Domestic Health

  • Food-borne illness is a public health crisis: Congress must act (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | On Jan. 31, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a redesign of its human food program in response to several ongoing food crises impacting public safety and the health of millions of Americans. The redesign attempts to solve leadership and funding problems identified by an expert panel in December.  Unfortunately, the proposal does little to fix the most urgent or…

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  • Addressing childhood obesity also supports US military readiness (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | Our childhood obesity epidemic here in the U.S. is as concerning as it is well-documented.  It’s no secret that obesity trends have been on the rise for the last 20 years. In fact, in 2016, 18.5 percent of youth ages 2-19 were classified as obese. And it’s only getting worse.  The implications of these…

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  • Congress: Close the gap between funding for nutrition research and the toll diet-related disease takes on Americans (Stat)

    by Bill Frist

    STAT | You are what you eat. Every year, new scientific discoveries make clear that food is critical to health. In recent years, nutrition research trials have shown that a Mediterranean diet reduces cardiovascular disease; ultra-processed foods increase weight gain; omega-3 fatty acids improve IQ in preterm babies; cocoa prevents heart attacks; and vitamin D supplements do — well, almost nothing. But many…

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  • How A Rock Star, A Physician-Legislator, And An Evangelical Senator Bonded To Help End The Global AIDS Pandemic: A Backstory (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | In 1998 before I was Senate Majority Leader, and before Bono’s name became synonymous with addressing the AIDS pandemic and the RED campaign, he visited my Senate office to lobby me, and then collaborate with me, on the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative to provide debt relief to the world’s poorest nations,…

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  • How the ‘red ripple’ could impact health policy in 2023 and beyond (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | Rather than a red wave, the 2022 congressional midterms brought a ‘red ripple’.  With races still being decided and votes counted, Democrats have won control of the Senate, despite a runoff in Georgia. It looks like Republicans will take back the House — albeit with a much smaller majority than they had hoped. …

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  • It’s Time To Prioritize Nutrition: Better Diet Quality Leads To Better Health And Wellbeing For Americans (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | September should be a big month for nutrition. For too long, we have struggled and failed to curb food and nutrition insecurity, to mitigate rising rates of obesity, and to reduce the prevalence of diet-related chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. This issue is very real to many of…

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  • Cultivating A Culture Of Health: How Comprehensive Community-Wide Hypertension Data Are Inspiring Heath Equity (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | It’s no secret that the best data often begets the best policy, especially when it comes to community health and wellness. Having accurate, timely, and well-informed data is often the difference maker that allows communities to dramatically move the needle on health disparities. When it comes to health disparities, the city of Nashville…

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  • The White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health is an opportunity for transformational change (Nature Food)

    by Bill Frist

    NATURE FOOD | More than 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon convened the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health, bringing together all the agencies of the US government, Congress and other stakeholders to address widespread hunger in the United States. That conference — chaired and organized by Dr Jean Mayer, the founder…

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  • Reducing The Health Harms Of Incarceration: Five Big Ideas From The Aspen Health Strategy Group (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 10 million people incarcerated each year, yet the health of these individuals is truly an afterthought. We must recognize that their experiences and their health outcomes are not contained in a vacuum. These individuals are often struggling with undiagnosed or untreated behavioral…

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  • Reevaluating, Reimagining, And Reinventing Healthcare: Innovation In A Post-Pandemic World (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Since its onset, COVID-19 has been the focal point of recent healthcare innovation and advancement. Though the past couple of years have been filled with innumerable advancements of health technologies, much opportunity for reevaluating, reimagining, and reinventing the future of healthcare remains. The next two years will set the scope for what is…

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  • Tennesseans Answer The Call: Volunteer State Leads Rapid Response Efforts For Ukrainian Requested Medical Supplies (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | We have watched the tragedy in Ukraine unfold with a continual stream of shocking live video footage. Many of us seeing the struggle on our screens have been left wondering how something like this could possibly happen during this day and age. It seems so foreign, so distant, yet—at the same time—so close….

