America’s Unrecognized Health Workforce: Postal Workers

Excerpt

One of the most important recent challenges of health care in the USA has been the quest to improve the delivery of preventive and chronic condition care while also reducing the task burden and subsequent increase in burnout experienced by primary care providers. Many entities, including the American College of Physicians, have offered guidance to assist in this effort. Recommended elements include the increased use of team-based care, coupled with standing orders that allow more team members to deliver recommended care; prudent implementation of EHR-based clinical reminders; and an increasing recognition that some elements of care can be delivered outside of face to face visits.¹ Although important progress had been made in these realms over the past several years, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted entrenched practices, and offered an opportunity to accelerate changes in the delivery of care, including rapid implementation of tele-health services. …