Adding A Climate Lens To Health Policy In The United States

• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01352
• Publication Date: 2020-12-22T00:57:10Z
• Authors: Renee N. Salas; Tynan H. Friend; Aaron Bernstein; Ashish K. Jha
• Keywords: Government Programs; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 13. Climate action; Climate Change; Health Policy; Workforce; Humans; United States; 3. Good health

Climate change increasingly threatens the ability of the US health care system to deliver safe, effective, and efficient care to the American people. The existing health care system has key vulnerabilities that will grow more problematic as the effects of climate change on Americans' lives become stronger. Thus, health care policy makers must integrate a climate lens as they develop health system interventions. Applying a climate lens means assessing climate change-driven health risks and integrating them into policies and other actions to improve the nation's health. This lens can be applied to rethinking how to take a more population-based approach to health care delivery, prioritize health care system decarbonization and resilience, adapt data infrastructure, develop a climate-ready workforce, and pay for care. Our recommendations outline how to include climate-informed assessments into health care decision making and health policy, ultimately leading to a more resilient and equitable health care system that is better able to meet the needs of patients today and in the future.