Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 48

Talking politics in the exam room [PODCAST]

December 25, 2020Dec 25, 20202

"The medical profession now understands that social determinants of health are probably the most important driver of a patient’s overall health, and these determinants are largely the result of political decisions. Clearly, we have a professional responsibility to teach our…

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“The medical profession now understands that social determinants of health are probably the most important driver of a patient’s overall health, and these determinants are largely the result of political decisions. Clearly, we have a professional responsibility to teach our patients the science underlying their health issues. Don’t we also have a professional obligation to ensure that our patients understand the …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Why corruption is ruining your health care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

December 24, 2020Dec 24, 2020

"Doctors help patients, and they love us for it. We fix bones, replace joints, cure killer infections, and control diabetes with insulin. We use painless scans for diagnosis. Liver, kidney, and heart transplants are now routine. Some patients get cured…

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“Doctors help patients, and they love us for it. We fix bones, replace joints, cure killer infections, and control diabetes with insulin. We use painless scans for diagnosis. Liver, kidney, and heart transplants are now routine. Some patients get cured of lymphomas, leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, and testicular cancer. Lives are prolonged for myeloma and amyloidosis. Vaccines have saved millions worldwide.

We have …

Health policy

A call schedule to fix the Supreme Court

Arthur Williams, MD

December 24, 2020Dec 24, 202012

Though pushed to the back-burner by the never-ending orange election drama, the Supreme Court, with its significant conservative majority earned against the run of play, (to borrow a metaphor from sport) is one decision away from potential political irrelevance. Is there a way forward for the Supreme Court? Conservative hypocrisy and liberal outrage at the recent Republican machinations to pack the court with conservative jurists out of step with

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Conditions and diseases

Health care is making progress on the “social” in the biopsychosocial model

Betty Rabinowitz, MD

December 23, 2020Dec 23, 2020

In his seminal 1977 Science magazine article, "The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine," Dr. George Engel outlined the biomedical model's limitations and proposed a new model, which he termed the biopsychosocial model. The biopsychosocial approach…

In his seminal 1977 Science magazine article, “The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine,” Dr. George Engel outlined the biomedical model’s limitations and proposed a new model, which he termed the biopsychosocial model. The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and healthcare delivery. In many ways, this approach sounds so intuitive …

Health policy

How health insurance affects patients: That means the transgender community too

Gabriela Ramirez

December 21, 2020Dec 21, 2020

Coming into Columbia University as a pre-med first-year student, I expected to be studying anatomy, biology, psychology, and many other subjects. I would have never thought that I would encounter gender and sexuality studies. Interestingly, this led to my discovery of a very pressing issue that not only affects the transgender community, but potentially many other people who rely on health insurance, like me. In recent years, health insurances have …

Physician voices

Racist. Anti-racist. Microaggression. Institutional racism. The power of a definition.

Joy Eberhardt De Master, MD

December 19, 2020Dec 19, 2020

I find my body tenses at the word “racist.” It also tenses at the word “earthquake.” I ask you to be aware of your body as you read this essay. I suggest wiggling your toes, shrugging your shoulders, and taking…

7:18 a.m. Shift change. The 8.0 magnitude earthquake hits. Nurses, medical students, and physicians improvise care for patients. One public hospital completely collapses. Another’s OB/GYN tower falls, killing …

Physician voices

To Dr. Biden from an MD: Please keep using your deserved title

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

December 19, 2020Dec 19, 20209

A recent op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.,” has sparked a lot of controversy and immense backlash. The author Joseph Epstein, a former Northwestern University professor, first addresses the future First Lady as “kiddo” and continues with “’Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a

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Conditions and diseases

It’s time to address the shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence

Elsa Nico & Gabriele Ruzgas & Katherine Thompson & Nicole Zolman & Shikha Jain, MD

December 17, 2020Dec 17, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge through the nation, a concerning “shadow pandemic” is quietly growing as well. Many cities and states, including Chicago, are reinstituting stay-at-home advisories and orders to protect communities from COVID-19. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence has been the increase in intimate partner violence (IPV). With the tightening of stay-at-home regulations, the health care system cannot overlook those suffering behind

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Health policy

Primary care faces a very difficult winter

Ken Terry

December 14, 2020Dec 14, 2020

Primary care is in trouble again. Last summer, as government assistance programs expired or wound down, primary care practices across the country were struggling to stay afloat because of lost business. By October, patient visits had rebounded in most specialties. But by mid-November, as COVID-19 surged everywhere, primary care physicians reported that they faced critical staffing shortages and limited resources, …

Health policy

New Medicare documentation and payment changes starting next year that deliver relief for clinicians

Seema Verma, MPH

December 14, 2020Dec 14, 20204

Starting on January 1, 2021, clinicians across the country can expect new Medicare rules on billing, documentation, and payment for evaluation and management (E/M) services -- or common office/outpatient visits – to go into effect. These historic changes will give…

