Health Policy News
Featured News
The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on the complex and sometimes conflicting relationship between individual rights and public health protection.
Two Stanford law, labor and health experts explain the legal and health implications of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large companies, while upholding another federal regulation calling on health-care workers in federally funded facilities to be vaccinated.
Litigation over mask mandates takes a bizarre turn after political leaders in eight states introduce bans on mask requirements. Some state bans apply only to mandates adopted by school districts; others are broader. In this JAMA Health Forum viewpoint, health law experts Michelle Mello and David Studdert look at the various lawsuits, court rulings — and possible solutions.
President Biden announced sweeping new mandates meant to push an estimated two-thirds of American workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and stem the tide of the latest Delta wave of the pandemic. Health law expert Michelle Mello weighs in.
In this New England Journal of Medicine perspective, SHP's Michelle Mello writes that more than 1,000 lawsuits have challenged public health orders shuttering business, banning indoor worship, restricting travel and mandating masks. She argues that the outcome of these cases will have a lasting impact on our public health.
Stanford health law experts Michelle Mello and David Studdert discuss the ongoing pandemic, proof of vaccination “passports” at the state and federal levels, and a July 19 ruling that Indiana University could require that its students be vaccinated.
Michelle Mello writes in this San Francisco Chronicle commentary that her husband had a stroke a few days after getting his COVID vaccine. On the same day he checked into a hospital, their son was offered the vaccine. They listened to the doctors and determined the risk of COVID outweighed the potential risks from the vaccine.
In its third major decision about the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Supreme Court rejects efforts to undo the popular health care law.
Stanford’s Center for Open and Reproducible Science aims to make science – and research in general – more effective and accessible. “Stanford is absolutely the right place to have a center like CORES because we have such a strong tradition of data science," says SHP's Michelle Mello, a member of the CORES executive committee.
Incorporating Health Equity Into COVID-19 Reopening Plans: Policy Experimentation in California
Michelle Mello evaluates the benefits and challenges of California's novel health equity focus in its reopening efforts and outlines recommendations for other U.S. states to address disparities in their reopening plans.
Now that a third COVID-19 vaccine has been given emergency-use authorization, Michelle Mello and colleagues ask whether individuals should be able to choose which vaccine they receive.
Stanford Law School health law experts Michelle Mello and David Studdert, also professors of medicine at Stanford Health Policy, share insights into the government’s response and offer hope that science —and unbiased scholarly research — can help curtail the rising toll of COVID-19.
The Uncertain Impact of Accelerating Science
The urgency of the coronavirus pandemic has led to enormous research efforts and some shortcuts. Michelle Mello, a professor of medicine and law, and David Magnus, a professor of medicine and biomedical ethnics, write in this Scientific American commentary that the scientific surge to understand COVID-19 is inspiring — but has led to some ethical dilemmas.
SHP's Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, David Studdert and Michelle Mello write in this JAMA Health Forum Insight that school reopening efforts must account for characteristics of the communities within which schools are embedded.
Stanford Health Policy's Michelle Mello and Stanford medical student Yasmin Rafiei write in this New England Journal of Medicine perspective that most school reopening plans focus on screening for Covid-19 symptoms. Yet recent research indicates that symptom screening alone will not enable schools to contain Covid-19 outbreaks.
SHP's Michelle Mello writes in this commentary in JAMA Network that the attacks on and harassment of public health officials for taking steps to protect their communities from COVID-19 is extraordinary in its scope and nature, use of social media — and poses a danger to the ongoing pandemic response.
Many jurisdictions have responded to the unevenness of the COVID-19 pandemic by battening down their borders. SHP's David Studdert and Michelle Mello take a deep dive into the legalities of attempting to prevent people from crossing state lines in this New England Journal of Medicine perspective.
Michelle Mello, a professor of medicine and law, examines the reasons behind California's spike in COVID-19 cases and what can be done to bend the curve of the pandemic.
SHP's Michelle Mello and colleagues note in this New England Journal of Medicine perspective that even when we have a clinically safe and successful vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 — only half of Americans plan to get vaccinated. Should the vaccine be mandated?
Disabled patients must not be categorically excluded from access to treatment during a pandemic or at any other time of national emergency, writes Stanford Health Policy's Michelle Mello in the New England Journal of Medicine.
On the World Class podcast with Michael McFaul, guests David Relman and Michelle Mello say progress will likely be uneven with states each pursuing varying degrees of social distancing and shelter-in-place policies
