“You look like the Fourth of July! Makes me want a hot dog real bad!” This is unlikely what President Trump said to Interior Secretary Doug Burnum, when they talked about the nation’s 250th celebration activities in Washington, DC this weekend. Instead, the “want a hot dog real bad” line is actually from Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, a good feature film example of how to make fun of and take DC seriously all at the same time. Let’s explore how to make-fun-but-take-seriously a specific health policy activity mentioned in the One Thoughtful Paragraph, shall we?
First, other serious but funny moments in the news this week:
- Serious: The U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in the Trump v. Slaughter case, holding that the President of the United States may fire independent agency leaders for any reason, not just for cause, reversing a 91-year-old law protecting appointees (like FTC Commissioners) from politically-motivated terminations.
- Serious: Rick Abramson, Director of the FDA’s Digital Health Center of Excellence, said stakeholders should expect policy ideas for public comment soon during a webinar last week about clinical AI tools (See Maverick’s event summary here).
- Funny: The FDA does not normally have “ideas.” Traditionally, the FDA relies on other people to have ideas about, say, new drugs and medical devices, and then crushes their spirit with lengthy approval processes.
- Serious: The agency that oversees electronic health record (EHR) vendors, ONC, announced a new quarterly newsletter, with the first issue focusing on what happens now that the great majority of doctors and hospitals are using EHR systems instead of paper.
- Funny: ONC applauded providers’ “close to universal EHR adoption in a relatively short period of time,” despite the fact that the federal government gave them $34 billion in 2009 to do it. If someone gave me $34 billion to digitize medical records, it wouldn’t have taken 17 years. If you don’t believe me, send me $34 billion right away.
“All day long I felt like white open-toed shoes after Labor Day.” I know, right?! Sometimes it just feels like you’ve made a serious faux pas. For my English-speaking doctor friends who are unfamiliar with that phrase from the Legally Blonde 2 movie, let me help: “faux pas” does NOT mean “let’s use the fax machine again.” It is a new day in the American health care system, and fax machines are giving way to faster, cooler devices that can help people stay healthy. That’s why the Maverick Health Policy team is partnering with Longyear Health to launch the ACCESS Collaborative. It is a new forum, facilitated by operational and policy experts, to help organizations participating in the CMMI ACCESS model (or prospective participants) figure out how to help patients manage their chronic disease using the coolest new health care gizmos. There is both hope and skepticism about this new Medicare alternative payment model. Evidence of mixed feelings about ACCESS: Venrock’s 2026 “Healthcare Prognosis” report. Venrock spoke with some experts who said ACCESS will only exacerbate the healthcare fraud problem, but others think it will be the beginning of a new era of low-cost and popular health AI businesses. So, which one is true? Come find out at our first ACCESS Collaborative webinar on July 22nd at noon ET. (Register here.) If you do, you’ll say to yourself what our heroine says in Legally Blonde 2: “This is just like CSpan, except I’m not bored!”
