Cultivate more upstreamists to transform health care

Health Policy
June 6, 2013

An excerpt from The Upstream Doctors: Medical Innovators Track Sickness to Its Source.

There’s a story widely known in public health circles about three friends and a river. I retell it this way:

Three friends approach a wide, beautiful river leading to a waterfall. The idyllic scene is shattered by the cries of a small child in the water, flailing his arms while struggling to stay afloat. He’s fast approaching the …

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Cultivate more upstreamists to transform health care

How Medicaid is under political attack

Health Policy
June 20, 2011

by Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH

Mr. M walked into the community clinic where I work with a portable oxygen tank in tow. At 62, he’s gaunt and winded, battling a disease that is progressively scarring his lungs. Every breath is a fight. Instead of the clear flow of air, I hear the sound of velcro ripping when I place my stethoscope on his chest. In medicine, his …

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How Medicaid is under political attack

How repeal and replace will affect patients

Health Policy
January 25, 2011

by Rishi Manchanda, MD

As a primary care doctor for working families, I am interested in anything that can tangibly address my patients’ health problems. But how do I prescribe repeal?

The House effort to repeal and replace last year’s health care law is not just an untested placebo with major potential side effects, like increasing the number of Americans without health coverage. For those of us on …

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How repeal and replace will affect patients