Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'This Is A New Day': How Precision Initiative Could Topple Traditional Medicine
To propel research, Obama has proposed spending a $215 million on a Precision Medicine Initiative. The first step: Rally 1 million volunteers (or even more) to give up a slew of intimate details about their health, medical history, diet, lifestyle, genetics — and even the granular details of the bacteria that line their guts. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded $120 million to the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. to create mobile apps, web platforms, biosensors, and other tools to collect and analyze data on those volunteers. ... Leading the effort is Dr. Eric Topol, 62, a cardiologist and geneticist known for his prolific tweeting, rapid adoption of technology, and vociferous criticism of traditional medicine as antiquated and inefficient. (McFarling, 7/15)
Nearly 8 million adults suffer from PTSD during a given year, according to the National Center for PTSD... One common method for treatment is called “exposure therapy.” The patient recounts their trauma, visualizing it in their imagination, and narrates it to a clinician. By repeatedly confronting and processing the trauma, the brain can start to reduce the level of anxiety and response to those memories. (Quart, 7/18)
A committee tasked with investigating the best way to implement telemedicine in Florida is starting to take shape. A 19-member panel mandated by a law passed last January should be in place next year...The practice involves doctors diagnosing patients from a distance, usually using webcam technology. (Benk, 7/17)
Meanwhile, Pokemon Go could be contributing to a population-wide spike in step counts —
Until last week, MacKenzie Olsberg’s nightly commute home from her office in Chicago involved taking a train to a bus and walking a short distance to her home. Now, she skips the bus portion and walks the last mile and a half. All because of Pokémon Go. ... The founders of Cardiogram, an app for Apple Watch that analyzes heart rate data, looked at heart rate and exercise information from 35,000 Cardiogram Apple Watch users, and saw an increase in users’ overall exercise the weekend after Pokémon Go launched. The exercise increase was across the board — the app makers have no way of knowing who was actually using Pokémon Go. On the day of the launch, about 45 percent of users were exercising 30 or more minutes. Two days later, on a Saturday, that number rose to 50 percent. The next day, it hit 53 percent. (Silver, 7/15)