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  • The global crisis of COVID orphanhood (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | The flood of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s brutal invasion reminds us that the pain of war often falls most heavily on those with the least ability to cope, especially children. The same is true of our battle with COVID-19, which has now left over 7 million children worldwide suffering from the loss of…

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  • Commissioner Califf needs to put the F back in FDA (Stat)

    by Bill Frist

    STAT | Robert Califf is taking the reins as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration with the nation in a nutrition crisis. Americans are living shorter, less-healthy lives due to the foods they are being sold. The new commissioner can meet this challenge by harnessing the FDA’s effective but underused food-related regulatory powers, which were…

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

    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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  • “A Storm For Which We Are Entirely Unprepared …”: A 2005 Pandemic Prophecy & Call For A “Manhattan Project” For The 21st Century (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Two years ago this week, the United States declared a public health emergency in response to what was then being referred to as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, now widely known to all as COVID-19. Few envisioned how all-encompassing and destructive this virus would become. Few would have believed that two years later, it would have…

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  • Omicron And Our Economic Forecast: What’s Next For Fiscal And Monetary Policy? (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impact on our domestic economy. It comes as no surprise that the ongoing pandemic will continue to influence our economic policies for years to come. The challenge lies, however, in predicting what this will look like and what the long-term ramifications will be. At the start of…

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  • Your health (and you thought climate change was not about you) (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | New Year’s resolutions: chances are we’ve made — and broken — a few of them. And, chances are many of those resolutions have been related to our health: exercise more, eat better, stop smoking. But what if, in 2022, we resolved to improve our health by taking action against climate change? According…

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  • A Call For Data Equity: Using Pandemic Data Mishaps To Improve Health Outcomes (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Where we live determines how long we live. Read that again. Health disparities, in large part, are determined by where we live. In Nashville—a city that prides itself on being a renowned healthcare hub—life expectancy increases 5 years by moving to the neighboring Williamson County. Similar patterns hold true in other cities all over the…

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  • Rethinking How And What We Eat With Dr. Mark Hyman (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | If Dean Ornish is the father of lifestyle medicine, Dr. Mark Hyman is the food as medicine master. With his New York TimesNYT+1% best-selling books, a top-rated podcast, “The Doctor’s Farmacy,” and visionary leadership of the Center for Functional Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, Hyman is changing the conversation about the nation’s relationship with food to improve…

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  • Health security is national security (The Dallas Morning News)

    by Bill Frist

    The global coronavirus pandemic compels us to rethink how we approach development assistance, cooperation, innovation and international organizations. The Dallas Morning News is publishing a multi-part series on important issues for voters to consider as they decide who to vote for president this year. This is the second installment of our What’s at Stake series,…

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  • The US food system is killing Americans (CNN)

    by Bill Frist

    Opinion by Akash Goel, Michel Nischan, Bill Frist and Tom Colicchio CNN | This global pandemic has given a new meaning to the idea of American exceptionalism. The United States is faring far worse than other countries and shoulders a disproportionate share of global disease burden — with 4% of the global population, yet, at…

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  • COVID-19 has left millions of Americans without enough food. Here’s how Senate can help. (USA Today)

    by Bill Frist

    Today’s environment is unlike anything our nation has ever experienced. We are on the brink of an economic and food security disaster. Bill Frist and Mark K. Shriver USA Today | As a nation, we have a moral and economic obligation to address child hunger, food insecurity and avoid economic collapse in the wake of…

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  • Discrimination and Disparities in Health: Examination of racial inequality in Nashville (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    Bill Frist, M.D. and Andre L. Churchwell, M.D. The Tennessean | As city and community leaders across the country wrestle with their own roles and responsibilities in addressing racial inequality, we believe specific attention to health equity and health disparities will lead to dismantling structural racism and a roadmap for a healthier future for all….

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  • Virtual Care Advances Are The Silver Lining Of COVID-19. Here’s How We Make Them Permanent (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    Forbes | It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and the explosion of telehealth and virtual care has been one of the most constructive advances to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis. The gains for the patient include convenience, affordability, and rapid access to quality care while eliminating the risk of viral spread….

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  • Science alone cannot beat the pandemic. We also need outreach about a Covid-19 vaccine (STAT)

    by Bill Frist

    By BILL FRIST, RICHARD PAN, and MAX G. BRONSTEIN STAT | Americans anxiously await two key benefits that a Covid-19 vaccine will deliver: freedom from fear and a return to normal. No single vaccine is likely to offer a panacea for this pandemic. And even if it did, it might not accomplish its job if we don’t deal with…

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  • 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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  • Seniors are becoming COVID-19 collateral damage. They’re dying because of it, not of it. (USA Today)

    by Bill Frist

    Dr. Martha K. Presley and Dr. Bill Frist – Opinion contributors USAToday.com | Coronavirus has led to social isolation and lack of caregiver support. That can be fatal for fragile elderly people who don’t have the virus. Coronavirus has changed the way we see life and health care. The immediate focus has been on infected patients….

