Not Your Typical Health Conference: Takeaways From Spotlight Health

For the second year, a small Health Affairs team attended Spotlight Health in beautiful Aspen, Colorado. With life-sized scrabble games and lemonade stands by Jack, Spotlight Health is different from your typical health conference. This year’s topics also went beyond typical — opioids, planetary health, healthy eating, gender, and child development were some of the issues covered in sessions. Here are a few of the ideas we heard that are worth sharing. 1. Curbing the Opioid Epidemic The opioid crisis is disproportionately affecting those in rural areas. The US Department of Agriculture (yes, you read that right) is investing millions of dollars in expanding access to mental health clinics and treatment in rural areas because 76 percent of the shortage areas that exist in treatment for substance use and mental health are in rural areas. The rate of both opioid abuse and suicides is also much higher in rural areas. 2. Organ Donation: How Do We Share a Precious Resource? Thousands of people are dying each year on the transplant waiting list. To meet the demand will require creativity and innovation to increase live donors or find an alternative way to increase organ supply. One way to accrue more live donors could be modeled after a program in Sweden that texts people whenever their blood saves someone’s life. Technological advances to boost organ supply within reach include modifying animal organs with stem cells or CRISPR or growing organs in a lab. 3. Drug Pric...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Equity and Disparities Featured Global Health Population Health Public Health Access big data Contraception opioid epidemic Pharma Source Type: blogs