LETTER: Re-evaluate COVID compensation scale and apply an outcome-based solution

The “silver lining” of the Omicron variant is its vastly reduced severity. While its contagion factor has set active case records over twice as high as the worst previous waves of the pandemic, hospitalizations and deaths are far below what we endured in those days. With the health impact subsiding, it’s time to address the horrific economic impact.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been promoting bad outcomes in our health care system. Medical treatment has been compensated for on an escalating scale that paid more for the worst outcomes than the best. It is not unthinkable that this pay scale has influenced the decisions of the health care professionals charged with treating the infected.

The trillions of dollars appropriated for pandemic relief has resulted in massive deficit spending which, in turn, has spawned the worst inflation we’ve seen in 40 years. Much of this funding was dedicated to keeping the medical services from crumbling under the weight of the pandemic. Now we must turn our attention to avoiding the next potential disaster, an economic meltdown.

For years, many health care programs have been using outcome-based pay scales where the margins were stacked in favor of the best outcomes. These models were abandoned in determining the compensation for COVID-related services.

In the interest of minimizing both humanitarian and fiscal losses, it’s time to re-evaluate our COVID compensation scale and apply an outcome-based solution.

— Norris Mealer, DeFuniak Springs

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This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: LETTER: Re-evaluate COVID compensation and apply outcome-based solution