NashvilleHealth

  • Tennessee’s COVID-19 Update – A Weekly Analysis (Week of July 5 – 11, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  As our state begins to reopen businesses, restaurants, and lift restrictions on stay at home orders, the statistics for infection rates are vitally important. NashvilleHealth is sharing weekly tracking updates and insights based on…

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  • Tennessee’s COVID-19 Update – A Weekly Analysis (Week of June 28 – July 4, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  As our state begins to reopen businesses, restaurants, and lift restrictions on stay at home orders, the statistics for infection rates are vitally important. NashvilleHealth is sharing weekly tracking updates and insights based on…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID-19 Cases – A Weekly Analysis (Week of May 10th, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  As our state begins to reopen businesses, restaurants, and lift restrictions on stay at home orders, the statistics for infection rates are vitally important. NashvilleHealth is sharing weekly tracking updates and insights based on…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID-19 Cases – A Weekly Analysis (Week of May 3rd, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  As our state begins to reopen businesses, restaurants, and lift restrictions on stay at home orders, the statistics for infection rates are vitally important. NashvilleHealth is sharing weekly tracking updates and insights based on…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (April 29, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (April 25, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (April 22, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (April 1, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (March 31, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates, NashvilleHealth is sharing daily tracking updates and insights based on Department of Health data. We are also incorporating the latest daily figures for Davidson County from Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s office.

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID Cases – A Daily Analysis (March 27, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID-19 Cases – A Daily Analysis (March 25, 2020)

    by Bill Frist

    Every day, the Tennessee Department of Health releases figures tracking the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in each county and statewide.  In an effort to raise awareness about these figures and understand how our changes in behavior – including business closures, school closures, and sheltering in place for non-essential workers – are impacting infection rates,…

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  • What We Can Learn from Tennessee’s Confirmed COVID-19 Cases – A Daily Analysis

    by Bill Frist

    With the coronavirus pandemic, we are in unprecedented times, with governments having to use incomplete and rapidly evolving information to determine how to best keep their people safe as well as keep local economies afloat.  I want to commend Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee Department of Health for the steps they have taken to…

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  • How Changing Tobacco Laws Can Save Thousands Of Lives, Billions Of Tax Dollars (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Today we have a massive and growing public health challenge that is substantially shortening the lives of millions, negatively impacting the health of our children, and adding an astounding $170 billion in health care costs to our nation annually. Unknown to most, it has been for years the leading cause of preventable death in the United States….

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  • Most support tobacco policy changes that will save lives and tax dollars (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | By Bill Frist, MD and Matthew Myers As the leading cause of preventable death in Tennessee, tobacco use is shortening the lives of millions of people, affecting the health of children and adding $2.6 billion in health care costs to the state annually.   Nearly one in four Tennesseans smoke. Centers for Disease…

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  • Has Childhood Obesity Become A National Security Threat? (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | As a physician and lawmaker, I have long argued that federal global health aid improves America’s standing in the world and makes us safer by steadying unstable nations. Countries with healthy workforces have improved economic outputs, stronger family units, and are less likely to become havens for terrorists.  But what many may not…

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  • Taking Root in Nashville – A New Collaborative to Green our Streets and Improve our Health

    by Bill Frist

    Clean air, cooler streets, safer neighborhoods, improved health – these are all things we’d like for our city of Nashville.  What do they all share in common?  They are all goals that can be achieved in part through a larger urban tree canopy – and all are central to the mission of our new collaborative…

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

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

    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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  • What Tennessee Republicans and Democrats agree on: don’t smoke (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | On December 13th the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released its annual report “Broken Promises to Our Kids,” which evaluates how states address the “enormous health problems caused by tobacco use in the United States.” One of the key metrics is funding, and I’m proud to report that – after many years of stagnant…

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  • Bill Frist and Jill Biden: A call for better health and learning (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | At Carpenters Middle School in Blount County, exercise and reading go hand in hand. Nearly 200 students participate in the “Pedal Power” program, spending 20 minutes a day reading a book they select while riding a recumbent bike. Students say that when they are physically active while they learn, they notice a difference, with one…

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  • No. 1 killer of Nashville women may surprise you (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | If you were asked to name the No. 1 cause of death in women in Davidson County, what would you say? Some might suggest cancer, or perhaps Alzheimer’s. But the truth is that our number one “lady killer” is a condition that many consider a man’s disease.  And what’s even more striking is that its early symptoms…

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  • Tackling Tobacco Use In The Volunteer State: Let’s Start With Tennessee Quit Week (FORBES)

    by Bill Frist

    Forbes | In the last six weeks, two critical reports have shined a spotlight on Tennessee’s high levels of tobacco use and inadequate prevention efforts. In December, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other public health organizations published a report that compared funding for tobacco cessation and prevention in each state, and Tennessee ranked a dismal 45th nationwide. …

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  • How NashvilleHealth Is Maximizing Community Population Health (Health Affairs)

    by Bill Frist

    HEALTH AFFAIRS | How can Main Street, America, move the needle in a city’s population health and wellbeing? It begins with a solid, organizational structure built for the long term. I fondly call my hometown, Nashville, the “Silicon Valley of Health Services.” With 18 publicly traded national health care companies headquartered here with annual global health…

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  • Congress Must Preserve Quitlines and The Tips Program (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Smoking is the number one killer and public health challenge today, causing more deaths each year than automobile accidents, firearm-related injuries, HIV, illegal drug use, and alcohol abuse—combined. As a surgeon, it was the primary cause of the heart and lung disease that I operated on every day for 15 years. In my…

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  • Exploring the Social Determinants of Public Health with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

    by Bill Frist

    NOTES FROM THE ROAD | Scotland—Survival of men and women in Scotland is the worst in Western Europe. So is their general health. Why is that? What is being done? How successful are the new, bold initiatives that were launched in 2010? I am in Glasgow with the board of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)…

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  • Better Healthcare at Lower Costs (AHIP 2016)

    by Bill Frist

    NOTES FROM THE ROAD | I had the privilege of speaking yesterday at America’s Health Insurance Plans Institute and Expo. Along with Bernard Tyson (Kaiser Permanente) and David Bernd (Sentara Healthcare), I discussed “Better Health Care at Lower Cost: Is It Possible?” You know my answer: It is absolutely possible with technology. In case you…

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  • Four Strategies to Save Lives, Curb Smoking (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | This  month, FDA passed The Tobacco Control Act, which grants the Agency the authority to regulate cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and any other tobacco products including e-cigarettes and hookah pipes. The truth is, smoking and tobacco take 500,000 lives in the US each year, and healthcare for a smoker costs the system…

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  • Spring Update (Newsletter)

    by Bill Frist

    So much of my work is a balance of progress and conservation. Now, more than ever, that’s playing out at home. Tracy and I are working to turn Old Town, our Williamson County home on the Old Natchez Trace, into a thriving farm while preserving and honoring the property’s centuries-old history. We welcomed new members to…

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  • Tennessee Quit Week a first step to healthier Nashville (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | Of the thousands of heart and lung operations I have performed, the most common cause of the underlying disease in these patients was a single voluntary behavior: smoking. That tragedy is what Tennessee Quit Week (Feb. 22-28) is all about. Smoking absolutely leads to a shorter, poorer-quality life. It more than doubles a person’s…

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  • Season’s Greetings

    by Bill Frist

    Merry Christmas all! Tracy and I hope this holiday season brings peace and joy and 2015 was a rewarding year. It’s been a fall of new beginnings for us in many ways. After three sons, and two grandsons, our family welcomed our first granddaughter, Amelia Fearn Frist, just over a month ago. We launched a…

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