by Bruce Douglas, MD I've been practicing my health care specialty for sixty years and have enjoyed almost every minute of it. The minutes I have not enjoyed all have to do with "money." Financial transactions in doctors' offices are…
by Bruce Douglas, MD
I’ve been practicing my health care specialty for sixty years and have enjoyed almost every minute of it. The minutes I have not enjoyed all have to do with “money.”
Financial transactions in doctors’ offices are the root of most evils in the relationship between doctor and patient. Along with that evil goes an additional detraction from good, humane health care called the fee-for-service system, which …
If you want to get insights into the problems of our health care system, look at a mural by Washington DC resident Regina Holliday. Holliday is a 37-year old mother of two and an art teacher. Last summer, her husband,…
If you want to get insights into the problems of our health care system, look at a mural by Washington DC resident Regina Holliday.
Holliday is a 37-year old mother of two and an art teacher. Last summer, her husband, Fred, died from kidney cancer at the age of 39. The Hollidays’ experience is a case study in …
Dr. Paul Grundy is on a mission -- a mission to promote the patient-centered medical home model that he has been instrumental in developing and rolling out, in his dual role as Director of Healthcare, Technology and Strategic initiatives for…
Dr. Paul Grundy is on a mission — a mission to promote the patient-centered medical home model that he has been instrumental in developing and rolling out, in his dual role as Director of Healthcare, Technology and Strategic initiatives for IBM Global Wellbeing Services and Health Benefits, and President of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative.
I had the opportunity to speak with him last month (here’s the transcript and podcast), …
by Daniel A. Graubert, MD Medicine has changed so dramatically since I graduated medical school in the 1980's, that it is hardly recognizable. Certainly, there has been an enormous growth in knowledge which is often beneficial, but has often led…
by Daniel A. Graubert, MD
Medicine has changed so dramatically since I graduated medical school in the 1980’s, that it is hardly recognizable.
Certainly, there has been an enormous growth in knowledge which is often beneficial, but has often led us down the wrong path. For example, when advanced imaging techniques such as CT scans and MRIs became available, we were able to see the inside of large numbers of patients …
As Bob Dylan sang so long ago, The Times They Are A-Changin’. Some like change; some do not. Consider these change scenarios: * One of the important scenes of change for health care providers is the national debate on health…
As Bob Dylan sang so long ago, The Times They Are A-Changin’. Some like change; some do not.
Consider these change scenarios:
* One of the important scenes of change for health care providers is the national debate on health care coverage currently playing out in Washington D.C. Some are very vocal in their support. The media covers many of the vocal opponents. Certainly some sort of change will come out of …
by Paula Hartman Cohen Have we overlooked the public health aspect of health care reform? In the health care reform debate, we’ve heard and read how health care reform will or will not work, what it will or will not…
by Paula Hartman Cohen
Have we overlooked the public health aspect of health care reform?
In the health care reform debate, we’ve heard and read how health care reform will or will not work, what it will or will not cost, and how it will or will not impact each one of us as individuals.
We’ve also heard from those who have great faith in our current system, and sincerely believe we should …
Max Baucus’ decision to release his solo album—subtitled the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal on health reform—was timed with the precision of a 4th grade marching band. Physicians could live with that, but the bill contained gornisht on tort reform and…
Max Baucus’ decision to release his solo album—subtitled the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal on health reform—was timed with the precision of a 4th grade marching band.
Physicians could live with that, but the bill contained gornisht on tort reform and not much more than that on Medicare reimbursement. Upon seeing that, the Long White Coats reacted as if they’d seen earwax on their stethoscopes.
The following is part of a series of original guest columns by the American Medical Association. by J. James Rohack, M.D. All eyes are on the Senate Finance Committee this week as they prepare to vote to move health reform…
All eyes are on the Senate Finance Committee this week as they prepare to vote to move health reform legislation forward. The AMA is committed to health reform, and as the process moves to the Senate floor, it’s crucial that the Senate include permanent repeal of the current Medicare …
Originally posted in MedPage Today by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent In its much-anticipated cost estimate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the Senate Finance Committee's healthcare reform bill would cost $829 billion over 10 years and begin…
by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent
In its much-anticipated cost estimate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill would cost $829 billion over 10 years and begin to drive down the federal deficit after that first decade.
The price tag is lower than Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) previous …
When I was a kid in Odessa my Dad and I went to see The Sound of Music at least 17 times in the span of 3 months. Remember that song sung by the nuns when Maria is late for…
When I was a kid in Odessa my Dad and I went to see The Sound of Music at least 17 times in the span of 3 months. Remember that song sung by the nuns when Maria is late for the vespers, “How do you solve the problem like Maria?” One nun says “She’s an angel”, another one counters “She’s a demon”, when the voice of reason from Mother Superior …
Originally posted in MedPage Today by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent The Senate Finance Committee finished work on its healthcare reform bill in the wee hours of Friday morning, paving the way for a committee vote next week.…
by Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today Washington Correspondent
The Senate Finance Committee finished work on its healthcare reform bill in the wee hours of Friday morning, paving the way for a committee vote next week.