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  • The Value of Home Health Care (Morning Consult)

    by Bill Frist

    BY TOM DASCHLE & BILL FRIST Morning Consult | For the first time in our modern history, staying at home has become a “new” normal. And with more than 1.5 million Americans now infected with COVID-19, never before in our lifetime has accessing care in a person’s home been so important. Smartly, our federal and state policymakers quickly…

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  • Health leaders: We stuck together to #StayHome, now we can start together to #OpenSafely (USA Today)

    by Bill Frist

    We don’t believe we need to wait until there is zero risk. Many states are already beginning to reopen and this must happen in the safest way possible. USA Today | Americans want our country to open up safely. We have been at this for a number of difficult weeks since the global coronavirus pandemic…

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  • To Prioritize Both Student Learning and Student Health, Schools Must Work Differently This Fall | Opinion (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    BY FORMER SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TENN.) AND DAVID MANSOURI, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS The Hill | As states and communities across the nation address the significant public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and begin the intentional reopening of our communities, it is important to also look ahead to an important benchmark: the return to…

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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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  • The US should be a leader in the global fight against Covid-19 | Opinion (CNN)

    by Bill Frist

    CNN | Americans are staring down an unprecedented crisis. We’ve already lost more than 71,000 of our fellow citizens. Millions of families live in fear and uncertainty every second. And large swaths of our workforce are losing their jobs each week. Together, we face a common, invisible enemy: the novel coronavirus, Covid-19. As two former US Senate majority leaders, we…

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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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  • Privatized contact tracing will help America safely reopen amid coronavirus pandemic | Opinion (The Tennessean)

    by Bill Frist

    THE TENNESSEAN | South Korea proved it could contain COVID-19 without a lockdown through aggressive contact tracing. That is what the U.S. must do to be successful too. After implementing social distancing through a lockdown, but before deploying a vaccine, the single best tool we have to contain the COVID-19 pandemic is contact tracing.  Countries…

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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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  • What We Have Lost In Social Connections, We Can Gain In Nature (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | What We Have Lost In Social Connections, We Can Gain In Nature The coronavirus pandemic has stolen much from us: the company of our friends, the variety of our daily activity, the color of our social occasions, and—for too many—the stability of our livelihoods. It thrusts us into physical distancing, imposed isolation, and loneliness….

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  • 3 Ways Policymakers Could Help Our Nation’s Doctors And Nurses (TIME)

    by Bill Frist

    TIME | As a former heart-transplant surgeon and former U.S. Senator, I understand the frustrations many on the front lines of this pandemic are experiencing. Here are three things those doctors and nurses—dedicated but tired, anxious and feeling betrayed by government—wish policymakers would do: First, strengthen supply chains of personal protective equipment (PPE) and diagnostic tests. We are in…

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  • A Storm for Which We Were Unprepared (Claremont Institute’s The American Mind)

    by Bill Frist

    Claremont Institute’s The American Mind | Senator Bill Frist saw it coming years ago. Senator William Frist, M.D. is a nationally acclaimed heart and lung transplant surgeon and the former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. In 2005, during his tenure in Congress, he delivered the Marshall J. Seidman Lecture for the Department of Health Care Policy…

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  • We Failed to Act on Pandemic Preparedness Before. Let’s not Make that Mistake Again. (LinkedIn)

    by Bill Frist

    LinkedIn | As the COVID-19 pandemic surge peaks and we begin to think about reopening our economy, our policy makers should immediately address how to prepare for the next one, for it is inevitable that a next one will occur. I share with you my exact words from an address I gave at the National…

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  • Could Congress Vote by Zoom? (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | The COVID-19 pandemic has rocketed the American workforce into the virtual space. Nearly any worker who can is working from home. Company boards are holding meetings and voting virtually. Physicians are seeing patients through telehealth. What hasn’t changed? The United States Congress. Members must still travel to the floor of their Chamber to cast their vote in person,…

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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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  • Tennessee Is Home To One Of The Deadliest National Parks In The Nation: Here’s How We Change That (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | In Middle Tennessee, we are known for excellence in health care services, music, and economic growth. However, one distinction we would like to relinquish is being home to the national park with the highest number of suicides in the United States. According to an analysis by Outdoor Magazine, the Natchez Trace Parkway is one…

