When hospitals close: How to address ’care deserts’

Millions of Americans live 30 miles or more from the nearest hospital. Not just an inconvenience, this access issue known as “care deserts” affects a shocking 80 percent of counties in the United States and can exist in both rural and urban areas. A scarcity of medical resources, however, does not have to doom the health of entire communities, says Onisis Stefas, PharmD, Northwell’s chief pharmacy officer and CEO at Vivo Health Pharmacy. He joins Alex Hellinger, DPT, MBA, FACHE, Northwell's senior vice president and regional executive director for the Brooklyn region, who shares his experiences working to fill the care desert in lower Manhattan's west side following the closing of St. Vincent's in 2010. Then the executive director of Lenox Health Greenwich Village, he and Dr. Stefas talk types of care deserts, re-imagining what care looks like, the role pharmacists can play, and what to do if you live in a care desert. Chapters: 00:54 - Care deserts: types and causes 01:54 - Physician shortages 02:37 - Hospital closures and finances 03:35 - Pharmacy deserts 04:48 - Rural vs. urban 08:15 - Rethinking health care 09:15 - An equitable approach 12:46 - A snowball effect 14:38 - Helping Brooklyn 15:32 - Covid-19's impact 18:29 - Transforming medical deserts