Opportunity 5:
Structural Capacity
Increase the capacity of health care and assistance systems to support the increase in need.
For: Health care providers, and support and assistance providers.
Short-term Recommendations:
Funding for Long COVID clinics: Incentivize the creation and development of additional Long COVID clinics with dedicated staff.
Long COVID clinic rating system: Develop evaluation methods for rating the quality of care at Long COVID clinics, and share ratings with the public.
Long-term Recommendations:
Improved Long COVID data tracking: Improve data tracking for Long COVID so that its occurrence is better measured, and responses and resources can be adequately allocated.
High-demand specialty area pipelines: Expand educational programs to train emerging health care providers in high-demand specialty areas.
Expanded Long COVID capacity in the SSA: Increase resources and staffing within the SSA to handle the influx of people with Long COVID filing for Social Security Disability Insurance.
Long COVID care managers: Establish care managers in the offices of health care providers and hospitals to assist people with Long COVID and their caregivers with scheduling and preparing for appointments, as well as issues with billing and insurance.