— from the office of North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell
For weeks North Carolina lagged behind much of the nation in administering the doses of COVID-19 vaccinations it received, and state Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, will outline the consequences of the state not being prepared for the rollout during his monthly “Ask Me Anything” conference call for members of the media on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
Treasurer Folwell is advocating for a “PPP” approach to execute rapid, efficient supply chain delivery. Rather than concentrating immunizations in local health departments and more expensive hospitals, he believes it makes greater sense to expand availability of the shots to primary care physicians, pediatricians and pharmacies – the three Ps that have been reliably and professionally administering vaccines for more than 100 years.
The Department of State Treasurer has amassed about 26,000 health care providers in the State Health Plan’s Clear Pricing Project network. Many of them are willing and qualified to provide the shots but state health officials have kept them on the sidelines.
The treasurer contends the shaky rollout likely is contributing to more deaths, will increase poverty because business lockdowns will remain in effect until the vaccines can be more widely administered to contain spread of the virus, and students will continue to fall further behind in their education and suffer increased mental health problems because most schools remain closed.
Another topic the treasurer will discuss is the potential community harm from the pending sale of county-owned New Hanover Regional Medical Center to health care giant Novant Health.
Treasurer Folwell contends the acquisition is the latest in a series of hospital consolidations that have inflicted negative consequences on North Carolina taxpayers and health care consumers. An article in Fortune magazine supported his position that increased hospital concentration and monopolies lead to higher costs, lower quality and decreased access. The article noted 74% of North Carolina general hospitals belong to mega-health care systems. Only three other states have a higher percentage.