Commentary
by Jenna Ogilvie | Apr 19, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
More than ever, health care providers need to help purchasers make intelligent, value-based decisions. Providers are being asked to reduce the total cost of care, figure out what works and what doesn’t, and move quickly on innovations that add value. But without...
by Laura DeStefano | Apr 12, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
The obvious answer of “no” to the question of readiness is not just due to the ongoing loss of experienced staff. Loss of infrastructure is bad enough, but even a well-staffed health department needs safe and effective treatment tools when more than 100 high school...
by Jenna Ogilvie | Apr 5, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Decades of research from the Dartmouth Atlas have shown that unwarranted variations in elective surgery are pervasive in the United States. Decision aids (DAs) are evidence-based sources of health information that can help patients make informed treatment decisions...
by Laura DeStefano | Mar 22, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Support for core public health capacity is diminishing; outbreaks of microbial threats are not. In 2012 there were a number of high-profile threats (see the box below) that demanded public health intervention to protect the public. It is well understood that the role...
by Jenna Ogilvie | Mar 22, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Fundamental changes are reshaping the nation’s health care system—from purchaser and payer demands for greater quality and value to new legislative and regulatory requirements stemming from the Affordable Care Act. Also driving change is the growing recognition that a...
by Laura DeStefano | Mar 15, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
In October 2007, HSPD 21 called for a nationwide biosurveillance capability. Biosurveillance “in the context of human health is the science and practice of managing health-related data and information for early warning of threats and hazards, early detection of...
by Laura DeStefano | Feb 7, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
The first test of penicillin on a human, Constable Albert Alexander in 1941, illustrated the remarkable power of antibiotics to control bacterial infection, only to end in tragedy when all available penicillin was exhausted and Alexander’s infection recrudesced...
by Laura DeStefano | Jan 24, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Health equity has been defined in many ways, but essentially the concept focuses on promoting social justice rather than economic or social status as the primary means for determining access to good health and well-being (Braveman, 2006). Another way, however, of...
by Laura DeStefano | Jan 18, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Equity is not a contemporary concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial: equity of treatment. A branch of law that developed alongside common law in order to remedy some of its defects in fairness and justice,...
by Jenna Ogilvie | Jan 11, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
When I was a resident, I cared for an asthmatic boy who had been in and out of the hospital 3 times in 8 weeks. Each time, we sent him home with an escalating regimen of medications, and each time, his symptoms only worsened. After his mother told me that they lived...