Starting on January 1, 2021, clinicians across the country can expect new Medicare rules on billing, documentation, and payment for evaluation and management (E/M) services — or common office/outpatient visits – to go into effect. These historic changes will give clinicians more flexibility in how they document visits in their patients’ medical record, reduce their paperwork burden and give them more time to spend with patients. With over 750,000 clinicians …

Health policy

Why eliminating health care disparities is easier said than done

Martin Lustick, MD

December 13, 2020Dec 13, 2020

Those of us in health care understand that the pandemic represents just one more example of the disproportionately negative impact of health issues on people of color. As stated in a 2017 National Institutes of Health report, “For racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, health disparities take on many forms, including higher rates of chronic disease and premature death compared to the rates among …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Proponents of independent non-physician practice make a dangerous assumption [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

December 12, 2020Dec 12, 20202

"Most Americans have remained dangerously unaware of this revolution in health care. Being treated by a non-physician is not on the radar of the average patient, most of whom assume that anyone in a white coat is a physician. If…

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“Most Americans have remained dangerously unaware of this revolution in health care. Being treated by a non-physician is not on the radar of the average patient, most of whom assume that anyone in a white coat is a physician. If patients do wonder about being treated by a non-physician, they are reassured that their nurse practitioner or physician assistant is “just …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Can there be hope amid politics? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

December 11, 2020Dec 11, 2020

"Humans are complex. Humans are multifaceted. Humans are capable of grit and determination. This means that humans are also worthy of hope. If I learned anything from watching this moment in history, I realize that it’s not about being a…

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“Humans are complex. Humans are multifaceted. Humans are capable of grit and determination. This means that humans are also worthy of hope.

If I learned anything from watching this moment in history, I realize that it’s not about being a ‘Democrat’ or a ‘Republican’ it’s about being human.

What we do now will echo through future generations. My hope is that we choose …

Health policy

The case for decarceration

Anna Ayala

December 10, 2020Dec 10, 20202

“There are only two groups of people on this earth who know when and where they will die,” Steve disclosed to me, peering carefully over the rims of his glasses. “They’re the people in hospitals and people with life in prison.” The discomfort of his words slowly settled in the silence between us. Before me was a man serving two consecutive life sentences in prison, each eye an amphitheater of …

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The case for decarceration

Health policy

If you take a pill, you are at risk: a personal reflection on health information dissemination in Black communities

Carrie Crook

December 5, 2020Dec 5, 2020

As a medical and public health student quarantined at home with two physician parents and a new college graduate sibling, we can speak about the COVID-19 pandemic research, guidelines, and epidemiology around the dinner with relative ease. Everyone in my immediate family has experience with interpreting research and data; in fact, my sister’s first scientific paper was published in a journal a few months ago. In this way, because of …

Medical education

When your institution has a less than 1% hiring rate for Black residents

Karen Tran-Harding, MD

December 4, 2020Dec 4, 2020

The other day I was in the main hallway outside of our radiology reading rooms, which is lined with picture frames of all the residency senior classes dating back to the 1980s. I’m new to the institution, so it was nice to see all the prior residents. I found myself wondering what they were up to now after graduating and what fellowship or jobs they landed into. As I kept …

Health policy

The unintended consequences of population health algorithms

Betty Rabinowitz, MD

December 4, 2020Dec 4, 2020

The results of a 2019 research article in the journal Science uncovered significant racial bias in commonly used population health algorithms used to identify and assign care to patients with complex, active health needs. Using a large clinical data set, the researchers showed that Black patients are considerably sicker than white patients at any given risk score. They demonstrated that remedying this disparity would more than …

Health policy

Stuck between a virus and a cold place: A choice for homeless Americans awaits

Christopher Llerena & Garth Walker, MD, MPH & Marina Lentskevich & Miracle Diala & Shikha Jain, MD

December 3, 2020Dec 3, 2020

Imagine having lost your sole source of income in June in the midst of a global pandemic. This is not a unique situation; after all, the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought havoc on many families. And in the United States, life has irrevocably changed. But the worst is yet to come. Illinois is seeing exponential growth of patients with COVID-19, and winter is coming. With it, the homeless population faces

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Health policy

A moral imperative to heal the broken health care model in this country

Josh Thariath

November 30, 2020Nov 30, 2020

One of the most salient issues in America has always been access to health care. As a medical student, I have seen firsthand the importance of strong health care protections for patients. I believe that the November election result is only a start toward better policies – a future in which we, as medical trainees, must play an active role in. In recent history, with the passage of the Affordable …

Health policy

Physicians have spoken. The Biden administration should listen.

Ripley Hollister, MD

November 27, 2020Nov 27, 20203

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life as we know it. Every aspect of our health care system is affected; in particular, our nation’s frontline workers are being stretched like never before. From managing the pandemic long term to physician well-being, social determinants of health (SDOH), and health care reform, the incoming Administration should heed doctors’ warnings to foster a health care system that works for everyone.

With …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 48

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