Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Opioid Cutbacks Are Devastating For Chronic Pain Patients; Sexist Pregnancy Terms Due For Update
The New York Times: Chronic Pain Patients, The Other Opioid Crisis Victims
Doctors didn’t think Brent Slone would survive his gruesome 2011 car crash. His car flipped after he swerved to avoid a stalled vehicle. His spinal cord was compressed. He broke several ribs, a shoulder and a knee. One lung collapsed. A shattered pelvic bone ruptured his bladder and seriously damaged his spleen, kidney and colon. Miraculously, Mr. Slone avoided brain injury. However, he was paralyzed from the waist down. After months of painful physical rehabilitation, he went home to his wife, Sonya Slone, and their 6-year-old daughter. When he had appropriate pain care, Mrs. Slone said, he was able to be a loving and involved father. (Maia Szalavitz, 3/7)
NBC News: Women Face Sexist Medical Terms When Dealing With Pregnancy. It's Time To Modernize Care
“Your cervix is in danger of effacing. You’ll be tremendously lucky if your baby makes it to 24 weeks.” I was staring at the doctor who had just delivered this news, but I was having trouble processing what she was saying. She nonchalantly added something about my “incompetent cervix.” A wave of devastation swept over me and my face flushed with humiliation. My first thought was, “Did I somehow cause this?” (Aileen Weintraub, 3/7)
Stat: A Fictional Pig Taught Me How To Talk With My Patients About Sleep
“How is your sleep?” I’ve posed this question to hundreds of patients. “Terrible,” I often hear in response. “I always feel tired.” I follow up with the questions I was taught in my medical training: Do you have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or both? Do you wake up early? How long does it take to fall asleep? Do you snore? By following the script I inherited from doctors before me, I can recite the precise times a patient goes to bed and wakes up; the number of times they wake up at night; whether they use their continuous positive airway pressure machine to help them breathe at night; and more. I can report the severity of their symptoms on a scale from one to ten. But I can’t tell you how the insomnia makes them feel. And that’s important. (Rebecca Grossman-Kahn, 3/8)
The Boston Globe: Health, Longevity, And The Goals Of Financial Industries
The US population is growing older, and one reason for this trend is that we simply live longer than we used to. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has depressed life expectancy to its lowest point in two decades, Americans still enjoy lifespans far longer, on average, than in the more distant past. Since 1900, US life expectancy at birth has risen from about 47 years to just above 77 today. (Brooks Tingle, 3/7)
Stat: Sunsetting Licensing Reciprocity Will Return Medicine To The Dark Ages
Like many other 3-year-old boys, Braxton Davis is lively and at times playfully mischievous. But he might not have survived to that age if states hadn’t temporarily loosened medical licensing requirements during the pandemic. And the road ahead for many other children and adults with potentially life-threatening health issues might be more difficult if the door closes on more flexible medical licensing. (Bret Mettler, 3/7)
Modern Healthcare: Smaller, Independent Health Systems Can Use Size To Their Advantage
As CEO of an independent, not-for-profit health system in California’s Bay Area, where healthcare giants are many, I am well aware of the assumption that smaller players are at an inherent disadvantage. But my experience tells me the opposite is true. (Dan Woods, 3/8)
Stat: The U.S. Must Fix Its Innovation Engine: The Patent System
If your car starts to smoke and sputter, you’d take it to an auto repair shop right away. The U.S. patent system — the engine driving the country’s innovation economy for more than 200 years — is sputtering and smoking. Yet its path to the mechanic is being blocked by an inane Supreme Court ruling. American innovators are no longer promised reliable and effective rights for the fruits of their labors. (Adam Mossoff, 3/8)
