Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Florida's Surgeon General Gives Bad Vaccine Advice; Keeping Telehealth's Advancements After Covid
CNN: Florida's Top Doctor Is Dangerously Misguided
A few years ago, I visited a cemetery in an old mining town in Utah. My husband and I were struck by the rows of little tombstones. Each tombstone's death date was within a few weeks of each other in the early 1900s. They were all children who had died of diphtheria. As a parent and a physician, it was an all-too-concrete reminder of the toll that infectious diseases used to take on US families and children. Luckily, we rarely see these kinds of little tombstones any longer. Thanks to pediatric vaccination, one of the greatest public health successes of the 20th century, we have all but eliminated diphtheria -- along with polio, measles, Haemophilus influenzae type b and more -- from the United States. (Megan Ranney, 3/11)
Stat: Covid-19 And Telehealth: Holding On To The Gains Of Remote Care
In January 2020, telehealth companies were proceeding with a long, slow slog toward sustainability. Four months later, Covid-19 had changed the world and Americans’ reliance on digital medicine. Almost overnight, the specialty I’ve worked in for nearly a decade took center stage, going from a growing niche business to one with skyrocketing utilization rates. The pandemic also altered the geography of care, shifting it from doctors’ offices and hospital clinics to individuals’ homes. The question health care policymakers, providers, and payers must now ask is: “Will the pendulum swing back to how things used to be, or has the pandemic opened the door to new ways of delivering care?” (Kevin Riddleberger, 3/15)
Chicago Tribune: The Pandemic Highlights A Global Failure To Protect The Elderly
When the COVID-19 pandemic finally ends, our most glaring failure, and our greatest source of shame, will unquestionably be our unwillingness to protect society’s most vulnerable group: the elderly. The 65 years and older cohort makes up only a little more than 15% of the U.S. population but accounts for more than 75% of all COVID-19 deaths, a significant increase in elderly deaths over recent non-pandemic years. (Cory Franklin and Robert A. Weinstein, 3/14)
Chicago Tribune: Chicagoans, Imagine No Doctors Or Nurses When You Go To The Hospital. It Could Happen.
As a nurse of 44 years with experience in major health systems in the Chicago area, I can tell you that nurses, doctors and other front-line workers are fleeing your local hospitals in droves, which means you may not have the medical professional you’ll need in the ER or elsewhere should you have a medical emergency during the ongoing critical staffing shortage. (Judy Friedrichs, 3/14)
