CPR has joined with a broad coalition of advocates and medical professionals to submit public comments on the most recent revisions to the Massachusetts Crisis Standards of Care (CSC). The revised Massachusetts CSC contain important improvements that will help reduce the potential for discriminatory allocation of scare medical resources, and limit the exacerbation of existing health inequalities. However, several important issues remain in the latest draft. Further revisions should: focus on short-term survivability of the acute illness (i.e. to discharge) as the most accurate and least discriminatory approach to initial prioritization; clarify that age should only be considered as one of many factors that may impact an individualized assessment of survivability; create a virtual panel of experts to provide equal access to specialized medical judgments; and require triage team diversity and consideration of health equities in the triage process. Read the Coalition’s comments, here.
Please visit CPR’s COVID-19 page to read more about our advocacy work surrounding the pandemic.