Bipartisan Policy Center

  • Congress should create a national board on pandemic preparedness (The Hill)

    Feb 15 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | As we approach the frightening, chilling milestone of nearly 1 million dead from COVID-19, it should go without question that preventing this loss of life again should be a top priority of our United States Congress, regardless of party affiliation.    The recent release of a discussion draft of the bipartisan Prepare for…

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  • Fixing the opioid crisis requires the two things Congress hates most: Bipartisanship and government spending (NBC News)

    Aug 27 by Bill Frist

    NBC NEWS | Practically every community in America, and most families, are facing the still-growing opioid epidemic that is tearing at the soul of our health and wellbeing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 115 Americans die each day from opioid-related overdoses, and research suggests that misuse of prescription opioids is a risk factor for heroinuse. It is…

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  • Loneliness kills: A new public health crisis (and what we can do about it) (The Hill)

    Jul 27 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | A little-discussed condition raises the risk of premature death by up to 50 percent—making it a health hazard at least as significant as smoking and alcohol and more so than obesity. Yet many medical professionals haven’t heard about it, and the public remains largely in the dark. We’re talking about social isolation,…

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  • Rural Aging: Health and Community Policy Implications for Reversing Social Isolation (Bipartisan Policy Center)

    Jul 23 by Bill Frist

    BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER | On June 7, 2018, Tivity Health’s Donato Tramuto and I convened a roundtable at the Bipartisan Policy Center to discuss challenges and potential solutions to address a little-discussed public health crisis: social isolation and our aging population. What many don’t realize is that social isolation could be an even bigger public health…

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  • A Tribute to Uwe Reinhardt: Remarks at the April 21st Memorial at Princeton University Chapel

    Apr 21 by Bill Frist

    For each of the last 46 years, Uwe Reinhardt touched me like a father, a brother, a son, a friend. He walked by my side on every leg of my journey and supported me at every major turning point. These are the remarks I gave at his memorial service at Princeton on April 21 and shared…

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  • Diet quality should become a core SNAP objective (The Hill)

    Mar 14 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | As Congress considers reauthorizing SNAP as part of the 2018 Farm Bill, we believe it’s time to make nutrition a top priority for the program. First, we request that diet quality become a core SNAP objective. Specifically, we recommend eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages from the list of items that can be purchased with SNAP in…

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  • Alex Azar has the temperament, judgment, and focus to lead HHS (STAT)

    Jan 9 by Bill Frist

    STAT | The secretary of HHS is one of the most important Cabinet positions in the federal government. The department has a budget of over $1 trillion and 70,000 employees, and its programs touch nearly every American. With such an extensive reach, the HHS secretary must be experienced managing complex and large organizations; possess broad knowledge across…

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  • For Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions, Improving Care Will Be A Bipartisan Effort (Health Affairs Blog)

    Jun 1 by Bill Frist

    HEALTH AFFAIRS BLOG | While federal policy makers are undertaking controversial and divisive debates over the future of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans and Democrats have had a good track record of working together to improve health care delivery and payment frameworks. Most recently, the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 reformed Medicare’s physician…

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  • The right prescription for biomedical innovation (The Hill)

    Sep 1 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | If you were a patient suffering from a disease, and you read about a treatment option for your illness, you would probably be eager to learn more. Imagine that the drug, device or other intervention had been on the market for several years, and studies showed that it was especially effective in some…

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  • How Bundled Payments Can Change Healthcare (The Hill)

    Aug 19 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | Rising health care costs are a top concern for Americans today, with 64% of voters in a January 2016 Kaiser Health tracking poll, citing a candidate’s position on the cost of health care, health insurance, and prescription drugs as “the single most important factor” or “a very important factor” in their vote…

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  • FDA Draft Guidance on Real-World Data (Forbes)

    Jul 29 by Bill Frist

    FORBES | In a document issued this week, the Food & Drug Administration laid out for comment its draft guidance of how real-world evidence could support regulatory decision-making for medical devices. This is a positive step forward for improving the medical product development process. At the Bipartisan Policy Center, Representative Bart Gordon and I have been urging…

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  • Advancing transparency in healthcare: A call to action (The Hill)

    Jun 12 by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | “How much does health care cost?” It isn’t an easy question to answer. Your yearly check-up, a colonoscopy, or trip to the emergency room doesn’t typically come with an obvious price tag. And it isn’t just finding out the price of a service or product that’s difficult; it’s also difficult to determine the…

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