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  • Trump’s call to end HIV is a worthy mission both at home and abroad (CNN)

    by Bill Frist

    CNN | In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump brought attention to a disease that has almost disappeared from the headlines: HIV/AIDS. He pledged to end the epidemic in the United States by 2030, setting commendable, ambitious goals for domestic prevention and treatment efforts. I support President Trump’s pledged investment in domestic…

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  • What Andy Samberg And Sandra Oh Got Right At The Golden Globes: Vaccines Are Worth Celebrating! (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Last week at the Golden Globes, hosts Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh made headlines as they tried to give out free flu shots to celebrities in the audience. This surprise stunt showed famous stars looking shocked and nervous as needle-wielding nurses descended from the stage to offer vaccinations. Samberg joked, “If you are an…

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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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  • Reading The Healthcare Tea Leaves In The 2018 Midterm Elections (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | The November elections left us with a lot to digest—it wasn’t the decisive “blue wave” that some were predicting, but the tea leaves did tell us some interesting things about what voters believe and value, particularly when it comes to healthcare. Interestingly, pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies found a notable phenomenon…

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  • The Latest In Blockchain In Healthcare: Top Takeaways From Distributed Health (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Last week I had the honor of kicking off the third annual Distributed Health conference in Nashville, which brought together leaders in healthcare as well as blockchain innovators from across the nation. All were united by the shared belief that blockchain has transformative potential for health and healthcare, with changes already underway. Blockchain…

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  • The Future Of Healthcare Innovation And Why Government Matters (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Why do politics matter to health? Because government, when focused, can do incredible things to move our health forward. Here are just two examples that I was directly involved with while in the United States Senate. Read more at Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2018/11/06/the-future-of-healthcare-innovation-and-why-government-matters/#f00d712192d2

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

    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)

    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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  • Murder In The Capitol: Honor The Fallen And Improve Mental Health (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Twenty years ago tomorrow was one of the most memorable days in my U.S. Senate career. And it haunts me still. It doesn’t mark the anniversary of major legislation being signed or a bipartisan deal being struck. Rather, July 24, 1998, was the day our U.S. Capitol building was attacked by a mentally ill, armed individual who took…

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

    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)

    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)

    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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  • 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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  • Hard Cases: Tennessee’s First Heart-Lung Transplant (Linked In)

    by Bill Frist

    LINKED IN | One month after Christmas, in 1987, my surgical team and I prepared for Tennessee’s first heart-lung transplant. A determined mother, desperate to live, was flying to Tennessee to receive the heart and lungs from a young woman in Nashville whose own life had ended too soon. It was a bold step for…

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  • Notes From The Road: Bob Marshall Log, August 2017

    by Bill Frist

    Notes From The Road | The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex consists of three wilderness areas in Montana totaling over 1.5 million acres. Located in the northern Rocky Mountains along the Continental Divide, the region is as primitive as any found in the United States outside of Alaska. It’s also diverse, encompassing the dry and open…

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  • Put Out The Fire Instead Of Burning Exchanges To The Ground: Extend Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Eight years ago, former Democratic Senator John Breaux and I wrote: “Given the acrimony that’s developed over efforts to reform our nation’s health insurance system, many Americans wonder whether true bipartisan agreement on health reform can ever be possible. In short, it can.” Back then, we watched contentious debate over what came to be known…

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  • The Science Behind How Nature Affects Your Health (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Have you ever wondered how experiencing nature can improve your health and your life? Increasingly, healthcare and public health professionals are recognizing that the social determinants of health—including where we’re born, live, work, play and age—collectively have a far greater impact on our health outcomes than the healthcare delivery system. It’s estimatedthat healthcare services account…

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

    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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  • As Congress Debates, What Steps Shall I Take?

    by Bill Frist

    Written with Gary Dodd There’s a lot of uncertainty in healthcare today including changes to the Affordable Care Act and changes at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As healthcare professionals, we hope we are moving to a world of alternative payment models that will be focused on quality of care, not quantity of…

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  • The National Academy Of Medicine’s Vital Directions For Health: Forging a Path for our Future (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Health is more than healthcare. Smart reform looks beyond the current conversation of repeal and replace. It must include an active and empowered consumer making choices that matter within a modern, connected, knowledge-driven system. That is the powerful message of the National Academy of Medicine’s pivotal report released today. Drawing on the expertise of 150…

