Category: Policy

Primary care colonialism: the impact of profit-driven health care on communities

An excerpt from On Medicine as Colonialism. For about seventeen years, from 1991 until 2008, I lived in little Scituate, Rhode Island, where I practiced family medicine, and for about eleven of those seventeen years, I practiced out of the basement of …

The future of health care is virtual: a nurse’s perspective

This time, it’s my family. My work takes me all over the U.S., consulting on the implementation of virtual care to get the most appropriate level of care to the patients who need it. I work with teams to develop better workflows and to get more e…

The future of health care is virtual: a nurse’s perspective

This time, it’s my family. My work takes me all over the U.S., consulting on the implementation of virtual care to get the most appropriate level of care to the patients who need it. I work with teams to develop better workflows and to get more e…

Gun crisis in America: Youth fatalities on the rise

In 2020, firearm fatalities displaced motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death of U.S. youth (ages 1 to 19). We long ago dramatically reduced infectious deaths (though vaccine hesitancy threatens to upend this victory), and the “big …

Faced with yet another variant, epidemiologists must act more like silicon valley start-ups

With yet another highly contagious COVID variant sweeping the East Coast, it’s never been more clear that we need a systems approach to reforming epidemiology in the U.S.  Several legislative approaches, including the PREVENT Pandemics Act and pu…

New York nurses strike for dignity and respect on the frontlines

As a PA, I’ve worked in some of the city’s busiest emergency departments. While they differ in practice styles, patient population, and architecture, they all have one thing in common: the nurses are overworked. As thousands of them go on s…

Saving mothers: How technology can aid in the fight against preventable maternal deaths

Maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the United States are among the highest in the developed world—impacting roughly 50,000 women each year and taking the lives of 700 mothers annually. Three in five of these deaths are preventable, according to …

Inside The Alzheimer’s Scandal: Why Is There Still No Cure?

The Alzheimer’s scandal: Why is there no cure for this dread disease?

Student loan forgiveness: a key step in achieving health equity for minority physicians and patients

As student loan forgiveness awaits a decision from the Supreme Court, the Department of Education has launched a program that can forgive student loan debt for over 40,000 Americans and ease student debt burdens for up to 3.6 million borrowers. As this…

Close The Border To Canadian Health Care

Canada’s healthcare system was once the country’s pride and joy. But as the program enters its seventh decade, public opinion is starting to turn.