“Government-run” no longer defines the Indian health system

A single phrase is often used to define the Indian health system: “Government-run.” Add those two words to any discussion about health care or reform and most people reach an immediate conclusion about the merits of the agency. Now it is time for the phrase to disappear because it no longer accurately...

August 17th, 2010 | American Indians, Health, Politics, US | Read More

“Docs or Cops?” Domestic violence is a public health issue in Indian Country

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s trite to say, “everything is connected.” It’s a phrase that comes up in the context of family, the environment, or perhaps, philosophy. When the subject is reservation violence, however, that same notion could be rewritten as a blunt question: Docs or cops? Cops are...

August 3rd, 2010 | American Indians, Featured, Health | Read More

Beyond good and evil: Blacks, ethics and the health care system

“If we want our study samples to be broadly representative, then we should make every effort to make our institutions equally representative by increasing the presence of minority clinicians, scientists and members of research teams and institutional review boards. If we want minority communities...

June 25th, 2010 | Featured, Health | Read More

Expanding access to oral health through innovation

A philosophical question: How much medical training is needed to treat patients? Some say it’s the full course as proscribed by existing medical, nursing or dental schools. But when the shortages of doctors, nurses and dentists are ginormous, does the need require a different answer? Consider oral...

June 22nd, 2010 | American Indians, Health | Read More

Multiple Sclerosis is incurable, but science is getting closer solving it

It contributed to the death of the black comedian, Richard Pryor. Actresses Annette Funicello, formerly of the Mickey Mouse Club and Beach Blanket movies, and Terri Garr, Young Frankenstein and many other movies, have it. It is the debilitating and incurable disease known as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). As...

June 22nd, 2010 | American Indians, Health | Read More

The view from the inside: Indian Health Service employees

What do people who work (or who have worked) for the Indian Health Service, think about the Indian Health Service? This is an important question when looking at any organization. Do the health care professionals see themselves as working for a great team? Are they employed by a government agency that’s...

May 11th, 2010 | Health | Read More

Measuring the progress in native health – life expectancy for Native Americans

Has the Indian Health Service been an effective, government-run delivery system? Consider this from a White House memo: “While there has been improvements in health status of Indians in the past 15 years, a loss of momentum can further slow the already sluggish rate of approach to parity. Increased...

May 4th, 2010 | American Indians, Featured, Health | Read More

Run on and see where it ends: Fighting to make health equality a reality

Saturday morning, April 17th, the auditorium of Junior High School 22 in the Bronx was crowded with community residents who had gathered for a town hall meeting. Health care reform had passed, but these folks knew that their problems were not over. Ensuring that most Americans have health insurance,...

April 20th, 2010 | Featured, Health | Read More

The state of Navajo – sort of – and other health care experiments

Congress passed the health care reform legislation – and President Barack Obama signed the bill into law. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act was included – and now we can put this debate to rest. Right? Actually no. There are many more debates about health care reform to come – probably for...

April 13th, 2010 | Featured, Health, Racial Equity | Read More

Race-ing the gap between good health care coverage and great health

The recently passed health care reform bill, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will do much to support the health of people of color, not least through its expansion of Medicaid coverage to the near-poor and to childless adults mostly excluded from coverage previously. Businesses...

April 7th, 2010 | Featured, Health | Read More

A thorny question: Should American Indians and Alaska Natives buy their own health insurance?

The enactment of health care insurance reform raises a thorny (and complicated) question for Indian Country: Should American Indians and Alaska Natives eligible for services in the Indian health system buy their own insurance? The first answer ought to be a resounding “no.” Clearly the United States...

April 6th, 2010 | American Indians, Featured, Health, Racial Equity | Read More

For Esmin, what’s at stake with Health Care Reform

Every once in awhile, history sneaks up on us. In movements past, the sting of injustice couldn’t be clearer. Bold acts of violence interspersed within wide-ranging systems of injustice, made the steady march towards civil rights an obvious moral imperative in need of correction. Yet, somehow,...

March 19th, 2010 | Featured, Health | Read More

Transparency as a tool for reform

Paul Levy’s Running A Hospital “is a blog started by a CEO of a large Boston hospital to share thoughts about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.” The postings started as a lark. But when the president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center writes openly that sends a message that...

February 2nd, 2010 | Health | Read More

Resolutions, experiments for a new year

This New Year I am experimenting, instead of resoluting. (I know, it’s not a real word. But it just sounded right.) I’m interested in how technology can play a role in behavior change, how to eat less, drink enough water, exercise more, and sleep better. The tool I’m playing with is called a Fitbit....

January 4th, 2010 | Health, Racial Equity | Read More