A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
As the new president of the AMA, I’m excited to help lead the nation’s largest physician organization during this important time for our health care system. The year is off to a positive start – only two weeks after I was inaugurated at the AMA’s Annual Meeting, the Supreme Court declared …
AMA: Working to move medicine forward in the coming year
I recently had the privilege of joining the Yale Cancer Center’s contingent on a visit to University College London in the U.K., where we share a number of scientific collaborations.
Between discussions of pathways, particles, and personalized medicine, some of the “tea time” conversation turned to policy and how uninsured patients with cancer in the U.S. get care. We talked about …
Stop searching for the health reform silver bullet
My initial reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold The Affordable Care Act was to breathe a sigh of relief. The law, particularly the individual mandate – the cornerstone provision – is constitutional and now we can get on with the real task at hand of transforming the U.S. health care system into one in which high-quality and safe care is delivered in an effective, timely, and patient-centered manner. …
This is a historic time for American health care
On the surface, two Wall Street Journal articles painted a gloomy and depressing picture of US healthcare, now and beyond.
That wasn’t my take. I felt a rush of optimism. Let me explain.
In, ObamaCare’s Lost Tribe: Doctors, deputy WSJ editor, Daniel Henninger wrote about the (forgotten) plight of doctors in the Affordable Care Act. He critiqued the mainstream media coverage of the Supreme Court decision because it left out mention of …
Mainstream media can foster an engaged public on health issues
A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
In early June I participated in ACP Services 2012 Leadership Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. I sincerely believe that we have an obligation to share our experiences with elected representatives. Internists through ACP have been doing this for years and have raised awareness of the high …
ACP: A Senate intern turned internist seeks solutions to better patient care
If the government was a physician, it wouldn’t be an ordinary doctor like you or I.
It would be a sexy actor like the ones we see on those medical melodramas that have become so popular over the last few years. His hair coiffed, his jacket pressed and free of stains, and his manor confident he would rush into the trauma bay. As the beeping monitor flat lines, he would sweep the nurses …
If the government was a physician
Is it possible that health care can become more effective, more personalized, more attuned to real health and wellness in a manner that truly benefits the patient as a customer/client?
The answer is “yes” but it will require understanding the dysfunction in the delivery system today, dealing with the growing shortage of primary care physicians and their non-sustainable business model, changing the insurance paradigm from prepaid medical care to (high deductible) …
You deserve superb integrative health care
The Supreme Court has spoken. The Affordable Care Act is upheld. So what does this mean for those of us actually involved in health care?
First, there is a lot of work to do. The Court has reached its decision with regard to the legal issues; what remains are the challenges of improving the quality of care, lowering its cost, providing access to those who need the care, integrating technology into …
Embrace a basic truth about health care reform
The drama surrounding the Supreme Court decision upholding the ACA as constitutional has ended. As legions of reporters and bloggers have written, the law has far-reaching effects. In my corner of medicine it will greatly help (already has, really) a small but not insignificant number of children and families. These families are those who have a child with a severe chronic medical condition. Many of these children spend time in …
How ObamaCare affects critically ill children
Dear Ms. Patient,
I hope this letter finds you well.
Let me begin by saying that it is such a privilege to care for your family. It has been a joy to watch your children grow and your family thrive. I’m sure you will agree that we have been through a lot together.
As you know, I am devoted to help in keeping your family healthy, despite the many obstacles that have arisen. …
Dear Patient, great things are happening in health care
When President Obama turned 50 last year, he made an “informed patient request” for a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test. This is the blood test routinely used to screen men over 50 for possible prostate cancer. The President received his PSA test. But under ObamaCare, you may not be able to.
Now that ObamaCare has been upheld by the Supreme Court, all of its major provisions will be in force, …
How will ObamaCare affect prostate cancer screening?
President Obama enjoyed a towering victory that I feel leaves the GOP reeling, although they are spinning the Supreme Court’s validation of Obamacare as a great gust of wind at their backs. While I would not have expected a different response from them, I fear that there is a developing wind that may blow them away in November. I offer this analysis as a tepid Romney supporter who will be voting more …
While constitutional, does the Affordable Care Act have merit?
On the day the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its historic decision on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, I was rounding on my hospital patients: a man on the ventilator with pneumonia who had private insurance, one elderly woman with abdominal pain going for gall bladder surgery on Medicare, and one middle aged obese woman with a skin infection without any health insurance.
On my patients’ TV screens I watched …
With the ACA, put politics aside and focus on the facts
ADVERTISEMENT
Nothing in life is free.
In the midst of all the turmoil and excitement surrounding the newly passed Affordable Care Act, I believe we should not lose sight of the bigger picture: providing better healthcare at a lower cost for more people. The idea of the Patient Centered Medical Home, although in its trial stages thus far, is what we should be focusing on as physicians and health care providers.
Much has been …
After the Affordable Care Act, don’t lose sight of the Medical Home
Early in my medical training I envisioned myself as an old-fashioned family doctor. Marcus Welby, MD was well before my time, but he seemed like a good fictional role model for a naive student-doctor. (Especially considering Dr. Cox of Scrubs was my alternate choice.) After finishing my primary classroom studies, I was eager to leave the stacks of paper behind and to learn from real clinicians caring for real people. After donning my short white coat …
Doctors and patients are both losing in our health system
There’s something compelling about the personal narrative that vast mountains of quantitative data cannot rival. Anecdotes are, quite simply, powerful. They tap into our shared humanity, making something seem somehow more real by putting a face on it. This is why, if you follow politics for very long, you will find numerous cases of policymakers championing issues that have touched their own lives in some way. For example, Senator X doesn’t care about issue Y, until they …
Should personal anecdotes play a role in health policy?
Most of us want to know how to fix this healthcare mess these days. We’re scared about the future and how we’re going to afford costs that never, ever seem to stop skyrocketing. We’re scared about the world our kids are going to inherit and the phenomenal debt they’ll be haunted by throughout their lives. We’re scared about living in a country that’s cowering under the hefty weight of fear …
Health care change will have to come from the public
A better approach to primary care is imperative for improving the delivery of health services to our nation’s population. As a family medicine resident, I see the need first hand in the mountains of East Tennessee.
It’s 11:30pm on a Sunday night when the medical student and I receive the ER call.
“A thirty-two-year-old diabetic male with uncontrolled sugars and right arm cellulitis, I think he needs admission.”
When I reach the ER, …
Health is not Democratic or Republican, it resonates with both sides
“Educate the young, regulate the old.”
That quote has literally followed me around the world. I can vividly remember when first making the statement. I was one of five “safety experts” on the closing panel at an international safety and quality meeting in Sydney, Australia a number of years ago. The thought was that the five of us would somehow be able to share “pearls” of wisdom regarding what was …
How to improve physician compliance
The Supreme Court’s imminent decision on the Affordable Care Act will trigger a political firestorm whether they accept the legislation in its entirety, throw out every page of the 906-page bill or do something in between, which is the most likely outcome.
If the high court follows the polls, it probably will rule the requirement that individuals purchase insurance – the mandate – is unconstitutional but leave the rest of “Obamacare” …
Will health reform survive the Supreme Court?
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
