March 16, 2018
Partners in Improving Health Care: Learning from Others
Health Affairs’ blog recently published America’s “NICE”? discussing whether the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is becoming our country’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). ICER was founded in 2006 as “an independent and non-partisan research organization that objectively evaluates the clinical and economic value of prescription drugs, medical tests, and…
Read more »February 26, 2018
Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Building a Health Care System for All of Us
Dementia impacts people and families across our State. Symptoms including issues with memory, cognition, and social functioning are difficult for patients as well as their family members, friends, caregivers, and also for providers. Patients may not feel supported and heard, caregivers may be overwhelmed, and providers may be unsure as to what the best next…
Read more »February 20, 2018
Meeting the Needs of Transgender Patients
This post continues our series on LGBTQ+ populations and the health concerns and disparities that affect these communities, in alignment with one of our newest workgroups here at the Bree, LGBTQ+ Health Care. We invite interested members of the public to join upcoming meetings by phone or in-person. By Emily Wittenhagen Program Assistant, Bree Collaborative…
Read more »February 1, 2018
Presenting our Hysterectomy Recommendations
Hysterectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the United States but rates are highly variable by hospital and region. Hysterectomy rates were one of the very first procedures to be mapped by where people live and receive care in 1973, showing that type of care is very different depending on location….
Read more »January 16, 2018
From GRID to PrEP: Modern Life with HIV
This post kicks off our series on LGBTQ+ populations and the health concerns and disparities that effect these communities, in alignment with our newest workgroup here at the Bree, LGBTQ Health Care. We invite interested members of the public to join upcoming meetings by phone or in-person. We’ve come a long way since HIV was…
Read more »December 29, 2017
Our Resolutions for 2018
“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke Many of us start the new year with high expectations – mainly of ourselves. We make resolutions to lose weight, do yoga every morning, to better meet deadlines. This is a time for self-reflection, for taking stock…
Read more »December 15, 2017
Looking Back on 2017
Like many of you, we are finding it hard to believe that 2017 is almost over. This has been a busy year for us – we convened five workgroups and brought our number of completed recommendations to twenty! Read our 2017 End-Of-Year Report. – Ongoing Work: Evidence-Based Prescribing of Opioids for Pain Our members adopted…
Read more »November 30, 2017
Your Family, Your Health
As we head into the holiday season, most of us are probably going to be spending a good amount of time with our families and friends. This is a great opportunity to enjoy time with those we love and think about what is important and meaningful to us. But staying healthy during the holidays can…
Read more »November 15, 2017
The Opioid Crisis: Meditations in a Public Health Emergency
WHAT’S IN A NAME? On October 26th, the White House declared the opioid crisis a National Public Health Emergency. This act fulfilled a long-standing campaign promise of the president, with one seemingly small, but significant modification: the declaration of a National Public Health Emergency, not just a National Emergency. While this may sound like a…
Read more »November 1, 2017
A Global Look At Our Health Care System
I was recently lucky enough to spend some time in Europe. We saw ancient aqueducts and sewers (early public health initiatives), some of the oldest buildings in the world, and ate too much cheese. Luckily I didn’t need to interact with the health care system in any of these countries – but I can’t help…
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