Substack Post: "How To Solve HHS’s Failure To Address The Climate Crisis" (September 12th)
For this week's post I noted my essay posted this past Friday by Health Affairs and titled, "How To Solve HHS's Failure to Address the Climate Crisis." It is at: https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/solve-hhs-s-failure-address-climate-crisis. It also appears via Substack at:
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It opens with:
"From an anthropocentric perspective the climate crisis is fundamentally a threat to human health if not survival. The World Health Organization defines it as “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.” Logic dictates that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take the lead in mitigating climate-related health harms. President Joe Biden immediately recognized this reality in a January 2021 executive order that stated because the US has a “narrow moment” to take action he directed HHS to, in sum, decrease climate-related risks among the elderly, children, and people with disabilities.
However, after two rule-making cycles, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has failed to take any regulatory action requiring Medicare and Medicaid providers to reduce their considerable carbon footprint. CMS’s last 2023 opportunity was via the hospital inpatient prospective payment rule finalized August 1."