Articles

New Tennessee telemedicine law grows health care access

I am convinced that telemedicine is a crucial part of the solution for delivery of healthcare in the United States–care that isn’t yet affordable or accessible for all. Tennessee has made important steps toward ensuring telemedicine is an option for our citizens, but there’s more to do. Telemedicine is in its infancy in Tennessee. Specialists…

We Must All Play a Role in Ending Childhood Obesity (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION | We all want our kids and grandkids to grow up happier and healthier than we did. Instead, today’s children are the first generation of young Americans to face the prospect of living their entire lives in poorer health and dying younger than previous generations. The reason is no mystery. Too many…

The Physician’s Role and End-of-Life

Over the past several months, I’ve been championing a revolution in end-of-life care. The care models need to change. Reimbursement strategies need to change. The way we think and talk about end-of-life needs to change. And physician education needs to change. We, as doctors, need a new perspective on our role as healers and what…

Bill Frist supports Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan (The Tennessean)

THE TENNESSEAN | Medicaid expansion has been a contentious topic since the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision holding mandatory state participation was unduly coercive. And the arguments against expansion are well-founded: Does the federal government really have enough money to fund this? What happens if the money runs out? We have tried this before and it was…

Real Conversations: You and Me

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here, the overview of you and me here, and the conclusion. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 At the end of the day,…

Real Conversation on Democracy

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of the right to vote here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Hand in hand with freedom of the…

Water for the World

Back in 2003 I was traveling in Mozambique with a delegation of Senate colleagues to take a closer look at U.S. policy on HIV/AIDS.  We found an HIV emergency, but we also identified a health need even more fundamental: access to clean water. That was the trip that prompted PEPFAR, President George Bush’s unprecedented commitment to address…

Real Conversation on Creative Freedoms

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of creative freedoms here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Creativity and freedom of expression are essential to dialogue…

Real Conversations on Population

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of population here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Almost all of the problems of the world today…

Real Conversation on Children

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of children here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Over six million children die per year before they…

#Conversation2015

I recently got together with a couple of friends, entertainer WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff to talk about American compassion and to make a list: a list of things we should really care about. We wish to start a national conversation to identify and address some of the greatest threats to our…

Real Conversation on Disaster

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of natural disasters here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Natural disasters are a threat in and…

Real Conversation on Poverty

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of poverty here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Poverty is inextricably tied to poor health. The…

Real Conversation on Environmental Damage

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of environmental damage here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 Whether we are talking about global warming,…

Real Conversation on Safe Food and Water

With WK “Big Kenny” Alphin and Dr. Randy Wykoff, I am launching #Conversation2015, a look at the opportunities we have to make dramatic changes through compassion and caring. Read the introduction to the project here and the overview of safe food and water here. Then join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook: #Conversation2015 For many Americans it is…

Time to advance a new oversight framework for health IT

By former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), MD (The Hill; December 11) Innovations in digital technology have changed the way we live our everyday lives, and we are finally, just now, seeing them change the way that we deliver health care and manage our own health. Now new technology makes it possible for us to track…

Building Companies that Change Medicine

I am a partner at Cressey & Company, a health care focused private investment firm, where I serve as chairman of the company’s Distinguished Executives Council.  Yesterday, we announced the closing on a new fund that totals $615 million. Health care in America is changing so rapidly and I believe health-IT is an essential part…

November Update

The fall has been exceptionally busy around here with several international trips and speaking engagements, but I was able to be home for Thanksgiving and got to enjoy some of the beautiful autumn color that Middle Tennessee has to offer. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s an update on some of…

The Way Forward for Ebola

Thankfully—and appropriately—the panic surrounding Ebola in the United States has waned over the past weeks. But the calm doesn’t mean it’s time to move on, though the news cycle may have. All major crises can be teachable moments and now is the time to carefully consider our response to the Ebola outbreak and what we…

2014 SCORE Prize Awards

Each year in late October I have the privilege of hosting the Annual SCORE Prize celebration. Every year just gets better and last night was no exception! We had a great time with school representatives from across the state and country music artist Dustin Lynch. The SCORE Prize celebrates success in Tennessee’s schools, and this…

