Category: Media Mentions

It’s back to the office as the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs. David Williams is quoted in Workfest (Can Small Businesses Require COVID Vaccines in the Workplace?)

Williams thinks that mandating vaccinations will be good for businesses in the long run.

“[Mandates] will demonstrate that [employers care] about the welfare of their staff, reassure employees that it is safe to come to work, and make customers more confident in doing business with the company,” he said.

“It is likely that we will face new pathogens with new vaccines in the coming years, so 2021 presents a good opportunity for employers to look ahead and articulate principles that they will follow.”

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It’s counterintuitive: a fourth covid-19 wave is evident even as vaccine rollout accelerates. Conventional wisdom blames it on more contagious variants, pandemic fatigue, and states reopening too fast. There’s truth to all of that, but it overlooks the role that vaccination itself plays.

David Williams shared his thinking with the Boston Globe (CDC Director Walesnsky stresses ‘hope,’ not ‘doom,’ after touring Hynes Convention Center. Vaccinations are accelerating even as COVID-19 cases also rise.)

“As spring comes, people in their 20s are relaxing their behavior and going out to restaurants with their friends,” said David Williams, president of Health Business Group, a Boston management consulting firm. “They don’t have to feel as guilty about infecting them if Ma and Grandma have already been vaccinated.”

Now that the old are vaccinated, we need to make sure young adult vaccination is quickly ramped up. There should be plenty of vaccine available shortly to do so.

“This is the time when we’re going from scarcity to surplus,” said Williams of the Health Business Group. “People who are eligible are now getting appointments, even if they have to work a bit, and a lot more people are now eligible. It still feels tight. But in the next two to three weeks, instead of waking up at 1 in the morning to book an appointment, you should be able to do at 2 in the afternoon.”

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Some urgent care clinics have run out of vaccines and cancelled follow-up shots for certain patients. It’s maddening for affected patients, but not a public health problem assuming those shots are given to someone else instead.

David Williams is quoted in the Boston Globe (CareWell clinics telling patients their second COVID-19 shots are canceled, triggering wider vaccination anxieties)

“It’s not surprising,” said David Williams, president of Health Business Group, a Boston management consulting firm. “When you’ve got millions and millions of doses being administered every week, you’d expect to have some sampling of this. You can’t expect everything to go smoothly.”

Delayed appointments are “certainly an inconvenience for the person who was planning to get a second shot, but it’s not a public health problem,” Williams said.

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United Health’s Optum is purchasing Atrius Health, an independent physician organization in Massachusetts. Atrius has struggled to compete against the huge hospital systems in the state, even though its physician-led approach is more cost effective. Optum’s heft may level the playing field.

David Williams is quoted in the Boston Globe (Physicians group Atrius Health plans to join Optum, giving a national operation a bigger Mass. footprint)

David E. Williams, president of the consulting firm Health Business Group, said joining Optum would allow Atrius to more aggressively compete with Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) and Beth Israel Lahey.

“With Optum’s backing, Atrius should be able to level the playing field,” he said. “Optum’s ownership will make Atrius less responsive to local needs, but the tradeoff will be worth it if it means Atrius can compete effectively with Partners and BI Lahey.”

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David Williams was quoted in the Boston Globe (With capacity increasing, signs of progress in Mass. vaccination push)

Immunizing the state’s oldest residents also will be key to slowing the pandemic, said David Williams, president of Health Business Group, a Boston management consulting firm, who has been critical of the state’s slow start.

“There’s been good progress over the past week or two in reaching the 75-and-over group, and that will make a difference in reducing severe illness, hospitalization, and death,” Williams said.

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