Throughout the covid-19 crisis, there has been intense debate about the course of action that policymakers should take to fight the disease. However, the common goal across the spectrum has been unwaveringly consistent: Minimize the number of deaths and severe outcomes.

Early on, state and federal subsidies were offered to hospitals throughout the nation for administering specific treatments and reimbursing hospitals for deaths classified with covid-19. These subsidies are poor incentives for achieving the mutual goal of minimizing suffering.

Similarly, endorsing specific treatments and procedures to hospitals effectively pigeonholes burgeoning treatment protocols. While these policies could be understood early on as the covid-19 crisis emerged as an effort to support resource limited hospital systems, the disease and our understanding of it has changed significantly. It is time to apply commonsense policy to align with the evolving situation.

Imagine parents attempting to encourage their children to improve their grades by paying them based on the number of subjects they fail. Likewise, we are endorsing a dangerous strategy that entices hospital administrators and doctors to achieve metrics totally contrary to our intended goal. Incentivizing poor outcomes for covid-19 is incongruent with our common goal of minimizing severe outcomes.

Patients and hospital staff deserve coherent policies that honor their suffering and sacrifice. Instead, we have policies that make patients suspicious of their caregivers and tempt hospital staff into viewing their patients as financial transactions. We need to end these ineffective and counterproductive policies immediately.

Garrett Ringler

Butler

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