Rationing of Scarce COVID-19 Drug Treatments: A Podcast with Drs. DeJong, Chen, and White

The question of who should get limited supplies of drugs that treat COVID-19 is not a theoretical question, like what seems to have happened with ventilators in the US. This is happening now. Hospitals right now have limited courses of remdesivir. For example the University of Pittsburgh hospital system has about 50 courses of remdsivir. They expect it to last to mid-June, enough for about 30% of patients who will present in the next 3 weeks. Who do you give it to? The first that present to the hospital (give it all away in the first week)? Random lottery? Or something else that is also accounts for the greater impact of COVID-19 has on disadvantaged communities ? On today's Podcast we talk with Colette DeJong, 3rd year medicine resident at UCSF, and Alice Hm Chen, Deputy Secretary for Policy and Planning at the California Health and Human Services Agency, who were two of the authors of a recently published JAMA article titled "An Ethical Framework for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Medications for COVID-19 in the US". We also bring on our repeat guest, Doug White, who authored the University of Pittsburgh model hospital policy for fair allocation of scarce COVID-19 medications, which can be found here. The University of Pittsburgh allocation strategy doesn't use a first-come, first-served or random allocation, but rather a waited lottery that is aimed at reducing the impact of social inequities on COVID-19 outcomes in disadvantaged communities. In particular, the following groups receive heightened priority in this framework: Individuals from disadvantaged areas, defined as residing at an address with an Area Deprivation Index score of 8 to 10 (range 1-10; with higher numbers meaning worse deprivation) Essential workers, defined by the state's list of essential businesses that are required to continue physical operations during the pandemic, which include lower-paid workers who may be socially and economically vulnerable, such as grocery store clerks, bus drivers, agricultural workers, and custodial workers. Of note, the Area Deprivation Index was developed in large part by Amy Kind, Geriatrician at the University of Wisconsin, and recipient of the 2019 American Geriatrics Society Thomas and Catherine Yoshikawa Award for Excellence in Scientific Achievement. by: Eric Widera NOTE: Links to the papers discussed above can be found on our blog site at GeriPal.org