The launch and diffusion of new patented medicines by therapeutic value Open Access Wei Zhang, PhD , Daphne P Guh, MSc , Alexander C T Tam, MSc , Paul Grootendorst, PhD , Aidan Hollis, PhD , Aslam H Anis, PhD

https://academic.oup.com/healthaffairsscholar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/haschl/qxag119/8679193?rss=1&login=false

From Crisis To Strategy: Mainstreaming Climate Risk In Health Systems Planning Authors: Cecilia Sorensen cjs2282@cumc.columbia.edu, Josephine Borghi, and Sebastian Bauhoff

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01641 Climate change poses a growing threat to health care systems worldwide, exposing weaknesses in infrastructure, workforce, and governance. Climate risk—defined by the interaction of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability—is both similar to and distinct from other systemic risks that health care systems must manage. We propose a risk-based framework that integrates insights from disaster risk management and health systems thinking to identify adaptation strategies. Our approach emphasizes understanding and addressing the upstream determinants of climate risk, including the intersectoral operating environment and social and environmental vulnerabilities that amplify health impacts. This perspective links climate risk reduction to the broader agenda of health equity. Within the health sector, climate change exerts simultaneous pressure on both demand and supply, challenging systems to move from reactive crisis response toward proactive, risk-informed planning. Established tools—such as strategic investment, workforce planning, and emergency preparedness—can be leveraged to manage climate-related risks while advancing core health policy goals. Framing climate change as a systemic risk encourages the integration of climate considerations into everyday policy and planning and strengthens health care system performance.

Latino Climate And Health Dashboard: Community-Informed Implementation, Data, And Policy Action Authors: Arturo Vargas Bustamante avb@ucla.edu, Silvia R. González, Julia Silver, Rosario Majano, and Samantha Alejandre

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01639 Latino communities in California experience disproportionate climate-related health risks, including extreme heat and air pollution. Despite the state’s leadership in climate and environmental justice policy, existing data systems often do not integrate climate exposures, health outcomes, or neighborhood-level vulnerability in ways that meaningfully inform policy action. This Analysis draws on insights from the Latino Climate and Health Dashboard, a publicly available, neighborhood-level data tool that documents disparities between Latino and non-Latino White neighborhoods across California. The dashboard was developed with advisory board guidance, using the EPIS (exploration, preparation, implementation, sustainment) framework to structure data development and engagement. After the dashboard’s release, we convened community policy dialogues (“policy pláticas”) in which community organization leaders, practitioners, advocates, and legislative staff interpreted the findings and identified five policy priorities: coordinated climate and air quality governance, sustained community monitoring and early warning systems, equitable cooling and infrastructure investments, stronger connections between climate policy and health outcomes, and climate-resilient access to health care and worker protections. A participatory data tool can support equity-oriented climate-health policy making and inform efforts to translate data into policy action.

Aligning Health Policy With Climate Action: Evidence-Based Interventions To Decarbonize Care, Improve Climate Resilience Authors: Stefan Wheat wheati2@uw.edu, Kristie L. Ebi, Jeremy J. Hess, Lawrence Rosen, Elizabeth Cerceo, and Hardeep Singh

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01635 The US health care system significantly contributes to climate change while increasingly facing its adverse consequences. Despite this dual challenge, policy efforts to incentivize carbon reduction and make care delivery climate-resilient remain fragmented. In this article, we identify policy interventions and other strategies that have the potential to accelerate the transition toward low-carbon, climate-smart health care systems. Drawing on academic literature and real-world implementation examples, we present a framework of strategies, highlighting the evidence in support of mechanisms such as green reimbursement models, integration of climate change into health professional education, and sustainable procurement standards. We further examine emerging policy levers, including circular economy practices and mandated carbon accounting. Last, we highlight opportunities for federal and state policy makers, payers, and health system leaders to guide future action. Ensuring that health policies actively support climate mitigation and adaptation is a moral and environmental imperative and a strategic opportunity to improve quality, reduce costs, and advance health equity.

Cold-Related Illness In An Era Of Extreme Climate Events: US Trends, 1998–2022 Authors: Dhara Patel dhara8341@gmail.com, Steffie Woolhandler, Lenore S. Azaroff, Samuel L. Dickman, David H. Bor, David U. Himmelstein, and Danny McCormick

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01557 Cold-related illnesses (CRIs) are preventable yet often deadly. Using twenty-five years of data from the National Inpatient Sample (1998–2022), we assessed nationwide trends in CRI hospitalizations and concomitant alcohol use, substance use, and mental health disorders and housing insecurity. We identified 345,314 (weighted) CRI hospitalizations and found that age- and sex-adjusted rates tripled from 42.0 to 122.5 per 100,000 hospitalizations. CRI inpatients were more likely than others to die during hospitalization, live in high-poverty ZIP codes, be publicly insured or uninsured, and have behavioral health conditions and housing instability. These findings highlight the rising and unequal toll of CRIs in the context of social instability and increasingly severe cold events associated with climate change. Expanded access to behavioral health treatments, increased subsidies for home heating, investments in affordable and supportive housing and shelter capacity, and public health measures to increase resilience to extreme weather events could reduce CRI morbidity and mortality.

Menu Changes Under NYC’s Revised Food Standards Were Associated With A Reduction In Greenhouse Gas Emissions Authors: E. R. H. Moore em885@cornell.edu, Alyssa J. Moran, Laura Stadler, Elizabeth Solomon, Sonia Y. Angell, and Roni A. Neff

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01669 Local policy makers increasingly have implemented nutrition standards for municipal programs to advance population health and climate change goals. Yet little is known about the impact of these policies. In 2008, New York City established nutrition standards for food purchased and served by city agencies, and in 2022, it revised the standards to limit meat and increase plant-based options. Using menu data from four agencies serving 77 percent of all city meals, we examined changes in their entrée offerings, as well as greenhouse gas and nutrition content associated with their total menu offerings, from fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 2024. All agencies reduced the frequency of beef entrées offered on menus and increased the frequency of vegetarian entrées. Changes in total menu offerings were associated with an estimated reduction of 0.64 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions per portion across all agencies and programs, while the nutrition content generally remained consistent. These findings suggest that municipal food standards can support greenhouse gas reductions without compromising nutrition, and they offer a model for other jurisdictions seeking to advance both population and environmental health goals.

Reimagining Disaster Response: A New Vision For Community Resilience In The Texas And Louisiana Gulf Coast Authors: Cori Cohen Grant ccgrant@uh.edu, Summer Chavez, Denae King, Reginald Vicks, Huey German Wilson, Doris Brown, Chara L. Bowie, P. Grace Tee Lewis, and Omolola E. Adepoju

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01655 The use of community-rooted resilience models by locally governed systems across the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana demonstrates how preparedness, response, and recovery in historically disinvested communities can be strengthened in disaster-prone areas. Drawing on qualitative interviews of people in this region that were conducted in 2025, we present four case studies here, showing how community, health, and government partnerships maintain essential services, power, and communication during crises. These findings highlight policy gaps and the need for investment in equitable, community-based disaster infrastructure and long-term resilience capacity.