Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Covid Isn't Over For Everyone; Should Humans Create And Use An Artificial Womb?
The Washington Post: For The Immunocompromised, Covid Isn’t ‘Over.’ It’s Complicated
Myelodysplastic syndrome, or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, the official diagnosis my husband had received that spring (“high risk of dying,” as I tended to clarify), has complicated the already complicated notion of a “post-pandemic” world for me. (Esme Weijun Wang, 9/20)
The Boston Globe: The Controversial Birth Of The Artificial Womb
The Food and Drug Administration has convened a Pediatric Advisory Committee this week to determine whether artificial womb technology is ready to try on premature infants as well as to address regulatory and ethical considerations. Although the technology is promising, this development poses numerous ethical challenges. (Arthur Caplan and Gwendolyn P. Quinn, 9/19)
The Washington Post: Dialectical Behavior Therapy Could Save Lives From Suicide
In the 1980s, when Anthony DuBose set out to become a psychologist, he was told never to work with people with borderline personality disorder because they had high rates of suicide and intense emotional distress. They were considered untreatable. (Kate Woodsome, 9/20)
Chicago Tribune: Cut To VA Funding For Ambulances Would Harm Our Nation’s Veterans
Unless stopped, the Department of Veterans Affairs is set to knock over a domino that may drastically harm veterans’ health care and then spread to the general community. (William Enyart, 9/19)
Stat: How Value-Based Payments Are Straining Access To Primary Care
Difficulty scheduling an urgent or time-sensitive appointment is now the most common gripe my patients sound off about to my primary care colleagues and me. Our practice is not the exception — it has become the rule. A 2022 national survey showed that, on average, it takes 20.6 days to get a family medicine appointment. (Jeffrey Millstein, 9/20)
