Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

Articles, page 3

October 11, 2012Oct 11, 20125

I once thought that only the federal government in Washington could effect changes that would impact the cost of health care in the United States, especially with so much attention on the recent Supreme Court decision on the 2010 health…

Now I believe that emboldened employers in places like Memphis can use their clout. They can influence insurers and work directly with doctors …

Conditions and diseases

I hope my son never asks me if he can play tackle football

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

September 18, 2012Sep 18, 20128

Last fall, I went with my 12-year-old son to his middle school's opening home football game. The bleachers were lined with parents, the smell of hot dogs and nachos wafted over the field, the announcer's voice blared, and the cheerleaders…

Last fall, I went with my 12-year-old son to his middle school’s opening home football game. The bleachers were lined with parents, the smell of hot dogs and nachos wafted over the field, the announcer’s voice blared, and the cheerleaders jumped out of sync.

The boys were dressed in shoulder, chest, thigh and kneepads covered with clean white numbered uniforms. They each wore a helmet that seemed to weigh more than …

Health policy

With the ACA, put politics aside and focus on the facts

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

July 9, 2012Jul 9, 201210

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 …

Physician voices

A doctor has difficulty making sense of medical bills

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

May 2, 2012May 2, 20125

Rarely do people think about medical costs when there is a medical emergency or an urgent need for a test. Recently, I was in such a situation. A few days after a 22-hour international flight, the calf muscle in my…

Rarely do people think about medical costs when there is a medical emergency or an urgent need for a test. Recently, I was in such a situation.

A few days after a 22-hour international flight, the calf muscle in my right leg began to ache. If it were not for the recent flight, or if I were not a doctor, I would have just let it pass.

But long periods of sedentary …

Physician voices

When doctors are incorrect in their prognosis of terminal illness

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

April 18, 2012Apr 18, 20122

In January, when my close friend’s lymph node biopsy came back as a rare form of T-cell lymphoma, I scoured the scientific literature. What was his prognosis?He was 56, a little overweight but otherwise healthy. He had helped us move…

In the literature I found jagged graphs plunging downward, indicating that my …

Conditions and diseases

The fallacies of screening tests extend beyond false positives

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

November 7, 2011Nov 7, 201111

Several years ago, during an annual mammogram, my wife, who is in her 40s, was told a mass had been found in one of her breasts. Anxious and uncertain, she had a biopsy, and we braced for the worst. My…

Several years ago, during an annual mammogram, my wife, who is in her 40s, was told a mass had been found in one of her breasts. Anxious and uncertain, she had a biopsy, and we braced for the worst.

My father-in-law, when in his 50s, went through a similarly harrowing experience when a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test given during a routine physical exam came out positive, and he underwent a …

Physician voices

Doctors are reluctant to have end of life conversations

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

November 2, 2011Nov 2, 20114

My 64-year-old patient with terminal cancer and less than six months to live wanted to go to Oregon. He was contemplating assisted suicide, which is legal there. “My life has been long and good,” he said. “I believe it is my right. I want the ability to say it’s too much, I can’t do it anymore. A person should have a dignified quality of life.”

Another one of my patients, an …

Physician voices

Patient transparency cannot be mandated by a federal agency

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

September 26, 2011Sep 26, 20112

Not long ago, when my father was about to undergo a heart procedure, I hinted to the cardiologist, a colleague, that I wanted to be there, too, not just to offer comfort but also to be present for the play-by-play that would lead to a critical decision: whether to open his blocked arteries with a stent or to perform bypass surgery. Draped in an X-ray-shielding body suit over his blue …

Physician voices

Hospitals taking over private practices

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

March 8, 2011Mar 8, 201125

A decade and a half ago, when I moved to Memphis, I proudly hung a sign outside an office I shared with another doctor. It had my name followed by an MD. I had started my own small business as…

A decade and a half ago, when I moved to Memphis, I proudly hung a sign outside an office I shared with another doctor. It had my name followed by an MD. I had started my own small business as a solo practitioner in medicine.

Over the years, the practice has grown. I now have several employees and my own office, with the names of several other doctors alongside mine on …

Read more…

Hospitals taking over private practices