The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Friday, February 26, 2021
Dear John,
Happy Friday. Today
we will explore the need to improve health care for older Americans and highlight two book reviews from the February issue, just in time for some weekend reading.
Of note, they posit that fixing the current system, “will take a willingness to work across traditional silos, a commitment to prolonging
optimal health and independence, the restructuring of financing, and unwavering support for person-centered care.”
February’s issue also features book reviews by David T. Liebers and Kathryn A. Phillips.
Leibers’ calls Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder a “a short but impassioned meditation on the state of US health care.” Interestingly, it was conceived as Snyder recovered from a failed appendicitis diagnosis that led to other serious health concerns, at the same time COVID-19 was emerging as a global crisis. Leibers summarizes Snyder’s claims as, “a collective failure to recognize health care as a human right and prerequisite to human freedom undermines democracy in the United States.”
In her review of Discovering Precision Health: Predict, Prevent, and Cure
to Advance Health and Well-Being by Lloyd Minor and Matthew Rees, Phillips credits the book for demonstrating that "precision health is much more than counting your steps with a tracker” by placing it into a broader context. Minor and Rees use timely and engaging case studies to illustrate their points, but they do not delve into “what it will take to bring the vision of precision health to fruition,” writes Phillips. “Discovering Precision Health lays out a compelling vision, but now the real work begins: figuring out how to implement it.”
On the final day of our Elevating Voices series for Black History Month, we feature Leonard E. Egede, the lead author of a study about racial/ethnic differences in COVID-19 screening, hospitalization, and mortality in Southeast Wisconsin. Egede and his colleagues found that Blacks and Hispanics were both more than three times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 and two times more likely to be hospitalized relative to non-Hispanic whites. Their findings were published in Health Affairs’ November issue and discussed on A Health Podyssey.
Podcast: COVID-19 Vaccine Production Is Dramatically Ramping Up Listen to Leslie Erdelack and Chris Fleming discuss the latest on COVID-19 and vaccine availability as well as the status of various health policy court cases and administrative regulations.
What are the policy priorities regarding US health costs and financing, women’s and children’s health, mental health and addiction, older adults’ health care, and infectious disease threats? Hear from an expert panel at the Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: Priorities for 2021 virtual briefing.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is
available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
