communities of Color Toward COVID-19 Recovery and Beyond." e Johns Hopkins proposal provides officials with the tools to develop and implement a vaccination strategy that works with communities of color to remedy COVID-19 disparities, prevent further health burdens, lay the foundation for unbiased healthcare delivery and enable broader social change. e five key principles of the plan are: 1. Iteration: Repeated engagement with communities of color is necessary. Vaccination urgency must be balanced with the need to build real trust in these communities. 2. Involvement: Community representatives must be active collaborators in the public health process. is involves implementing two-way communication mechanisms and engaging with these key representatives as partners, not as audiences to persuade or subordinates to command. 3. Information: Effective communication is essential. Officials must recognize that vaccination messages must be tailored to address the specific concerns of local com- munities of color. 4. Investment: All efforts described above require investments of time, attention and funding. 5. Integration: COVID-19 will have long-lasting physical, psychological and financial effects, especially in communities of color. Because of this, the vaccination campaign cannot be viewed as a final step in returning to "normal." Instead, it needs to be seen as a step toward a more complete recov- ery that includes meaningful social change. n Dartmouth-Hitchcock creates postpartum screening program By Mackenzie Bean D artmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has launched a postpartum depres- sion screening program for new mothers, the Lebanon, N.H.-based system said Feb. 16. Typically, women are screened immediately after they give birth and at a six- to eight- week postpartum checkup. Through the new program, women will complete a screening questionnaire via a secure tablet before their infant's 2-week, 2-month, 4-month and 6-month checkups with pediatricians. If a woman screens positive for postpartum depression, pediatricians can connect her to her primary care physician or a referred mental health provider. Pediatricians at Children's Hospital at Dart- mouth-Hitchcock in Manchester, N.H., have seen an increase in postpartum depression during the pandemic attributed to isolation, lack of sleep and natural hormone imbalanc- es, the health system said in a news release emailed to Becker's. n CDC: Mask mandates associated with decreased COVID-19 hospitalizations By Erica Carbajal C OVID-19 hospitalizations dropped significantly in states with mask mandates in the weeks after implementing the statewide order, according to the CDC's Feb. 5 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers evaluated the weekly growth rate of COVID-19 hospi- talizations between March 22 and Oct. 17, 2020, at 10 sites that were in states with mask mandates. In the first two weeks after the mask mandates took effect, weekly hospitalization growth rates fell by 2.9 percentage points among people aged 40-64, compared to growth rates in the four weeks before the mask mandate. After more than three weeks, the hospitalization growth rates in states with mask mandates dropped by 5.5 percentage points among those aged 18-64. The decline in hospitalizations may have also contributed to a significant decrease in healthcare costs associated with COVID-19, according to the report. "CDC has determined that COVID-19-related hospital costs per adult hospitalization varied from $8,400 in a general ward to [more than] $50,000 in an intensive care unit with a ventilator," researchers said. "Because COVID-19 can lead to prolonged illness and require long- term treatment, the expected savings associated with the decline in hospitalization rates could be much higher than these reduced hospi- tal costs associated with COVID-19." n