Notes From the Road: A Big Picture Impression of Cuba

Two weeks ago, I was in Cuba as part of a healthcare delegation to learn more about the country as a whole and its healthcare system in particular on a “people-to-people” trip. Cuba is a land of heterogeneity and chaos: an amalgam of cultures, colors, tastes, and textures. Wifi access there is severely limited, so…

Helping VA Do Better

(Military Times, October 15, 2014) By Bill Frist In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln articulated a clear principle to guide our nation’s commitment to military veterans. The goal, he said, should be “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” That sentiment still resonates a…

New Horizons for Touch!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you have probably seen Touch mentioned several times. He’s a new friend of mine with a fascinating story, and today is a very big day for him! A few months ago, the Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary in Mount Juliet contacted me about their annual fundraising auction on Oct….

Opportunity to Act for Maternal and Child Health

I just welcomed my second grandson, and the dichotomy between the health care we enjoy and the realities in the developing world is never more stark than when I visited the proud new parents and their precious little one in the hospital—everyone  healthy and well. The biggest killer of women between 15 and 19 in…

An Ebola Turning Point: An Early Diagnosis?

Read my earlier Ebola primer and a look at what we know about how the virus behaves. As the Ebola situation in West Africa progresses, we are dealing with increasingly complex medical and cultural challenges. I addressed some of the cultural issues in a Morning Consult column last month, and highlighted the importance of identifying infected…

Join me to Discuss Palliative Care: We know we need it, but how will the system pay for it?

UPDATED: If you missed the event, the entire webinar broken down by speaker is archived online. On September 10, 1 pm EDT, I and some friends will be speaking at a live, free webinar sponsored by the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) on palliative care. We certainly need it, but how will the…

Why the VA Should Look Toward Proven Health Care Solutions

By Bill Frist and Tom Daschle While it is not a secret that the Veteran’s Affairs hospital system has had inefficiencies for many years, the recent spotlight on veterans’ long wait times for basic medical attention has made headlines for good reason. Long wait times are dangerous and extremely costly, resulting in unnecessary emergency room…

Ebola: Contagious vs Infectious

Read my earlier Ebola primer. As the CDC treats the nation’s first two Ebola cases there are a lot of questions and concerns about the disease in America—Could it become an epidemic here? How contagious is it? How is it caught? Although my medical specialty is cardiothoracic surgery, I have spent a good deal of…

Ebola Primer and Liberia

As I hope you’ve heard, there is an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Western Africa right now, particularly in Liberia. Two American aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly with Samaritan’s Purse and Nancy Writebol, a volunteer working with the faith group Service in Mission, were recently infected. I’ve been discussing the situation with the Centers…

Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies: My Conversation with Melinda Gates

Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of sitting down with Melinda Gates, Scott Hamilton, Jenny Eaton Dyer, and a room full of caring people to talk about Hope Through Healing Hands’ Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers & Children Worldwide. Chatting with both Melinda and Scott is always such a pleasure—especially about such an important issue…

Retrospective on Rwanda

I’ve been home from Rwanda and Kenya only a few days and I’m already on another flight, heading back to Aspen, this time for the Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight: Health, co-sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It’s on flights that I have time to reflect on a few takeaways, drawn from the myriad impressions…

Bipartisanship saves lives

(The Hill, June 24, 2014) By former Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) When parents in America think about their children turning five, sending them off to kindergarten for the first time can be stressful. But if you live in the developing world, your biggest worry is whether your children will even live…

Watching Global Health Diplomacy in Action: A Week in Rwanda

(Morning Consult, June 23, 2014) One week ago I had dinner in an open air restaurant overlooking Kigali, Rwanda. It was a beautiful night, and the almost-full moon illuminated Kigali and the land of a thousand hills. As we were leaving, one of our hosts approached me. A formal and reserved woman, she quietly told…

Notes from the Road: Mountain Gorillas

*I’m in Rwanda this week representing Hope Through Healing Hands with Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners in Health Rwanda, and Harvard Medical School. These dispatches from the road are my personal journal–recording what I’ve seen and learned on this trip. See my pre-trip thoughts, and blogs from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Today we went to see some of Rwanda’s natural…

