In the face of a crushing surge of cases that halted elective surgeries, strained resources, and threatened to overwhelm staff, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston acted quickly to transform its facility into one of the most efficient and successful COVID-19 programs in the country.

Science has hit the ball out of the park with this explosion of knowledge and the unprecedented development of three FDA Emergency Use Authorization-approved vaccines in fewer than 12 months. What now? Is it over? …. No!

So much – perhaps too much – is made of the struggle between those who are left-brained (linear thinkers) and those who are right-brained (holistic thinkers). On one side of the brain, the left, you will find those motivated by logic. On the other, the right, people are more motivated by emotive gut instinct. But that doesn’t mean that there cannot exist a literal meeting of the mind – or minds ….

In 2020, ASA, along with other specialty societies, has paid substantial attention to the impact of insurance company practices as they pertained to “out of network” billing or “surprise medical bills.” Going forward, I believe we will need to pay even more attention to changes taking place in the commercial insurance industry. These trends are reshaping the health care system around us and will have profound implications for the specialty.