Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Georgia's Abortion Pill Bill Hurts Doctors as Well; Is California's Single-Payer Bill Affordable?
NBC News: Georgia's Abortion Pill Bill Wouldn't Only Harm Women Seeking The Service
Forty-nine years ago, the Supreme Court gave women the legal right to bodily autonomy. To plan our families so we can welcome children when we are ready. To have control over our economic and career destinies. To have access to safe and optimal health care. When I started my training as an OB-GYN in 1989, my professors, pointing to the women's wards, explained that before Roe v. Wade, the beds were full of women injured from illegal abortions. It had been 16 years since the ruling, and my fellow residents and I were grateful to learn how to provide safe, legal abortions — then and now considered essential care for obstetrics and gynecology services. Medical residents with religious or moral objections can opt out of this training. (Mimi Zieman, 1/28)
San Jose Mercury News: California Single-Payer Bill Shows State Can’t Go It Alone
The United States must switch to a more cost-effective system to remain competitive in the global marketplace. But that requires a prudent financial plan that drives down costs, improves health care outcomes for all and has the support of business and labor. The single-payer legislation proposed by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, and under consideration in the California Legislature fails to meet that standard. It’s small wonder that Gov. Gavin Newsom, who campaigned in favor of single-payer health care, has remained largely silent on the Kalra proposal. (1/26)
Modern Healthcare: A Different Kind Of Consult: Pro-Bono Community Health Consulting By Med Students
Since 2015, groups of medical students at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago have been working diligently to answer a single question: How can we improve healthcare at the system level? Medical students have and always will be expected to provide personalized, high-quality care to their patients. But amid all the studying, rotations, research and clinical volunteering, there is another area of professional growth and healthcare activism emerging that allows students to promote broader change across the healthcare system: community health consulting. (Scott Wu and Dr. Abel Kho, 1/28)
Stat: The Hospital Of The Future Won't Be What You Expect
Close your eyes for a few seconds and imagine what a hospital will look like 10 years in the future. If medical robots, artificial intelligence, and other technologies come to mind, you are on the right track. But if you picture these innovations happening in a sprawling hospital campus, think again. Radical changes afoot in health care philosophy, medical technology, and treatment capability will lead to hospital-quality care being administered outside of hospitals — in primary care and urgent care center and in people’s homes. These changes will create more comfortable conditions for patients, yield better outcomes, and be more affordable. (Rob Rohatsch, 1/31)
Stat: A Devil's Choice: Take Humira And Risk Getting Covid-19?
Harebrained. That’s the best word to describe my starting to take an immunosuppressing drug like Humira in the midst of a pandemic where a counterattack by the immune system is the body’s best defense. The only thing more insane would have been not doing that and letting rheumatoid arthritis eat away at the tissue in my wrists without trying the most promising treatment for arresting the disease’s progress. A devil’s bargain, indeed. But it’s not mine alone: Millions of others with chronic conditions face comparably high-stakes gambles in this time of the coronavirus. (Larry Tye, 1/31)