Notes from the Road: Building Infrastructure for Long Term Growth

*I’m in Rwanda this week representing Hope Through Healing Hands with Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners in Health Rwanda, and Harvard Medical School. These dispatches from the road are my personal journal–recording what I’ve seen and learned on this trip. See my pre-trip thoughts, Monday’s blog, and Tuesday’s notes. This morning we met with patients and physicians at Centre Hospitalier…

Notes from the Road: Cancer Care in Rural Africa

*I’m in Rwanda this week representing Hope Through Healing Hands with Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners in Health Rwanda, and Harvard Medical School. These dispatches from the road are my personal journal–recording what I’ve seen and learned on this trip. See my pre-trip thoughts, and Monday’s blog.  Who says you can’t treat patients suffering from cancer…

Notes from the Road: Rwanda and Health Diplomacy in Action

KIGALI, RWANDA | Why are we in Rwanda? What makes it a unique place to learn about health policy, and health care delivery? What will we learn that can make us smarter as we address health issues back at home? I thought through these questions on the flight to Rwanda, and I had plenty of…

Off to Rwanda: Considering Child Nutrition

I was in Aspen earlier this week working on some of the challenges facing healthcare and the health industry in the US, but it’s time to switch gears. Sunday, I leave for Rwanda to lead a one week group trip with my friend Dr. Paul Farmer to see some of the work being done by…

Call to action on global nutrition

(The Hill, May 28, 2014) The United States has shown courageous leadership over the last decade on global health. Earlier this year, Congress once again voted to protect the budget for those critical investments that we make to save lives, prevent the transmission of diseases and end preventable child deaths. During my time in Congress,…

Happy Memorial Day

Maura C. Sullivan is a former U.S. Marine Corps Captain, Iraq War Veteran and graduate of Harvard Business School. She is a Commissioner, American Battle Monuments Commission– managing America’s overseas WWI & WWII cemeteries.   Maura has demonstrated exemplary service to this country, continued commitment to public service, and an unusual breadth of experience. I’m…

The Case For Global Health Diplomacy

(Health Affairs Blog, April 14, 2014) At the end of February, I had the pleasure of speaking about global health diplomacy at the Nursing Leadership in Global Health Symposium at Vanderbilt University. Nurses are one of the specialties that we support in the Frist Global Health Leaders program facilitated by Hope Through Healing Hands, a…

Contraception Is A Pro-Life Cause In Developing World

(Time Magazine, March 21, 2014) By Bill Frist, M.D. and Jenny Eaton Dyer, Ph.D. When it comes to the health of children and mothers worldwide, there are immense challenges yet many signs of hope. Over 6.9 million children die every year in the developing world from preventable, treatable causes. While the loss of these children…

Building a Healthier America

Last week I joined the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA)’s Building a Healthier Future Summit. It was a fun meeting with lots of good food and guest appearances by Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby and Doug E. Fresh. I’m a firm believer that we must make the healthy choice the easy choice to change behavior…

Investing in Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide

Earlier this week, a project we’ve been working on for months finally came to fruition! Hope Through Healing Hands announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide. Since 2004, Hope Through Healing Hands has made investments to support infrastructure, sustainable health development,…

The Cadillac Tax: Implications and a Potential Silver Lining?

(Forbes, February 26, 2014 ) Like much of the Affordable Care Act, the Cadillac tax—Obamacare’s solution to a tax subsidy created during World War II—offers a solution to an important problem, but is fraught with unintended consequences. Ideally, the tax would prompt employers to offer more cost-effective plans, with some shift of risk to employees…

Connected Health and the Rise of the Patient Consumer

(Health Affairs, February 2014) How to achieve better care at a lower cost? Two powerful new forces may hold the answer. America’s health care delivery sector stands at a tipping point—a convergence of a growing, graying, and highly consumptive population with increasingly limited financial and human capital resources. Policy makers naturally gravitate toward government to…

Tennessee at Crossroads: 2013-14 State of Education Report

When SCORE was launched in 2009, we identified a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for unprecedented growth in student achievement in Tennessee. In November, we have learned that the efforts of educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders have helped Tennessee become the fastest improving state in the nation – and 2nd overall behind the District of…

