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From a financial outcomes standpoint, the healthcare industry has historically been metrics driven—tracking the number of procedures, bed utilization, profit and loss, etc. Financial outcomes are audited and reported each year. However, one outcome that receives far less focus is preventable medical harm. Yet patient deaths from preventable medical harm are estimated at over 250,000 and cost the U.S. healthcare system at least $19.8 billion annually due to additional medical care and lost productivity. (Dr. David Mayer, 8/17)

My patient sat at the edge of his bed gasping for air while he tried to tell me his story, pausing to catch his breath after each word. The plastic tubes delivering oxygen through his nose hardly seemed adequate to stop his chest from heaving. He looked exhausted. He had tested positive for the coronavirus 10 days ago. He was under 50, mildly hypertensive but otherwise in good health. Eight days earlier he started coughing and having severe fatigue. His doctor started him on antibiotics. It did not work. (Anita Sircar, 8/17)

Opponents of mask mandates for preschool and elementary school children have expressed concern that wearing masks will impair children’s ability to learn language and socialize — or worse, that (in the words of one anxious parent in Utah) it will “rewire their brains.” Even parents who support mask mandates often worry about how a school year without smiles and frowns might negatively affect their children. These concerns are understandable but unwarranted. Although scientists don’t have much data yet on how wearing masks during a pandemic affects children’s development, there is plenty of reason to believe that it won’t cause any harm. Children in cultures where caregivers and educators wear head-coverings that obscure their mouths and noses develop skills just as children in other cultures do. Even congenitally blind children — who cannot see faces at all — still learn to speak, read and get along with other people. (Judith Danovitch, 8/19)

The response to Covid-19 by the biomedical research community in the U.S. and around the globe has been spectacular in both speed and impact. It is time to respond with the same sense of urgency to every disease. Toward that end, President Biden has proposed creating a new agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), modeled on the defense-focused DARPA. He cited cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes as motivating challenges. (Matthew Might, 8/18)