[Cross-posted from the Public Health Post Blog, where it originally appeared on March 17, 2017.] By Lauren Taylor The Trump administration is prompting many of us in health services to ask new questions about if, and how, to draw lines between our personal and professional endeavors. Do we sign that petition with our institutional affiliation?…
[Crosspost that originally appeared on WBUR’s CommonHealth] By Michael Anne Kyle and Lauren Taylor Here in Boston, cooperation between health care providers is a fraught issue. Competition is fierce among local, not-for-profit teaching hospitals, and the idea of collaboration brings to mind collusion, mergers and monopolies. Unfortunately, these concerns may be keeping Boston hospitals from pursuing cost-effective strategies to…
A slew of organizations, including most notably the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, are talking about creating a “culture of health” as a new way forward in US health policy. The underlying thinking assumes that legislative fixes, including the Affordable Care Act, will continue to be vehemently fought if attitudes towards health do not in some…
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at the 10th Annual Summit of the National Center for Medical Legal Partnership in McLean, Virginia. The summit brought together more than 400 people working to “mainstream” medical legal partnerships (MLPs). The theory of change is that through these partnerships, the health care sector can begin to more systematically address…
Today’s New York Times featured a long exploration of “Headgear Rule for Girls’ Lacrosse Ignites Outcry.” As a former lacrosse player and health policy researcher, I read the piece with interest. Essentially what’s happened is that Florida has instituted a headgear rule ahead of the sport’s national governing body. Florida made this decision in advance…
A new New England Journal of Medicine commentary by Peter A. Ubel, M.D., David A. Comerford, Ph.D., and Eric Johnson, Ph.D. highlights significant flaws in the way information is presented to insurance shoppers on state and federal exchange websites. The authors present original survey data to support the argument that subtle aspects of current website designs…
In recognition of how little we talk about global health, I am turning my attention back to my roots for today’s post. On Jan 22nd, Bill and Melinda Gates launched their annual letter. For those readers who live fully under a domestic health policy rock, Bill and Melinda Gates are co-chairs of the Bill and…
Earlier this month, Charles Ornstein explored a New York City family’s charge that their privacy was violated by a local hospital and a reality television show in ProPublica. More specifically, he details how the death of one Mr. Mark Chanko was filmed at NY Presbyterian Hospital without the family’s consent, and then nationally aired on…
Physician and bioethicist Carla C. Keirns described the potentially dangerous impact of medicalization on her own childbirth in the Narrative Matters section of Health Affairs this month. A segment of that writing was reproduced in the Washington Post yesterday. In each piece, Keirns outlines the challenges she faced in vaginally delivering her son in a…
Population health advocates have identified health care providers, and hospitals in particular, as key allies in the effort to create better health and longer lives for Americans nationwide. Despite a growing interest in “community-based’ models of care, hospitals remain the most visible component of the US health care system. What’s more, hospitals are where the…