Digitize your own advanced-care plan

(The Hill, December 18, 2013) End of life planning is so important. It’s a topic I’ve spoken on frequently. But it’s not just a plan that you need. Your family members must be able to find it when they need it. That’s why free, online tools like the ones My Directives offers are so valuable!…

Bloomberg: 30% of Obamacare Needs to Be Fixed

  Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) — Former Senator Bill Frist, a Republican from Tennessee, discusses the Affordable Care Act with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)

End-of-life stories give us impetus to learn

(The Tennessean, December 1, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Manoj Jain M.D. Authors’ note: This is the final of six parts. We are honored and extremely grateful that so many shared their family stories with us. We have preserved the stories but have changed individuals’ names. Over the past three months, as we…

Notes from the Road: Global South Summit 2013

NASHVILLE | At the Global South Summit last week, I moderated a panel on one of my favorite topics: transforming healthcare into health. There is much discussion about how the current model of healthcare is “broken.” But the fact is, the system is producing exactly what it was designed to produce. The problem is that…

Notes from the Road: 2013 Health Care Investors Conference

NASHVILLE | Last Wednesday, (Nov 13) I had the privilege of joining Bass, Berry and Sims and Deloitte at the 2013 Health Care Investors Conference. I sat down with Brad Smith, CEO of Aspire Health; Andrew Lasher, CMO of Aspire Health; and Anna Gene O’Neal, CEO of Alive Hospice, to discuss some of challenges and…

Bloomberg: The Real Price of Healthcare

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg View columnist Lanhee Chen is joined by former U.S. Senate majority leader William Frist, Mayo Clinic CEO John Noseworthy, Boston Consulting Group partner Michael Ringel, John Hopkins Medicine CEO Paul Rothman, Thompson Holdings CEO Tommy Thompson, and Walgreen CEO Gregory Wasson to discuss the state of healthcare in the United…

Child’s first 5 years hold key to success

(The Tennessean, Nov 14) As a surgeon, I understand the exigency of a window of opportunity. In cardiac transplant, procurement of a donor heart starts a strict four-hour window until that heart needs to be beating in the chest of the accepting patient — a patient who is almost always a plane ride away. Neuroscience…

Tremendous Step Forward for Tennessee’s Children

Today the state of Tennessee has taken a tremendous step forward for our children and our future.  The Volunteer State has made more progress than any other state in the nation across 4th and 8th grade reading and math. When I launched the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) in 2009, we noted that “several…

Why the U.S. must lead on Disabilities Treaty

(Reuters, November 5, 2013 ) By Bill Frist In an HIV clinic in Africa, a man born deaf holds a single sheet of paper with a plus sign. He looks for help, but no one at the clinic speaks sign language. In fact, the staff doesn’t seem interested in helping him at all. He returns…

End-of-life care plan can ensure wishes are respected

(The Tennessean, November 4, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Manoj Jain, M.D Fifth of six parts that will appear this fall “I would never have my mother, who has cancer, go through this,” a hospital case manager in her 50s says. “I would never have her be strapped to the bed. Never have a…

Elderly need options for palliative care

(The Tennessean, October, 20, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Manoj Jain, M.D. A patient — we will call her Matilda — has thin, silvery hair, deep-set eyes and is in her mid-80s. She worked as a factory worker until she was widowed and now lives alone a few miles away from two working…

We often avoid important conversation

(The Tennessean, October 6, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Manoj Jain, M.D. When a patient’s lymph node biopsy came back as a rare form of lymphoma, he did not have long to live. In the six months before he died, he did not settle his family affairs or financial accounts. His doctors should…

It’s Common Sense to Come Together for Our Kids

(The Huffington Post, October 2, 2013) By Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. When we served together in the Senate, we found ourselves on different sides of a variety of issues. But when it came to common-sense measures that benefitted our country and our citizens, we pulled together. We were proud to cosponsor…

It’s never too early to discuss your final wishes

(The Tennessean, September 22, 2013) By Manoj Jain, M.D. and Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. A week before my (Dr. Jain) elderly parents came for a long visit, I asked them if they would be willing to have a conversation about end-of-life planning. But it wasn’t until the day before they left that we sat at…

Health care group a guide in time of change

(The Tennessean, September 15, 2013) By Larry Van Horn, Ph.d., and Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. October 2014 is a month that our nation has eyed for more than four years. We will take a historic step to revamp our health care system by enrolling millions of Americans in federally mandated health insurance coverage. At the…

Global Engagement Pays off for U.S.

