Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Months Tick By, Doctors Say They're Improving Their Fight Against COVID
Bloomberg: COVID-19 Grows Less Deadly As Doctors Gain Practice And Drugs Improve
Doctors and experts say that improved medical tactics and earlier treatment are helping improve the outcomes for very sick patients, said Andrew Badley, head of Mayo Clinic’s Covid Research Task Force. “Health-care preparedness today is much better than it was in February and March,” Badley said in an interview. “We have better and more rapid access to diagnosis. We have more knowledge about what drugs to use and what drugs not to use. We have more experimental treatments available. All of those contribute to possible improvements in the mortality rate.” (Raimonde, 9/19)
NPR: Advances In ICU Care Are Saving More Patients Who Have COVID-19
If you think all the coronavirus news is bad, consider the uplifting story of Don Ramsayer. The 59-year-old man from Cumming, Ga., is living evidence that doctors in intensive care units quickly figured out how to help more patients survive. In early August, Ramsayer was helping his son pack up the car for his freshman year at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Ramsayer had been having night sweats and wasn't feeling that well, but he tried to play it down. (Harris, 9/20)
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Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: A Primer On Persisting In Difficult And Uncertain Times
Laura Derrick lived with an undiagnosed medical condition for decades, and when she finally got answers and access to effective treatment, medical bills threatened to swamp her family. During her personal fight for affordable health care, she was inspired by and swept up in a historic political fight. This is a great time for Derrick’s story, which is all about persistence through difficult and uncertain times. In late 2018, it was one of the first stories on “An Arm and a Leg,” and it has special resonance right now when we’re all enduring a lot. (Weissmann, 9/21)
Stat: Teladoc Accuses Amwell Of Infringing On Its Telehealth Patents
Telehealth provider Teladoc last week accused Amwell of infringing on its patents and demanded that its rival stop offering the products in question — setting the stage for a potential legal dispute between the two most prominent companies in telemedicine. In a Sept. 14 letter to Amwell obtained by STAT, Teladoc’s intellectual property attorneys pointed to Amwell’s digital scope and stethoscope, as well as several of its telemedicine carts — wheeled devices equipped with cameras and screens that telehealth providers use to connect remote clinicians with patients on-site. (Robbins, 9/21)
NBC News: Kentucky Doctor Who Urged Mask-Wearing Early On Dies Of Covid-19
In the early weeks of the pandemic, before coronavirus cases crushed hospitals in New York and spiked in other states, Dr. Rebecca Shadowen asked her friends a question on Facebook. "If you could save the life of another person without harming your own, would you?" Shadowen, an infectious disease specialist in Kentucky, posted on March 13. (Ortiz, 9/19)