After considering hundreds of amendments, the committee is now waiting for a cost-estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) before it …
by Marie Cooper I have been in senior executive management in both managed care and a major hospital system. I find the hysteria over "reform" bitterly amusing because it is so misdirected. The real problem with health care in America?…
by Marie Cooper
I have been in senior executive management in both managed care and a major hospital system. I find the hysteria over “reform” bitterly amusing because it is so misdirected.
The real problem with health care in America? Greed, indifference and incompetence, pure and simple. But not in the places everyone is pointing.
Insurer side
Insurance companies have to maximize their revenue because they answer to their boards. They …
by Esther Buddenhagen, MSW I write as a lay person concerned about the gap between what many people should receive and what they actually receive. The question of good medical care for ordinary people is being buried not only by…
by Esther Buddenhagen, MSW
I write as a lay person concerned about the gap between what many people should receive and what they actually receive. The question of good medical care for ordinary people is being buried not only by insurance issues but by failure to come to terms with what primary care should be about.
Even Atul Gawande, who is particularly good at making distinctions between good and …
by Gary R. Gibson, MD, FACP In his 2007 book Critical, Tom Daschle said lawmakers were "flummoxed" when attempting to craft specific reform legislation. They seem flummoxed again as they fail to recognize the primacy of the patient-physician covenant and…
by Gary R. Gibson, MD, FACP
In his 2007 book Critical, Tom Daschle said lawmakers were “flummoxed” when attempting to craft specific reform legislation. They seem flummoxed again as they fail to recognize the primacy of the patient-physician covenant and try to analyze a complex problem without a suitable conceptual model.
The formula below represents a valid conceptual model describing health care costs.
Two things are missing from the bustling conversations on health care reform jamming the Internet highway. First, where among the finger-pointing anecdotes and critical analyses of our “broken” American medical system are the stories and discussions of all that is…
Two things are missing from the bustling conversations on health care reform jamming the Internet highway. First, where among the finger-pointing anecdotes and critical analyses of our “broken” American medical system are the stories and discussions of all that is right? Second, where is our sense of hope?
I’ve experienced American health care from an unusual, yet useful, vantage: that of a physician with chronically recurring cancer. From both sides of …
There can be little doubt that the lethal combination of aging baby boomers, the obesity epidemic, and the growing success of medical and interventional therapies for CV disease (resulting in more and more survivors of major events) is going to…
There can be little doubt that the lethal combination of aging baby boomers, the obesity epidemic, and the growing success of medical and interventional therapies for CV disease (resulting in more and more survivors of major events) is going to produce a flood of cardiovascular disease in the coming decades, and cardiologists in great numbers will be needed to care for these people.
However, that doesn’t mean that the message conveyed …
by an anonymous NICU nurse There is a medical controversy brewing over in England that is threatening to invade the United States. Ms. Capewell, a 23-year old British mother, is claiming English doctors let her 21 5/7 week infant die,…
by an anonymous NICU nurse
There is a medical controversy brewing over in England that is threatening to invade the United States. Ms. Capewell, a 23-year old British mother, is claiming English doctors let her 21 5/7 week infant die, only because they were following national perinatal guidelines.
If only he was born at 22 weeks, she insists, they would have tried everything to save him and admitted him to the …
When I was growing up in the 1970s, news was different, and this is not just the everything-was-better-in-my-day nostalgia. News was about news. News was not sexy. What has changed? Robert Reich's Supercapitalism, makes the answer obvious: competition. Interestingly, according…
When I was growing up in the 1970s, news was different, and this is not just the everything-was-better-in-my-day nostalgia. News was about news. News was not sexy. What has changed? Robert Reich’s Supercapitalism, makes the answer obvious: competition.
Interestingly, according to economic theories, competition is good for the consumer – it drives quality up and prices down. That may be true for toilet paper, but it has not panned out for …
by David Alway, MD In thinking about socialism and medicine in the United States let's adopt socialist point of view and ponder some logical conclusions. Injustice Exists The socialist notices that some people are starving, don't have adequate shelter, or…
by David Alway, MD
In thinking about socialism and medicine in the United States let’s adopt socialist point of view and ponder some logical conclusions.
Injustice Exists
The socialist notices that some people are starving, don’t have adequate shelter, or are relatively uneducated. He also observes that others are very well off, having access to the finest meals, enough money to buy grand homes and are well-educated. This state of affairs, …
Originally published in MedPage Today by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today Staff Writer Soft drinks and other beverages loaded with sugar should be taxed as a public health hazard, much as cigarettes are, a group of prominent medical researchers says. Since…
Soft drinks and other beverages loaded with sugar should be taxed as a public health hazard, much as cigarettes are, a group of prominent medical researchers says.
Since extensive evidence ties sugary drinks to an epidemic of obesity and related health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes, they …
