Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Is Silicon Valley Losing The Lead In Medical Technology?; Doctors And Hand Writing
The Wall Street Journal: Silicon Valley Trails In Medical Tech
People who develop medical technology have long assumed that Silicon Valley would pioneer smartphone-based devices to make Americans fitter and healthier than ever. To some degree, that forecast is coming true: Tech giants are working with doctors and hospitals on highly sophisticated devices — automated radiology, supercomputer-based oncology, fitness-tracker-based analytics — to monitor the sick, provide better automated care, and keep people out of hospitals in the first place. But it turns out the biggest gains from mobile medicine will come from deploying it in poor countries across Africa and Asia. (Michael S. Malone, 7/23)
KevinMD: Doctor, We Can’t Read Your Writing
So to future pharmacists who will read my prescriptions, and other health care professionals who will read my notes: I pledge from here on in to write as neatly as possible within the time constraints allowed, for the safety of my patients, the posterity of cursive writing, and for the sake of my grandfather (who likes reading my blog on his iPad). (Sarah Fraser, 7/23)
USA Today: Veterans Affairs Secretary: VA Health Care Will Not Be Privatized On Our Watch
As a physician, my professional assessment is that the Department of Veterans Affairs has made significant progress over the past six months — but it still requires intensive care. In order to restore the VA’s health, we must strengthen its ability to provide timely and high quality medical care while improving experiences and outcomes for veterans. (David Shulkin, 7/24)
Lexington Herald Leader: A Woman’s Death, Kentucky’s Opioid Crisis
Jenny Fulton’s brief life and brutal death hold important lessons, especially for Kentuckians in positions of public trust. The 27-year-old woman died in 2014 in the Mason County jail where she was sent because she had relapsed into heroin use, violating her parole. Despite widespread recognition that incarceration is not the solution, Kentucky still spends millions of dollars jailing people who have drug use disorders when that money could be better spent on evidence-based treatment. (7/23)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Trump Takes A 'Just Say No' Approach To Sex Education
In today’s version of “Just Say No,” first lady Nancy Reagan’s approach to drug use in the 1980s, President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting more than $213 million in funding to help prevent teen pregnancy. The move eliminates evidence-based pregnancy prevention and research programs, and family planning services, but leaves money for abstinence-only education. In addition, Trump appointed a prominent abstinence-only advocate as assistant secretary of Health and Human Services. (7/22)
San Jose Mercury News: Reject Climate Change Skeptic For Top Science Post
President Trump’s disdain for science apparently knows no bounds. He has now nominated climate change skeptic Sam Clovis, a talk radio host, to serve as the Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist — a slap in the face of the scientific community and a disservice to those responsible for the integrity of the USDA’s research. (7/23)
Sacramento Bee: California Workers' Comp System Remains Nation's Most Expensive
Obviously, working in California is not inherently more dangerous than in other states, and cash benefits to disabled California workers are not out of line, so the enormous cost differential must be rooted in the system itself, which explains why its rules are the subject of constant political infighting. One factor in those costs is what officials say is an enormous amount of fraud, concentrated in Southern California. (Dan Walters, 7/23)
Los Angeles Times: Don't Believe The American Heart Assn. — Butter, Steak And Coconut Oil Aren't Likely To Kill You
Last month, the American Heart Assn. once again went after butter, steak and especially coconut oil with this familiar warning: The saturated fats in these foods cause heart disease. The organization’s “presidential advisory” was a fresh look at the science and came in response to a growing number of researchers, including myself, who have pored over this same data in recent years and beg to differ. A rigorous review of the evidence shows that when it comes to heart attacks or mortality, saturated fats are not guilty. (Nina Teicholz, 7/23)
