The document discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the globalization and interconnectedness of the US healthcare system. It notes that early in the pandemic, the US faced shortages of personal protective equipment and medical supplies due to disruptions in the global supply chain. Further, it outlines how the US relies on other countries, especially China, for manufacturing of drugs, devices, and components essential to modern healthcare. The pandemic also demonstrated how telemedicine has allowed other nations like India to provide remote services to US providers, and how medical tourism allows US citizens to access lower-cost procedures abroad.

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COMMENTARY AND QUESTIONS: Please consider the following series of inter- questions
that address the evolution of health care in the United States as well as the role of health
services professionals in delivering quality health services to patients located both within
and without the borders of the United States. Remember to post three different times on
three different days, and to make your posts progressively responsive to s of your fellow
classmates. I look forward to participating in your posts on this question. Please feel free to
post more than three times to the dynamic question below. “The economy, stupid” is a
phrase coined in 1992 by Bill Cliniton’s political strategist, James Carville. According to
Wikipedia, Carville’s statement was directed to campaign workers and was intended as one
of three messages for them to focus on. A second phrase for the campaign workers was
“Don’t forget health care.”Today, the U.S. economy continues to suffer negative effects of
COVID, including business closures, unemployment, employee shortages, inflation and
supply chain problems directly attributable to the COVID-19 virus pandemic that reportedly
began in Wuhan, China and immigrated to the United States in January 2020. The first
reported case can be traced to November 17, 2019 according to unpublished Chinese
government records. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/first-covid-19-
case-happened-in-november-china-government-records-show-report (Links to an external
site.). On January 19, 2020, the first case was diagnosed in the United States in Snohomish,
County, Washington. The patient had just returned from Wuhan, China where the
novel coronavirus allegedly began.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191. In just under two years, the
virus spread from that one international traveller to infect 72,310,575 people in the United
States and result in 870,195 COVID- deaths. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-
tracker/index.html#cases (Links to an external site.). These numbers are staggering
compared to the March 2020 data when there were just 5,738 positive cases and 80 deaths
in the United States. https://covidtracking.com/data/national (Links to an external
site.). Early in the COVID pandemic crisis, the United States did not have an adequate
supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as respirators, gloves, face shields,
gowns, hand sanitizers, etc. The PPE was needed to protect our front line health care
workers from becoming infected. The United States was also experiencing a shortage of
common medical supplies needed to treat hospitalized patients. You may recall news
reports of ordinary people sewing home-made face masks and shipping them to hospitals
across the country. China – where the COVID-19 virus originated, is a major manufacturer

2. of the PPE and medical supplies that were in short supply. The shortage of PPE and medical
supplies in the United States can be attributed to multiple causes, including problems with
the global supply chain that were also impacting other countries. It was reported that China
produced approximately half the world’s face masks before the pandemic. As the infection
spread across China, it stopped exporting face masks to other countries. As China’s
infection rate slowed, it began shipping masks to other countries as part of goodwill
packages. The United States, however, was not a major recipient of the good will
packages. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006141.The pandemic
highlighted that healthcare in the United States has evolved such that it is dependent on
global economic transactions. In addition to PPE and medical supplies, China produces
pharmaceuticals, medical devices, technology and rare minerals that are essential to the
delivery of modern U.S. health care
services. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)31908-
7/fulltext. The globalization of healthcare is also evident in health care transactions un to
the COVID-19 pandemic. India has developed a robust telemedicine industry to provide
remote medical services to U.S. health care
providers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6618173/ (Links to an
external site.). India, Mexico and other countries actively market lower cost medical
procedures to U.S. health care consumers. https://www.newsweek.com/thousands-
americans-cross-border-mexico-affordable-medical-treatment-each-1426943 (Links to an
external site.). On a personal note, in a recent conversation with a distant family member, I
learned that his girlfriend was in the country of Columbia for a complex dental procedure
that would only cost her $6,000 compared to the $60,000 she would pay in the United
States. Reportedly, Columbia has developed an expertise in dental procedures and markets
to the global medical consumer. Similarly, U.S.-based health care providers provide
telemedicine and other health care services to developing countries that cannot provide
these services on their own. The United States and other countries also provide global relief
health care workers to assist with public health crises in developing
countries. QuestionShould health care executives and/or policymakers seek to develop
global alliances to bring high quality health services to U.S. consumers at the lowest
cost? Why or why not?