Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 144

Break out of the prison of the American health care delivery system

February 17, 2012Feb 17, 20128

Speaker after speaker at the recent Care Innovations Summit in Washington, DC concluded that increasing the quality and decreasing the per-capita cost of health care is the dominant political, social, and economic issue of our time. More than one expert…

“Jailbreak” for me meant either an obscure English reality television show or an expression applied to overriding the software limitations deliberately placed on computer systems for security …

Patient voices

Question the price of drugs and medical procedures

Court Nederveld

February 15, 2012Feb 15, 201215

Hypertension was the trigger that forced medical cost awareness to the forefront. My doctor decided that with my rise in blood pressure it would be prudent to prescribe a blood pressure medication and order a nuclear stress test. With only a catastrophic insurance policy and a $5000 deductible it was imperative for my financial health to know the cost of both the drugs and the procedure up front.

The prescription was …

Health policy

America has a health care paradox

Stephen C. Schimpff, MD

February 15, 2012Feb 15, 201225

We have a real paradox in American healthcare. On the one hand we have exceptionally well educated and well trained providers who are committed to our care. We are the envy of the world for our biomedical research prowess, funded largely by the National Institutes of Health and conducted across the county in universities and medical schools. The pharmaceutical industry continuously brings forth life saving and disease altering medications. The …

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America has a health care paradox

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Health policy

How patient satisfaction can kill

Kevin Pho, MD

February 14, 2012Feb 14, 201252

Patient satisfaction is all the rage. Medicare is beginning to tie patient satisfaction scores with hospital reimbursement, and doctors across the country are under pressure from administrative executives to raise patient satisfaction scores. High scores are even used by hospitals…

Patient satisfaction is all the rage.

Medicare is beginning to tie patient satisfaction scores with hospital reimbursement, and doctors across the country are under pressure from administrative executives to raise patient satisfaction scores.

High scores are even used by hospitals as a powerful marketing tool.

But, in the end, are patient satisfaction scores hurting patients?

I wrote about the issue previously, saying that patient …

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How patient satisfaction can kill

Health policy

Take patients away from the overtreaters

Rosemary Gibson

February 14, 2012Feb 14, 20129

A few months ago I was introduced to a gentleman who had been a corporate VP for employee benefits at a Fortune 100 company for many years. I was impressed with his knowledge of health care. He shared some of…

The company had a policy that when employees were informed they had a very serious medical condition, the company paid …

Health policy

AMA: Advocating for Medicare, military and fiscal responsibility

American Medical Association & Peter W. Carmel, MD

February 14, 2012Feb 14, 20123

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. This week, I’m joining hundreds of physicians and medical students in Washington, DC during the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference to talk to our federal lawmakers about an…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

This week, I’m joining hundreds of physicians and medical students in Washington, DC during the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference to talk to our federal lawmakers about an end to what has become an annual chore of stopping drastic scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts to preserve access to health care for seniors and military families. This year, a 27 percent …

Patient voices

The long term cost of a pain in the neck

Renee Lux

February 11, 2012Feb 11, 201216

One morning this May, I woke up with a stiff neck. I applied hot and cold therapy all day and took an Advil before bed. By the end of that week, I was unable to comfortably move my head and…

One morning this May, I woke up with a stiff neck. I applied hot and cold therapy all day and took an Advil before bed. By the end of that week, I was unable to comfortably move my head and I was feeling numbness down my left arm to my fingertips. I saw my doctor within 24 hours of calling his office. After a brief exam, he was sure of …

Health policy

Surviving the new landscape of physician reimbursement

Donald Tex Bryant

February 10, 2012Feb 10, 20126

CNN recently posted an article titled "Doctors Going Broke." It described several cases of independent physicians who are near bankruptcy although they once were quite well off. For instance, the article detailed the case of Dr. William Pentz, a cardiologist…

CNN recently posted an article titled “Doctors Going Broke.” It described several cases of independent physicians who are near bankruptcy although they once were quite well off. For instance, the article detailed the case of Dr. William Pentz, a cardiologist in a small group practice, who had to borrow money last month to make payroll. He and the other cardiologists have cut their salaries in order to meet overhead. Dr. …

Health policy

Doctors lobby Congress to repeal the SGR

Bob Doherty

February 8, 2012Feb 8, 20123

One of the things that I like most about my job is engaging with ACP’s physician leadership—the internal medicine doctors who dedicate enormous amounts of time, at great personal sacrifice, to represent the interests of our members and their patients.…

One of the things that I like least is when an ACP member (or non-member physician) caustically dismisses their efforts, usually because they disagree with some aspects of ACP policy. It …

Physician voices

Are new technologies really the reason for rising health costs?

Stephen C. Schimpff, MD

February 7, 2012Feb 7, 20125

Over the last four weeks I have written about new technologies and their coming impact on medical care. We generally think of new technologies (and new, branded drugs) as pushing up the cost of healthcare. There is truth to this contention, of course, but often the real problem from a cost perspective is inappropriate use. And this happens all to often in medical practice today because the physician does not …

Health policy

Why physicians may not buy into ACOs

Anonymous

February 6, 2012Feb 6, 201220

I’m sure Ezekiel Emanuel hates being referred to as Rahm Emanuel’s brother, so I won’t describe him as such. After working as one of Obama’s main health care advisors, he’s now at U-Penn in a job spanning medicine, economics, and ethics. He’s also been writing engaging essays in JAMA about health care reform and economic change that give us an augur into where health care reform might lead us.