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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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  • Healthy Foods Are Good For Business And Deserve The Support Of President-Elect Trump

    by Bill Frist

    At the start of a new year, we often find ourselves making resolutions to eat healthier and get active (I know I’m one of those people!). But the good news is, America’s interest in healthier foods has become a year-round trend, not just a New Year’s fad. More than 66% of shoppers say they want…

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  • New Model Can Advance Treatments, Cures For Rare Diseases (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | If your child suffered from a rare and incurable disease, what would you do to find a cure? My former colleague and good friend Dr. Chip Chambers faced just such a challenge, and took the bull by the horns. Last month, Dr. Chambers organized a unique medical conference that should serve as a model…

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  • The time to act is now: Bipartisan action will accelerate cures for Americans (The Hill)

    by Bill Frist

    THE HILL | With the election over, speculation is rampant on what this means for politics and policy in 2017.  We need to take a step back however, and realize there is critical work to be completed by Congress in 2016, to set the stage for a new generation of medical innovation, and demonstrate to the…

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  • TrumpCare: In The Beginning… (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | The immediate question for those whose lives focus around lifting the health of individual Americans is, “What does Donald J. Trump’s presidency mean for health care in America?” At the heart of the answer is uncertainty. Trump is an “unknown unknown” when it comes to deep, thoughtful health policy. He has excelled in many…

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  • Our Abysmal Maternal Health Statistics And How To Improve Them (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | This past year, the United States received the dubious distinction of being one of only 7 countries in the world, including Somalia and Afghanistan, which have seen an increase in maternal mortality. While countries with far fewer resources such as India and Brazil have made great strides to decrease the number of women who…

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  • The Newborn Illness That Nobody Is Talking About – And It’s Not Zika (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Nothing can prepare a mother for seeing her newborn seize multiple times an hour, refuse to eat or sleep, and shake uncontrollably. That’s what Julia found herself facing after severe chronic back pain from a car accident left her dependent on opioids. Julia had been a college student from a middle class family with…

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  • Systems Strategies for Better Health Throughout the Life Course: A Vital Direction for Health and Health Care (National Academy of Medicine)

    by Bill Frist

    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE | Health and health care outcomes for Americans should be better for most, and much better for some. This should be possible with currently available knowledge and resources. Capturing the potential will require adapting our strategies and approaches to the reality that health is not immutably determined at birth, but shaped by different…

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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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  • The right prescription for biomedical innovation (The Hill)

    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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  • The Food We Eat Daily That Leads To Poor Heart Health For Our Children (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Earlier this year, I called attention to the dangers added sugars pose to cardiovascular health and other health outcomes.  In the months since, many people have told me how surprised they’ve been to learn about the sugar hidden in their healthy morning yogurt or afternoon energy bar.  Frankly, I was too.  And this lack of food literacy…

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  • How Bundled Payments Can Change Healthcare (The Hill)

    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)

    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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  • When Regenerative Medicine Changes Everything (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | Two weeks ago I led a panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) on medical innovation with my good friends Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee, and former Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN), who previously chaired the House Committee on Science and Technology.  We were…

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  • How Real-World Data Could Change Medicine (US News & World Report)

    by Bill Frist

    US NEWS & WORLD REPORT | With continuing advances in science and technology, the pace of medical breakthroughs is accelerating. Today, we can treat or even cure conditions that significantly shortened life just a generation ago. The exciting promises of personalized medicine are now becoming reality. Congressman Bart Gordon and I co-chair the Bipartisan Policy Center’s…

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  • From Volume To Value: Achieving Bold Change In Our Healthcare Payment Systems (Forbes)

    by Bill Frist

    FORBES | One question I hear repeatedly as I travel the country discussing healthcare is whether the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care can really be done in a way that lowers cost and improves patient care. The answer is: it can. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, successful systems change requires the collaboration and…

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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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  • The Most Helpful Illegal Medical Procedure (Fox News)

    by Bill Frist

    FOX NEWS | Last year 47,000 Americans had their blindness reversed through the transplantation of cells from a corneal donor’s final selfless act. It is safe, it is effective, and because it is curative, it is a relatively cost effective procedure. It is medicine at its most beautiful. And according to FDA regulations, the distribution of this…

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