By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Gov. Phil Bredesen During difficult economic times, there is a tendency for Americans to turn inward, to focus on domestic challenges, especially as this country emerges from a decade defined by two major wars and a crushing financial crisis. Though the urge to withdraw and retrench is understandable, it…

Technology And The Changing Business Of Health Care

Three years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” scholars and political pundits have paid much attention to the macroeconomic effects of the law. Will Obamacare bend the health care cost curve? What will be its impact on the federal budget deficit? How will it affect the…

European Summer Travels

Copenhagen, Denmark The statue of the Little Mermaid who gazes longingly out to sea from her rock to the harbor. Copenhagen is one of the most historic cities in the Baltic region; loved exploring the 850 years of recorded history. Helsinki, Finland Missed the all-year round Igloo hotel, but did sit for a few minutes…

Bike Ride Through Kadriorg Park, Estonia

Rode bikes with Mary and Lee through Kadriorg Park, Estonia, site of Peter the Great’s Summer Palace, and then went by the President’s Palace. Apparently he is a Princetonian but I did not see the orange and black flag flying that day (wonder if he was at reunions? Finally to romantic Old Town to see…

Health care system should focus on easing patients’ lives

Over the course of the past century, advances in public health and medical care have led to improvements in life expectancy that our ancestors would not have been able to imagine. Average life expectancy for Americans born in 2013 is approaching 80 years. While we now live longer and typically spend most of these years…

Fishing in Alaska

Global Engagement Pays off for U.S.

(The Tennessean, August 17, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. and Gov. Phil Bredesen During difficult economic times, there is a tendency for Americans to turn inward, to focus on domestic challenges, especially as this country emerges from a decade defined by two major wars and a crushing financial crisis. Though the urge to withdraw…

Technology And The Changing Business Of Health Care

(Health Affairs, August 14, 2013) By Bill Frist, M.D. and Tom Daschle Three years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” scholars and political pundits have paid much attention to the macroeconomic effects of the law. Will Obamacare bend the health care cost curve?  What will be…

European Summer Travels 2013

Copenhagen, Denmark The statue of the Little Mermaid who gazes longingly out to sea from her rock to the harbor.  Copenhagen is one of the most historic cities in the Baltic region; loved exploring the 850 years of recorded history.             Helsinki, Finland Missed the all-year round Igloo hotel, but…

Aspen with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson

Spent the other day at the Aspen Institute in beautiful surroundings with my former colleague Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson discussing health and defense strategy.

Bike Ride Through Kadriorg Park, Estonia

Rode bikes with Mary and Lee through Kadriorg Park, Estonia, site of Peter the Great’s Summer Palace, and then went by the President’s Palace.  Apparently he is a Princetonian but I did not see the orange and black flag flying that day (wonder if he was at reunions?  Finally to romantic Old Town to see…

Biking in Estonia

Biking in Tallin, Estonia with Sister Mary and Lee on cobblestone streets with cozy nooks amidst romantic towers

Health care system should focus on easing patients’ lives

Over the course of the past century, advances in public health and medical care have led to improvements in life expectancy that our ancestors would not have been able to imagine. Average life expectancy for Americans born in 2013 is approaching 80 years. While we now live longer and typically spend most of these years in good health, many live with advanced and complicated illnesses. Health problems that once caused death are now controllable as chronic conditions. With these chronic conditions comes the risk of chronic illness and chronic symptoms.

Nashville Health Care Council Fellows

“What we witnessed is bipartisan dialogue, exposure to world-known individuals, new methods of learning, strategies and tactics I have put to use, and a consistent and engaging forum for dialogue. I consider this class one of the single most important investments I have made in myself.” -Laura Beth Brown, Vice President, Vanderbilt Health Services, Vanderbilt…

California Cycling

I finished my 75 mile ride from San Francisco to the Red Woods near the Russian River.  Now, it is time to enjoy nature and great conversation.  

