Prior authorizations (PAs) have become increasingly burdensome for providers — they contribute to 92 percent of care delays and an estimated 77 million are submitted manually each year. In fact, the process has become so burdensome that many physicians get fed up with the process end up writing for less-effective prescriptions because they know the preferred drug will require a prior …
I’m a pathologist and the main way I communicate to the outside world — to your doctor and ultimately to you, the patient is via the pathology report. But the short missives I send from behind the microscope lack any excitement and can fall short of full communication.
Here’s the usual story:
Skin left scapula, biopsy
Nodular basal cell carcinoma
Negative for perineural invasion
Margin status: Positive
Doesn’t sound real interesting, does it?
How about a more …
All have to wait. As is normal with the busy ER, the ambient noises of machines, alarms ringing, painful moaning, and loud drunken outbursts permeate the department. It’s a controlled chaos.
But, a woman’s scream pierced my soul. Her baby eight-month-old boy laid limp in her arms. He’s already pale, lips blue, his chest not rising as it should with breathing — he is not responding at all. We wasted no …
Every few months, there happens to be another breathless news story about racism in health care. Mass media seems shocked, progressives angrily tweet, while conservatives claim that somehow it was all President Obama’s fault.
Meanwhile, the four relatively unknown and certainly underappreciated historically black college or university (HBCU) medical schools in the United States (Howard University, Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of …
Guess what? You’re surrounded by rich doctors. You probably didn’t even know it. You know why? Because doctors don’t talk about that filthy lucre known as money. So while you’re assuming that all the other doctors in your group, office building, and hospital are in the same position as you, you’re wrong. Some of them are rich. There are ten things they’re not telling you, but which …
Because of my father
When you lose a parent during childhood, it effects just about everything you become. Decisions about life naturally stem from enduring this trauma. Some try to form families early and replace that which they feel has been lost. Others spurn close connections and create a wall so firm that no one else can encroach. An attempt to protect against pain. Because of my father I …
In July, 2009, the family of Massachusetts teenager Yarushka Rivera went to their local Walgreens to pick up Topomax, an anti-seizure drug that had been keeping her epilepsy in check for years. Rivera had insurance coverage through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income children, and never ran into obstacles obtaining this life-saving medication.
But in July of 2009, she turned 19, and when, shortly after her birthday, her family …
No, I’m not saying that the process of investing in index funds is difficult. In fact, it’s actually quite simple to build a diversified index portfolio, whether your money is invested at Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, or Etrade.
What makes investing in the stock market so difficult is tolerating its high volatility. Many investors are unable to stick with the stock market in the long run because of the ups and downs.
But those who stay invested …
The surgical team filed out of the patient’s room. I looked over my shoulder to see a shaken daughter holding the wrinkled hand of her quiet, elderly mother who lay in the bed. I shuddered as I thought of the surgery her body would endure the next day. I knew I needed to return to her room later in the day to find out more about her history. After rounds …
Let’s be real here. Women make babies. Women also kick butt working. Sometimes women need to make babies while kicking butt working. So, you know, the human race can survive … no big deal. But, all too often, families are unfairly burdened by our dismal maternity support system. Bleary-eyed and bloody, new mamas emerge from childbirth facing a mountain of medical bills and no income.
For my first pregnancy, my family …
I learn all manner of interesting things from the information sheets posted on the walls of the employee bathrooms at my hospital. I learn, for example, about upcoming CME offerings for advance practice providers, how many seconds one has to scrub the hub of a central line, and what the new process is when nurses need to call in sick. They call a specific phone number and state that they …
Everyone always jokes with doctors, “What happens if you get sick?” Some of us laugh off the question. The busy schedule of health care often means our own health comes last. However, what happens when it’s a chronic disease that requires treatment? Then the answer to this question is a little different.
I am a family medicine physician dealing with congenital heart disease (CHD). Saying that someone has congenital heart disease …
There exists a large, mostly-underground, growing community consisting of those iatrogenically harmed by benzodiazepines. Guilty only of following doctors orders, these patients are marginalized and misunderstood. This has been enabled, at least in part, by poor terminology.
Recently on Twitter, Michael P. Hengartner and Marnie Wedlake both posted critical questions in response to a benzodiazepine news story:
In response to …
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Recently, there has been a number of articles on reducing the length of medical training to help ease the physician shortage. And our medical curriculum is due for a major overhaul. Its foundational document, the Flexner report, was released over 100 years ago, and our medical needs and knowledge have changed. Shortening medical education may provide a “bonus” in easing the anticipated shortage of physicians …
There is a taboo in medicine. It is becoming less prominent, but it still exists. You’re not supposed to talk about money. Not how much something costs a patient, not how much you get paid, not how you invest, and certainly not about the freedom from medicine that financial independence can bring.
This first shows up as you are applying to medical school. You don’t want anyone writing a …
1. Cancer is not rare. Technically, childhood cancer is rare compared to adult cancer, but it’s not as rare as you think. Outside of my work, I can think of 3 people who I know personally that had a childhood cancer. A teammate on my high school basketball team, my sister-in-law, and a high school debate teammate. My guess is that you also know someone from church, a coworker’s …
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Burnout affects as many as 50 percent of physicians. Interventions have been proposed at virtually every stage of a physician’s life, from medical school to residency training to professional practice. While the rigors of medical training certainly contribute to the high levels of burnout in the profession, there are indications that the trouble begins at the undergraduate level.
I recently graduated from an undergraduate program geared toward students interested in medicine. …
The process of setting up a new pain management clinic has allowed me to critically consider the role of patient intake forms, an area that has traditionally been ignored by technological advances and institutional innovation.
Health care must empower patients to conveniently complete intake forms digitally — whether at home, en-route to our clinics, or in our waiting rooms. When done correctly, the forms can greatly enhance the patient …
Each year, thousands of newly minted MDs are elevated from mere medical students to — drumroll, please — interns. If that’s you, congratulations and welcome to the world of residency.
Welcome to the world of motivation, inspiration and altruism — where you wake up every day knowing this was what you were meant to do.
And welcome to the world of the hungry, the tired, the poor. …
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Being a hospitalized patient is perhaps one of the most disempowering experiences an individual can face (besides being in war, or a prisoner). Patients face constant uncertainty; having no idea what time their physician will visit, when they will be taken for their tests, or who will suddenly interrupt them again with a demand – perhaps an early morning blood draw, or yet another round of interrogation and uncomfortable examination …
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