Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: AI Will Make Visiting The Doctor More Personal; Medicaid Cuts Worry Dementia Patient Families
The technology, which uses a smartphone app to 鈥渓isten鈥 to clinical encounters (with the patient鈥檚 consent) and convert the conversation into medical documentation, is transforming care for the better. Health systems and federal regulators should look to this example of how artificial intelligence that reduces administrative inefficiencies can vastly improve the care experience. (Leana S. Wen, 3/25)
In April 1990, in testimony to the joint congressional hearing titled 鈥淎lzheimer鈥檚 鈥 The Unmet Challenge for Research and Care,鈥 Hilda Pridgeon, a founder of the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association, recounted the challenges of working full-time for Control Data Corporation and caring for her husband, Al, who was living with dementia. The American health care system offered them no support. (Jason Karlawish, 3/25)
On June 24, 2022, the same day the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization, I received a call from the fertility clinic where I鈥檇 been undergoing in vitro fertilization, informing me that seven of my fertilized eggs had made it to the five-day-old blastocyst stage. (Anna Louie Sussman, 3/25)
A few days ago, I spoke with 鈥淟isa鈥 who is a participant in a research study at the Yale School of Public Health.聽Lisa, a New Haven resident, has spent almost five years on a subsidized housing waitlist.聽Since losing her apartment early in the pandemic, Lisa has stayed on a relative鈥檚 couch anxiously awaiting rental assistance that would help her to afford her own apartment.聽 Unfortunately, such subsidies are in short supply. (Penelope Schlesinger, 3/25)
Every year, more than 50,000 dogs, mostly beagles, are used in research in the United States. They are often used in painful and deadly tests, and laws to protect them are minimal. We should end this betrayal of man鈥檚 best friend. (Mark Bekoff and Jane Goodall, 3/24)