LeConte Adventures

Tennessee features some of the most exquisite landscape on the planet, and I recently made the hike up to the LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.   Waking up at Zoder’s in Gatlinburg, saying “Hi” to Cesar the parrot, who has been here 31 years and says “Hello!” back to me each…

Future of Healthcare is Personalized Medicine

(Diplomatic Courier, July 08, 2013) By Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. It is a common refrain that America has the best health care in the world, but our people are far from the healthiest. We spend twice as much as any other nation on health services, yet rank dismally, behind more than twenty other countries in…

What a Difference a Decade Makes

(The Hill, May 28, 2013) By Rep. Barbara Lee and Bill Frist A Democratic Congresswoman and a former Republican Senator aren’t afforded many opportunities to work together. Especially at a time of fiscal crisis when every dollar is scrutinized and fought over, partisanship pushes us into opposite corners. But we agree on a program that…

A Crucial Moment for Global Nutrition

(The Hill, May 22, 2013) On June 8, the United Kingdom, under the leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron, will host “Nutrition for Growth,” a high-level meeting where donor governments, including our own, will pledge funding and other commitments to address undernutrition and its devastating impact on the long-term health and productivity of millions of…

Phasing Out Fee-For-Service

(The New England Journal of Medicine, May 22, 2013) By Bill Frist and Steven Schroeder In March 2012, the Society of General Internal Medicine convened the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform to recommend forms of payment that would maximize good clinical outcomes, enhance patient and physician satisfaction and autonomy, and provide cost-effective care. The…

Cost Sustainability

(Modern Healthcare, May 18, 2013) By Bill Frist and Dr. Manoj Jain We have done it. We have decreased the increase in the cost of healthcare. Let us explain. For three decades (1980–2009), the cost of healthcare has been increasing each year at an average rate of 7.4%—double the rate of inflation. However, over the…

How to Build a Better Health-Care System

(Washington Post, April 17, 2013) By Tom Daschle, Bill Frist, Pete Domenici, and Alice Rivlin Tom Daschle, a Democrat and former senator from South Dakota, was Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2003. Bill Frist, a Republican and former senator from Tennessee, was Senate majority leader from 2003 to 2007. Pete Domenici, a Republican and…

States’ Rare Chance to Expand Medicaid

(Politico, April 11, 2013) By Bill Frist A proposal unveiled by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam late last month leverages federal funds to purchase private coverage for new Medicaid eligibles in the state’s health insurance exchange. In recent weeks, Arkansas became the first state to embrace a similar plan. This market-based approach, known as “premium assistance,”…

We Must Continue Our Legacy of Saving Lives

(Roll Call, March 7, 2013) Now is no time to shy away from our health investments By Bill Frist A decade ago, as I was beginning my time as Senate majority leader, bipartisan consensus in Washington helped launch a new era of progress in global health just when it was sorely needed. Twenty years had…

Changing the Way Physicians are Paid: Report of the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform

(Health Affairs Blog, March 4, 2013) By Bill Frist and Steven Schroeder The loud cries warning that rising health care costs are going to destroy the nation’s economy have been shouted so often that the will to move firmly in any one direction has almost halted. We’ve all heard them: health care costs are unsustainable,…

To Contain Health Care Costs, Pay Doctors Differently

(Politico, March 4, 2013) by Bill Frist and Steven Schroeder Lawmakers have spent decades dancing around how to stop health care costs from eating up greater and greater portions of our overall budget. Even now, the proposals on the table look at cuts in services, asking seniors covered under Medicare to pick up a higher…

Podcast: Bill Frist Discusses the Fellowship Group with Modern Healthcare

Transplant surgeon and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) sees a healthcare industry in flux, driven by the need crack the “value equation” that ties cost control to outcomes. Frist signed on as co-director of a new fellowship program established by the Nashville Healthcare Council to help council members’ executives meet that challenge. Modern…

How do you want to die?

(The Week, Sept 11, 2012) It’s a fraught question, but unless we move beyond caricatured “death panels” and deal with grim realities thoughtfully and responsibly, we’re all in trouble. How do you envision death with dignity? I like to think of being at home in the comforting and supportive environment of family and friends. But…