Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: New Pill For Postpartum Depression Is A Good First Step; Let's Reframe How We Discuss Addiction
CNN: The First Pill For Postpartum Depression Gives A Psychiatrist Hope Before She Gives Birth. But Is It Enough?
When I found out I was pregnant a couple years ago, I was overwhelmed with excitement — but it wasn’t long before moments of worry and anxiety crept in. Was my mental health going to be OK after I gave birth during what’s known as the postpartum period? As a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, I knew better than most the escalating rates of postpartum mental health challenges and the glaringly obvious gaps in our health care system for new moms. While knowledge is usually power, knowledge made me scared. (Dr. Neha Chaudhary, 9/23)
USA Today: Treat Drug Addiction As A Brain Disease, Not As Clickbait Headlines
Mainstream and social media carry an extraordinary amount of influence on the public. And that influence as it relates to the dehumanizing information shared about people who have been directly affected by the opioid and xylazine crises seems to be everywhere. (Geri-Lyn Utter, 9/25)
The Washington Post: On The Opioid Crisis, The Presidential Campaign Is Making Us Dumber
More than 100,000 Americans are now dying from overdoses each year, even though the catalyst for this crisis — drug companies pouring vast quantities of addictive painkillers such as OxyContin into vulnerable communities — is largely in the past. (Paul Waldman, 9/25)
The Atlantic: The Republican Betrayal Of PEPFAR
In 2003, nearly 30 million Africans had AIDS, including 3 million under the age of 15. In some countries, more than one-third of the adult population carried the disease. More than 4 million required immediate drug treatment, yet only 50,000 AIDS victims were receiving the medicine they needed. (Peter Wehner, 9/25)
Also —
Stat: Medical Student Insurance Fails On Mental Health Care Coverage
Medical students experience significant mental distress, including high rates of anxiety, alcohol use, depression and suicidal ideation, and it’s only gotten worse since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data also show that medical students don’t always get care for these conditions when they need it. (Amelia Mercado and J. Wesley Boyd, 9/25)
Modern Healthcare: Value-Based Care Can Create Oases In Primary Care Deserts
Access to quality primary care has long been recognized as a cornerstone for improving population health and reducing healthcare disparities. People who can get to a doctor more easily are more likely to do so—and not just when they’re critically ill or facing an emergency. (Dr. Ali Khan, Surabhi Bhatt and Rohan Chalasani, 9/25)
Stat: What Congress Can Do To Address The Rural Doctor Shortage
The pressures of the last three and a half years have affected every corner of the health care landscape, but nowhere is the effect more evident than the country’s physician workforce. Burnout, staffing shortages, financial challenges, administrative burden, and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that stand to stifle diversity and representation in medicine have hamstrung physicians across specialties and settings — in rural and urban communities, in hospitals, clinics, and independent practices. (Tochi Iroku-Malize, Sandy Chung, Verda Hicks, Omar T. Atiq, Ira P. Monka and Petros Levounis, 9/25)
