Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Congress Helped Create Opioid Crisis; Thoughts On Assisted Suicide
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Congress Gave Birth To The Opioid Crisis
This bill encouraged physicians to treat pain aggressively, even when the treatment may increase the risk of death. In fact, the government made it a criminal offense to under-treat pain. Furthermore, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which accredits more than 21,000 health care facilities in the U.S., adopted the tenet that every patient has a right to have his or her pain assessed, treated, and monitored without being influenced by that individual’s social, economic, or cultural background. ... A hospital’s revenue is greatly affected without the commission’s seal of approval, and thus committees were formed by healthcare facilities to penalize doctors who would not prescribe narcotics for pain. (Bhupendra O. Khatri, 12/12)
RealClear Policy: Assisted Suicide Is No Choice At All
Assisted suicide laws in the United States have all passed based on the assumption that a terminally ill person has less than six months to live. But the experience of many diagnosed with terminal illnesses force us to ask: What if this assumption is wrong? (Lawrence Carter-Long, 12/13)
USA Today: Doug Jones Won, But Abortion Is Still Perverting Our Politics On Both Sides
Alabama, we warmly welcome you back to the United States of America. All is forgiven, and on a personal note, I want to thank you for rewarding my optimism, which these days is mostly a lifestyle choice. True, you almost rejected a civil rights hero, Doug Jones, in the special election to fill Jeff Sessions’ old seat in the U.S. Senate. And you almost elected Roy Moore, an alleged molester of teenagers who claims we were better off before the Civil War. But as President Trump admitted Tuesday night, a win is a win. (Melinda Henneberger, 12/13)
Stat: Aetna CEO Should Ensure That CVS Deal Boosts Patient Power
Rather than pursuing the typical path of trying to corral patients within its own information silo, CVS-Aetna could instead empower new consumer relationships that deliberately dissolve the old boundaries. Those relationships should be based on three principles: shared information, shared engagement, and shared accountability. (Michael L. Millenson, 12/12)
Stat: Bankers, Doctors Collaborating To Detect ‘Early Warnings’ Of Alzheimer’s
A representative from EverSafe, a financial technology company, demonstrated how financial data across accounts can be aggregated and analyzed, and how the company can send out automated alerts when an account has an unusual transaction suggesting fraud or error. With such a system, Renee could have learned about her husband’s problem the first time he forgot to pay a bill. Joseph could continue to manage his accounts knowing that a mistake would be detected and that would be alerted — along with his doctor and other trusted advocates. (Jason Karlawish, 12/12)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: I'm Standing With Striking Nursing Home Workers — And You Should, Too
On Dec. 1, 100 workers at Christian Care Home in Ferguson got tired of asking to be treated decently. They got tired of asking for the nursing home ownership to follow labor law. They got tired of waiting for wages they can actually live on. So they did what you do when you’ve been asking and asking and asking for something that is your basic God-given right and getting nowhere — they decided to stop asking and start demanding. So they went on strike. An unfair labor practice strike to be precise, because they were sick of having their rights trampled on. (Bruce Franks Jr. 12/12)
