​Essential health care workers are putting their lives on the line as they treat and attempt to control the spread of COVID-19. This webinar examines the concept of Hazard Pay, defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as “additional pay for performing hazardous duties or physical hardship.” The panel provides a brief overview of current hazard pay proposals, examines the need and impact of hazard pay for low and high wage essential health care workers, and offers an economist perspective and possible approaches.

This Webinar examines the implications of COVID-19 for the oral health workforce. Speakers address the impact of COVID-19 on dental practices, share innovations - including teledentistry and integrated oral health, primary care, and public health - and discuss implications and policy needs for future practice to ensure oral health care access.

Dr. Michael Fraser, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) provides an overview of the need for contact tracing in the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses the opportunity to build the capacity of the future public health workforce. Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Health Officer of the Anne Arundel County Department of Health, outlines the county level approach to contact tracing in Anne Arundel County and presents unique challenges and opportunities of the experience to date.

​Alice Mark, Medical Director for the National Abortion Federation, discusses underlying challenges facing abortion providers and how these have been exacerbated by the COVID19 crisis. Heather Shumaker, Senior Counsel for Reproductive Rights and Health at the National Women’s Law Center, explains current state policies and litigation affecting the abortion provider workforce. Jen Villavicencio, OB/GYN and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Michigan, talks about the impact of abortion care policies in Michigan and changes that providers are making to reduce risks of exposure.  

​Jo Wiederhorn, MSW, of the Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) discusses the early graduation of fourth year medical students in New York State and the proposed roles these new physicians would have in the COVID-19 response. Garrett Chan, PhD, RN, of HealthImpact outlines potential strategies for nursing students in California to aid in the pandemic while also maintaining academic and practice partnerships. READ SUMMARY

This session builds on a prior webinar entitled Why Occupational Standards Matter and focuses on the question of whether health personnel have the right NOT to work when they feel their health or their family’s health, or life, is in danger.
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The WHO affirms that employers must "allow workers to exercise the right to remove themselves from a work situation that they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to their life or health ..." without undue consequences.

Panelists from three professions - medicine, nursing and home care - discuss the different ways in which they are experiencing tensions between the social mission of their work, on the one hand, and its limits when employers have not provided adequate worker protection, on the other. They also discuss policies and practices that would help alleviate this tension, including child care, housing, and hazard pay. READ SUMMARY

This session asks whether national enforceable occupational standards matter, and if so, why the United States has no occupational safety standards for airborne pathogens.  
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The World Health Organization has issued guidance with a list of 13 health worker rights relevant to the COVD-19 pandemics, 8 of which refer to either the right to obtain training in infection control, or the right to appropriate protective gear.  Panelists discuss why issuing a national safety standard is so important to ensuring those rights in the current situation. They also explore why employers and the Trump administration have opposed issuing an emergency standard. READ SUMMARY

This session focuses on emergency measures states can take to remove certain restrictions on the scope of practice of a variety of health professions, as a strategy to maximize the current workforce capacity. 

The COVID-19 crisis makes the basic principle of having all personnel working at the top of their education and license especially urgent, both as a way to enhance efficiency and to reduce frustration among health care team members.  Panelists review changes that should be considered and then discuss executive orders already issued by governors in ten states.  READ SUMMARY