AAMC Reporter: November 2000: Readers Respond

VOLUME 10, NUMBER 4

JORDAN J. COHEN, M.D., PRESIDENT

JANUARY 2001

Readers Respond

What should be the top health priority of the new Congress and administration?
Our three top priorities for the new administration are (not necessarily in priority order): direct access of women to an obstetrician/gynecologist; a patients' bill of rights; and funding of graduate medical education.
Ralph W. Hale, M.D.
Executive Vice President American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Many of the leading academic medical centers in the country are in imminent danger of bankruptcy. The future of health care in the U.S. and throughout the world will be diminished for several generations if academic health centers implode. Without delay, Congress must determine how to support financially the infrastructure of academic health centers. The solution must include guaranteed support for undergraduate and graduate medical education as well as adequate remuneration for health care services through Medicare and Medicaid.
Stuart L. Fine, M.D.
Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology University of Pennsylvania

First, we need universal health coverage for all people within the borders of the U.S. The second priority should be a nationwide quality improvement effort, which begins in medical school, to teach physicians the concepts of continuous quality improvement with a goal of reducing tremendous waste and variability in our health care system, while providing patients with excellent customer service.
Bruce Bagley, M.D.
Chair, Board of Directors American Academy of Family Physicians

The first priority should be to improve the financial status of academic health centers; the second should be to double the budget of the NIH by 2003.
Thomas F. Burks, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President Research and Academic Affairs University of Texas - Houston Health Science Center

The top three priorities should be: providing health insurance coverage for every child, providing health insurance coverage for every American, and developing an affordable prescription drug benefit program for all aged 65 or more.
Gary E. Raskob, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President, Clinical Research University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Comprehensive national health insurance is far overdue in this land of plenty.
William H. Barker, M.D.
Professor, Preventive Medicine and Gerontology University of Rochester School of Medicine

The first thing we need is universal health insurance. We can't continue to provide health care depending on the ability of the patient to pay. We are mandated by law to educate our children, the same children that may die of a preventable disease because of lack of health care. The second priority should be to eliminate racial disparities in access to health care. Third, we need to establish an appropriate mechanism to fund medical education, especially graduate medical education.
Alberto Manetta, M.D.
Senior Associate Dean, Education University of California, Irvine College of Medicine

The status of medical education and its effect on the level of health care provided to the most vulnerable in this society must be addressed. The AAMC must do more to lobby with other professional and education societies to make the public aware that current cuts in federal funding are jeopardizing the quality of physicians we produce in the next decade.
Jennifer Doyle, M.A.
Director, Educational Development and Evaluation Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Improvements in behavioral medicine - broadly defined to include disease and injury prevention, adherence-focused treatment and patient education, integrative medicine, and psychology/psychiatry - will yield substantial reductions in mortality, morbidity, and medical costs and increase quality of life across the entire life span. Development and effective use of behavioral medicine is at a tip-of-the-iceberg stage, but increased spending could result in the biggest bangs for medical research, treatment, and instruction bucks.
Cathie M. Currie, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Curriculum and Educational Development Cornell University Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College

The top priority should be affordable health care for all U.S. citizens. We are the most prosperous country in the world, and we cannot take care of our own citizens. The second priority should be affordable prescription drugs for all U.S. citizens, not just senior citizens. The third should be more funding for the NIH that is not just targeted to one or several specific diseases.
W. Marshall Anderson, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Indiana University School of Medicine
Next month's question: An AAMC study is examining medical students' clinical education. Do current curricula for the third and fourth years adequately prepare students for practice? If not, how should they be strengthened?
Please send your responses (75 words or fewer) to rmuir@aamc.org or fax to (202) 828-1123. Responses must be received by Jan.13 for consideration, and may be edited for length and clarity. Also, please include your title, institution, and any academic degrees. Select answers will be printed in the February edition of the AAMC Reporter.