Dominique Comer, PharmD
Health Economics and Outcomes Research Fellow
I have just returned from the 2012 ASHP Midyear Meeting, the
largest gathering of pharmacists and pharmacy students in the US. While this
meeting is always popular for those in the pharmacy profession, there was extra
anticipation this year when it was announced that President Bill Clinton was to
be our opening keynote speaker.
Many of
us waited for hours in line to enter the arena to hear him speak, and with
approximately 20,000 attending the meeting, overflow rooms were utilized to
handle the demand.
Even though this was a pharmacy conference, much of what
President Clinton spoke about was strongly rooted in population health. The
president talked about inequality in access, the unsustainability of various programs
and the instability of the market and how all three points tie back to impact
health care and the economy.
I enjoyed listening to one of his stories about the way that
the William J. Clinton Foundation is tackling the childhood obesity epidemic.
In discussions with the soft drink companies, the president said that he didn’t
want the companies to stop making money…just to make their money in a different
way (think diet sodas, flavored water, etc.)! He reported on the success in this area, even
stating that there has been a 90% decrease seen in the caloric content of soft
drinks and juice sold to schoolchildren.
At the end of his speech, the president stressed that a
change in culture is needed now and that purpose-driven reform will be required
for us to move forward, which is a core belief here at JSPH.
At a Q&A session after his address, President Clinton
encouraged us to “step into the gap.” What needs to be done in order to improve
health care? The president noted that when he left office, he made a list of
what he still wanted to accomplish. After scratching off what he could no
longer do out of the office as president, he discovered that he still had a
long list and then set out to organize how he could make an impact for each task.
This piece of advice is very pertinent to population health; how can we “step
into the gap” and make an impact?
0 comments:
Post a Comment