Here, …

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Why physicians may not buy into ACOs

Physician voices

ACP: Medical ethics should be a daily aspect of care

American College of Physicians & Fred Ralston Jr., MD & Lois Snyder, JD

February 5, 2012Feb 5, 2012

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Is medical ethics an important aspect of real world medical practice today? Or a quaint notion for the history books based on mom and apple pie generalisms? For…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Is medical ethics an important aspect of real world medical practice today? Or a quaint notion for the history books based on mom and apple pie generalisms?

For the patient and for the physician in practice, medical ethics is — or should be — a daily aspect of care. But that doesn’t make it easy. In fact, it is …

Health policy

How to avoid HMO gatekeeper problems in medical homes

Dave Chase

February 4, 2012Feb 4, 20125

There's a great deal of planning and testing of new models of care and delivery to respond to healthcare's ever increasing costs. We've all heard about Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and medical homes. The common concern is that they become…

There’s a great deal of planning and testing of new models of care and delivery to respond to healthcare’s ever increasing costs. We’ve all heard about Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) and medical homes. The common concern is that they become a repeat of HMOs with the accompanying misaligned incentives undermining their effectiveness. An exciting new medical home model is rapidly expanding that avoids the dreaded “gatekeeper” that was the undoing of …

Health policy

Patient preferences may not be rational, but they are not irrelevant

David B. Nash, MD, MBA

February 4, 2012Feb 4, 20122

Everyone in our industry -- policymakers, clinicians, healthcare facility administrators, public and private payers, technicians, pharmacists -- shares concerns about the state of healthcare in the U.S., each of us from a slightly different viewpoint. The thread that joins us…

Everyone in our industry — policymakers, clinicians, healthcare facility administrators, public and private payers, technicians, pharmacists — shares concerns about the state of healthcare in the U.S., each of us from a slightly different viewpoint.

The thread that joins us all is that one day each of us will be a patient.

As its title suggests, patients are central to almost every provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Act), …

Patient voices

Why we need to go from e-patient to i-patient

Jackie Fox

February 3, 2012Feb 3, 201210

I found a recent Associated Press article on an aspect of the new health care law that many of us may have overlooked. It requires consumer-friendly summaries of what insurance plans cover, a provision that now seems to be at…

I found a recent Associated Press article on an aspect of the new health care law that many of us may have overlooked. It requires consumer-friendly summaries of what insurance plans cover, a provision that now seems to be at risk. The insurance industry is up in arms about implementation costs and added regulatory burdens. (There’s a good story at NPR, which includes a link to an example of what …

Health policy

Identical twins with different ideas about health care

Anonymous

February 3, 2012Feb 3, 20123

Jack and John are identical twins but have varying interests in life. One day Jack, 43 years old, decides he has had enough of these headaches and calls his family doctor and asks what he should do. He is told that his doctor can see him in 4 days and to take some over-the-counter ibuprofen. And to go to the ER if the headaches worsen.

John, who has also been having …

Health technology

Why EMR is a dirty word to many doctors

Adam Sharp, MD

February 2, 2012Feb 2, 2012112

Don’t get me wrong, EMRs (electronic medical records) are inevitable. Over the long-run they are almost certainly good for physicians, patients and the healthcare industry. However, their origin and the ulterior motives currently driving their adoption is sowing the seeds…

Don’t get me wrong, EMRs (electronic medical records) are inevitable. Over the long-run they are almost certainly good for physicians, patients and the healthcare industry.

However, their origin and the ulterior motives currently driving their adoption is sowing the seeds of their failure. First, what is actually happening out there? The most recent CDC data would seem to be encouraging for EMR adoption, with EMR use (finally) passing 50%.

Too bad …

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Why EMR is a dirty word to many doctors

Health policy

Analyzing what the President said about health care

Dominic A. Carone, PhD

January 31, 2012Jan 31, 20123

President Barrack Obama delivered a 6,944 word State of the Union address to the American people. Of the speech, less than .01% was devoted to healthcare, which is remarkable considering the major changes in healthcare that are on the horizon if Obamacare survives a challenge in an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case. During the speech, there were only three sentences that mentioned healthcare.

The first was this: “I will not go …

Health policy

Improve patient safety to improve healthcare quality

Pearl Korn

January 29, 2012Jan 29, 20126

It has taken 13 years for us to revisit the issues in To Err Is Human, the 1999 landmark government report that shocked our nation with its revelation that 98,000 people died yearly in hospitals due to doctors' errors. For…

It has taken 13 years for us to revisit the issues in To Err Is Human, the 1999 landmark government report that shocked our nation with its revelation that 98,000 people died yearly in hospitals due to doctors’ errors. For decades, and through one administration after another, the lack of safety in our healthcare system has gone un-addressed, placing us at greater and greater risk. Hospitals have disappeared, …

Health policy

A lack of incentive for medical schools to train primary care doctors

Kevin Bernstein, MD

January 21, 2012Jan 21, 20129

A social media movement is happening before our eyes with action starting to take shape. The #occupyhealthcare movement has begun within to the blogosphere and through various areas of social media by storm. What does the #occupyhealthcare movement mean to…

What does the #occupyhealthcare movement mean to me? My main focus in advocacy for family medicine is the production of an adequate primary care workforce distributed adequately to best serve our country. Those close to me also …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 144

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