Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Hearing About Hearing Aid Costs; The FDA's Fear And Loathing Of Off-Label Communications
The Des Moines Register: Outrageous Cost Of Hearing Aids Attracts Unlikely Allies In Congress
Reading glasses can be purchased just about anywhere, including some grocery stores and gas stations. You do not need a medical exam or a prescription to obtain what are essentially small magnifying glasses. For only a few dollars, you can buy spectacles in a variety of strengths to help you see better. (6/14)
RealClear Health: Why Is The FDA So Frightened Of Off-Label Communications?
Former HHS General Counsel and Deputy FDA Commissioner Bill Schultz recently expressed his belief that FDA policies developed 50 years ago remain sufficient to govern life in the 21st century. He’s wrong. Time marches on and regulatory practices must evolve to better serve the public health. Nowhere is this more urgent than in making sure physicians and patients have unencumbered access to accurate information about FDA-approved medicines. (Peter Pitts, 6/15)
JAMA: Physician Certification And Recertification: The Role Of Empirical Evidence
Physicians are faced with the challenge of lifelong learning in a field so vast and complex that no physician can ever hope to master all medical knowledge. Nonetheless, physicians have a duty and responsibility to patients to continuously hone their knowledge, skills, and judgment while appreciating their limits. Striking this balance requires that physicians remain current with the literature, engage with colleagues, identify and address gaps in knowledge, and maintain relevant professional certifications. (Adam B. Schwartz and J. Sanford Schwartz, 6/13)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: I Am Celebrating Life Thanks To Proton Therapy
At first glance, you would never suspect that I am a brain cancer survivor. I am young, energetic and, seemingly, the picture of health. I have competed in a total of 554 endurance sport events including marathons, Ironman events, 10Ks and 5Ks and everything in between over the last 23 years. As an endurance athlete, I spend many hours a week training, so it’s easy to see how a person might be surprised by my diagnosis. But looks can be deceiving. (Brad Eastman, 6/15)
JAMA: Gray Areas
When I was young, I had a painfully simple philosophy that could be summarized like this: there are good guys and there are bad guys. Bad guys get locked up and good guys roam free. It was straightforward and couched in the comforting illusion of a just, safe world. As a result, I believed that everyone who wound up in prison deserved to be there, and that every sentence was fair. I believed in “an eye for an eye” and enthusiastically supported capital punishment. Incidentally, I also believed that the US criminal justice system was too nice and was alarmed to learn that bad guys in prison got free food, shelter, and health care while so many good guys suffered. (Alia Moore, 6/13)
Sacramento Bee: Mass Shootings In Alexandria And San Francisco About Gun Contol And Not Politics
In the face of endless, pointless violence, we are all cowards unless we raise our voices against violence and the root of violence: the proliferation of guns in America. We are all cowards if we draw false conclusions about the motives and backgrounds of shooting suspects and use this misinformation to smear people whose political views we oppose. (Marcos Breton, 6/14)
Boston Globe: Boston’s Health Care Sector Is On Front Line Of Climate Readiness
The evidence is overwhelming: Climate change is the greatest health threat of the century, and health care is on its front line. That’s particularly true in Boston, which studies show is one of the nation’s most climate-vulnerable cities. (Kate Walsh and David Torchiana, 6/15)
