Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: An Idea To Tackle The Rural Physician Shortage; Mental Health Is Just As Important As Physical
By 2034, the United States will experience a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, and rural residents are expected to face the brunt of this gap. At a time when rural hospitals and health networks are facing increasing difficulties, health care leaders must think of ways to expand talent pipelines into these areas, including encouraging more physicians to practice in these regions. One solution is to focus on recruiting, educating and training students from these communities. (Paul Singh, 9/2)
Psychological disorders such as stress, depression and loneliness are now known to be associated with impaired immune defenses, leading to increased infections and weakened responses to vaccines. Chronic stress can disrupt our gut function, slow our wound healing and age our cells. (Helen Ouyang, 9/1)
Imagine a pill could help treat symptoms of everything from depression to dementia. Imagine this pill could reduce hospitalizations, doctor鈥檚 office visits and health care spending. And then, imagine this pill came with no side effects or backbreaking costs; imagine a pill that doctors would feel good about prescribing, and patients would feel good about taking. (Julia Hotz, 8/28)
I was in high school when I first encountered the ruthlessness of the number one killer in the U.S. A close friend of mine, then only 16 years old, witnessed his father having a heart attack while checking the mail. Despite desperate attempts at CPR on the driveway, he wasn鈥檛 able to save his dad, a seemingly healthy man in his early 40s. That event put me on a path to become a cardiologist. Twenty-five years later, as a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, I鈥檓 still seeing young patients having heart attacks, though they often have nothing in their health profiles to indicate increased risks. (Pradeep Natarajan, 9/3)
The latest Covid vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. are hitting US pharmacy shelves, raising a now-perennial fall question: Will anyone bother getting them? (Lisa Jarvis, 8/29)
