Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Public Health Perspectives: Animals In Medical Research; Using Data To Fight Childhood Trauma
Some people with spinal cord injuries may one day be able to walk again because of scientific research that depends on monkeys. Again, the ethical question arises: Does medical progress trump animal rights? Our short answer: Yes. Sometimes. (11/13)
Kansas City鈥檚 Resilient KC initiative, a partnership of Healthy KC and Trauma Matters KC, supports the emerging 鈥渦pstreamist鈥 movement in health care. The concept is to address health problems before they emerge as individual or community-centered health issues. Resilient KC targets community-based trauma. (Tom Bell and Herb B. Kuhn, 11/13)
With the presidential election behind us, and fresh from marking Veterans Day, Congress will have a chance to make a major reform to the Veterans Administration. A bill passed with a veto-proof bipartisan majority in the House will be ready for the Senate. And a sponsor of the companion bill in the Senate is Miami鈥檚 own Sen. Marco Rubio. (11/13)
Today I got another letter from AARP. The letters have been coming pretty much every week for 25 years. But in the past two months they鈥檝e changed. AARP used to ask me to join. Now the letters from the lobbying group for older Americans say that I have joined but I haven鈥檛 paid my bill. (Stephen Miller, 11/11)
According to a recent study by the Department of Veterans Affairs, since 2001, the age-adjusted rate of suicide among male veterans has increased 30.5 percent. In comparison, the age-adjusted rate of suicide among female veterans has increased 85.2 percent. And among veteran women ages 18 to 29, the risk of suicide is 12 times the rate of nonveteran women. It is clear that gender-specific interventions are needed to support our female veterans. (Elisa Borah, 11/12)
The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the shortage could range from 46,000 to 90,000 physicians in just 10 years.聽This is particularly worrisome for Arizona, as our state is ranked 34th in total active physicians per 100,000 residents. Locally, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Dignity Health St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital and Medical Center and District Medical Group, Inc.聽are partnering with Creighton University School of Medicine to meet this demand by increasing the number of doctors and other health professionals in Arizona. (Steve Purves, Patty White, Kote Chundu and Daniel Hendrickson, 11/13)
