Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
American Psychological Association Apologizes For Perpetuating Racism
NPR: The American Psychological Association Apologizes For Systemic Racism
The American Psychological Association is seeking to make amends for past wrongs. The APA, an organization that has been around since the late 1800s, issued a lengthy statement on Friday apologizing not only for the APA's role in perpetuating systemic racism, but for the role psychology, as a field of study, has also played in systemically harming people of color for decades. The organization's Council of Representatives unanimously voted to adopt a resolution that, among other things, apologizes for engaging in "racism, racial discrimination, and denigration" of communities of color; as a result, they failed in their mission to better the lives of others, they admitted. (Pruitt-Young, 11/3)
In other health care industry news —
WBEZ: Inside The Fight To Save Chicago’s Historic Mercy Hospital
The 170-year-old Bronzeville institution treated the neediest and was rescued from closure for $1. Here’s why hospitals like it are on life support. (Schorsch, 10/25)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Hospitals Get $11.3M Grant To Expand Rural Health Capabilities
A charitable trust donated $11.3 million to 10 Nevada hospitals to expand diagnostic and radiologic equipment in rural areas of the state, officials announced. The Helmsley Charitable Trust, a national philanthropic organization largely focused on health initiatives and grants, awarded the grants to Nevada hospitals as part of its rural health care program. Walter Panzirer, a trustee, said the trust sought out Nevada to add to the program because many rural health care systems are sandwiched between large expanses of federal land, meaning patient transports by land can take four hours. (Ross, 11/3)
Stat: A Progress Report On Walmart And Best Buy's Ambitions In Health Care
When Mark Wahlberg helped ring in the grand opening of Walmart’s second health clinic in Calhoun, Ga., alongside a raucous crowd of customers in January 2020, the world was a very different place. It was a celebrated moment at an exciting time in Walmart’s push to open a string of new clinics scattered across America. The plan to build out its health care footprint seemed to have a shot at success: What busy parent wouldn’t jump at the chance to tackle the grocery list and their child’s earache in a single trip? The pandemic that soon followed has blurred the prospect of that success. (Brodwin, 11/4)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Aaron Beck, Founder Of Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Has Died At 100
Aaron Beck liked to tell a story about how he came to reject psychoanalysis and revolutionize how talk therapy for mental disorders was conducted in the United States and much of the world. Like other psychiatrists in the mid-20th century, Dr. Beck was trained in Freudian concepts, including the idea that depression was the result of anger turned inward. In what would become a lifelong pattern, he decided in the late 1950s to test that idea more scientifically. He found little evidence that his patients were angry inside, but they did suffer from negative, irrational thinking about themselves. (Burling, 11/3)
