The cancer moonshot goes global

Presented by UnitedHealth Group: The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Sep 25, 2024 View in browser   By Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne and Ruth Reader Presented by  WORLD VIEW Biden is taking his cancer moonshot to the world. | AP President Joe Biden’s cancer moonshot is expanding abroad. How’s that? Biden announced a collaboration between the United States, Australia, India and Japan to fight cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific at a summit in Delaware on Saturday. Why it matters: Cervical cancer, caused by human papillomavirus infection, is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, killing an estimated 350,000 in 2022, according to the World Health Organization. In the Indo-Pacific, cervical cancer is the third leading cause of death in women. The disease is also largely preventable due to the availability of a nearly 100-percent-effective vaccine and is highly treatable when detected early. But, partly because of limited resources and health care access, fewer than 1 in 10 women in the Indo-Pacific region have completed the three-course vaccine and less than 10 percent have recently been screened. The plan: The U.S., Australia, India and Japan pledged to work together to improve health infrastructure, expand research collaboration, build data systems and strengthen cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care efforts. In addition to countries’ individual promises, the group plans to: — Continue to support Gavi, a public-private global health vaccine partnership, to improve HPV vaccine coverage in the Indo-Pacific, with the U.S. pledging $1.58 billion over five years. — Reduce the cost of cervical cancer screenings by working with the United Nations to buy HPV diagnostic tests in bulk. — Work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to improve access to better medical imaging and radiation therapy. Big picture: The collaboration feeds into Biden’s domestic cancer moonshot initiative, which aims to reduce the cancer death rate by half over 25 years.   A message from UnitedHealth Group: Learn how UnitedHealth Group is using artificial intelligence to make health care work smarter, for everyone. Learn More.   WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Nashville, Tenn. | Shawn Zeller/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Doctors are using AI to respond to your emails. Some health systems are disclosing the tech assist, others have decided not to. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.    A message from UnitedHealth Group:   AROUND THE NATION Medics have replaced police on some 911 calls in New York City. | City of New York A pilot program created by then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2020 to send medics and social workers instead of police to the scene of mental health emergencies in some parts of New York City is making an impact — but not as large of one as de Blasio had hoped. It answered nearly 15,000 calls during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 in 31 police precincts in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, according to city data analyzed by POLITICO’s Maya Kaufman. The 15,000 responses comprised only 29 percent of the mental health-related 911 calls in the areas where the program operates. That was up from 21 percent during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, but De Blasio had said the new teams would be the default first responders when he launched the program. And the teams made contact with only 7,400 people over the past year — largely because once they arrived at the scene, they couldn’t find the person in crisis or first responders were already there rendering aid. Of those, 3,600 received a behavioral health assessment, and 57 percent who were assessed were transported to a hospital, according to the city’s data. The rest were connected to community-based services. The new dataset doesn’t specify what happened to the 3,800 people who interacted with a team but weren’t assessed. Why it matters: The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 prompted cities across the country to rethink how they use police. De Blasio’s view was that medical personnel or social workers trained to help people in a mental health crisis would be more likely to diffuse potentially dangerous situations than a police officer. What’s next? The city is trying to make the program more efficient. In June, 911 operators began prioritizing fully triaged calls in which individuals in crisis were more likely to still be present when a team arrived. The city also modified the existing pilot areas so teams could respond to nearby calls that would have previously been out of bounds.   A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group has been deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications at-scale for years. Now, improvements in data and processing power are enabling more impactful uses of AI/ML, ushering in new possibilities for patients, providers, and the overall health care system. Learn More.   WORKFORCE The nurses of the future will need to know about AI. | John Minchillo/AP Photo Nurses can now pursue specialized education in artificial intelligence with a focus on implementing the technology safely and ethically. A new concentration in Florida State University’s Master of Science in Nursing program focuses on the AI tools entering the clinical space and how to use them effectively. The program will “create a new generation of nursing professionals” for the AI era, said Jing Wang, dean of FSU’s College of Nursing. FSU touts the program as the first of its kind in the country. Why it matters: Health systems are scrambling to educate their clinicians about the possibilities and pitfalls of AI — and literacy in the technology is increasingly a highly valued skill for providers. It’s not just FSU looking to adapt. Leaders in medical education nationwide are discussing how to incorporate AI education in training and assessments for doctors and nurses. Even so: The educational needs of care providers are likely to continue evolving as understanding of the technology — and the tools themselves — continues to develop.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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