ADA National Network Learning Session: How Crisis Standards of Care Can Ensure Equity for People with Disabilities During Times of Crisis

As hospitals around the country are increasingly stretched to their limit by increasing numbers of patients presenting critically ill with COVID-19, many find themselves unable to provide the usual standard of care for their patients. In these situations, healthcare institutions may be required to shift to operating under so-called Crisis Standards of Care (CSC). These guidelines can help ensure equitable distribution of limited resources during times of crisis, however without careful and specific emphasis on protecting marginalized and minoritized communities, they may also exacerbate existing inequities in care. This session will discuss the ways in which CSC can be written and implemented in a way that safeguards equity for people with disabilities as well as members of racial and ethnic minority communities.

Learning objectives:

• Participants will be able to explain why we need crisis standards of care (CSC).
• Identify three ways in which CSC may discriminate against marginalized and minoritized individuals, particularly people with disabilities.
• Identify three ways in which to ensure greater equity in CSC-guided decisions.

Presenters:

Dr. Emily Cleveland Manchanda is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, and works clinically in the Emergency Department at Boston Medical Center. As the Director for Equity Initiatives within the department, her research and advocacy work focuses on mitigating the effects of racism and other forms of discrimination in clinical care. She is passionate about health equity and developing strategies to support equitable care for patients of all races, ethnicities, genders and abilities.

Colin Killick is the executive director of Disability Policy Consortium, an independent research, healthcare ombudsman, and civil rights advocacy organization in Greater Boston run by and for people with disabilities. Colin serves on the Advisory Committee to the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's COVID-19 Health Equity task force. After co-leading the Massachusetts disability community's successful efforts to repeal the state's first and second versions of the COVID-19 Crisis Standards of Care, he served on the committee that drafted the third and final version of those standards. He has multiple disabilities himself, and believes strongly in the necessity of intersectional advocacy against the intertwined forces of racism, homophobia, misogyny, and ableism.