This week we have had a disquieting reminder of one of the challenges we face in overhauling health care in America – the public are deeply distrustful of “experts.”
The US Preventive Services Task Force – an appointed body of leading clinicians and scientists – issued a new recommendation of when women ought to have mammograms. [...]

Today the news is filled with stories about the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts from an incurable brain tumor.
During his almost fifty years in the Congress, Senator Kennedy has been a dominant leader in so many areas of our national life – health and health care, education, civil rights, and on and [...]

Several people have asked me in the past few days for my perspective on what’s happening to health reform in Washington.

For what it’s worth, here goes –

Today (Sunday) we took a tour of the “Sacred Valley of the Incas,” one of the prime collections of sites in the Americas. It was an all day bus tour, but was well worth it.
We visited the Sunday market at Pisac, and had a great time looking and did some buying — beautiful handmade [...]

I have applauded President Obama’s actions in making health care reform a prominent issue, and I was very glad to see that he mentioned health care, and science, repeatedly during his press conference Tuesday night.
The purpose for the press conference was to address the economy, and I think this is the context in which health [...]

Yesterday President Obama announced his nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and his appointment of Nancy-Ann DeParle as Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office for Health Reform.

A few days ago, I participated in a panel discussion at Biotech 2009, a conference in Raleigh, put on by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.

I recently discussed my thoughts on health policy issues the new president should address with my alma mater, the University of Alabama – Birmingham School of Medicine, for its alumni newsletter. I talked about health insurance, budget needs for federal health programs and the possible reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services. To read the Fall 2008 issue, click http://www.uab.edu/images/uabmagazine/uabmedicine/fall2008/uabmedicine_fall2008.pdf here.

As you may know, UNC Health Care has undertaken an initiative to improve access for patients who face financial difficulties. We began this effort in response to concerns raised by the community about how we meet the needs of our patients. Some of the underlying issues we addressed result from the irrational and sometimes [...]

As North Carolina’s safety-net health care system, UNC Health Care proudly serves all North Carolinians, regardless of their ability to pay. To fulfill this mission, we constantly manage the finances of this institution to ensure we can meet the increasing demands on our charity care program while also educating the next generation of physicians and [...]