Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 70

How did we let insurance companies get so intimately involved with patient care?

May 30, 2019May 30, 20198

Who works for who? How did we allow ourselves to let a system get built up around us that makes it so hard for us to take care of our patients? Our job is to advocate for our patients, to…

Who works for who?

How did we allow ourselves to let a system get built up around us that makes it so hard for us to take care of our patients?

Our job is to advocate for our patients, to help guide them towards their best health, to help them understand the difficult choices and to live healthy lifestyles, to give them …

Conditions and diseases

The rise and fall of measles vaccinations

Stephen G. Baum, MD

May 27, 2019May 27, 2019

Ten years ago it would not have been worth my time to write about measles nor yours to read about it. In the year 2000, thanks to a very effective 2-shot childhood vaccination program using a combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, the U.S. was declared free of this potentially lethal disease. However, by the end of April this year, just over 700 cases have been reported by the CDC; the largest …

Health policy

A physician suggests how to improve Medicare

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

May 23, 2019May 23, 201921

This is a brief explanation of Medicare from a physician's perspective, as well as my thoughts on how Congress could make adjustments that would bring us closer to universal care and provide the private market the freedom to improve health…

This is a brief explanation of Medicare from a physician’s perspective, as well as my thoughts on how Congress could make adjustments that would bring us closer to universal care and provide the private market the freedom to improve health care outcomes.

Medicare is a national health insurance program that provides health insurance for Americans ages 65 and older, and those who are disabled or have specific chronic conditions. Medicare covers …

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Health policy

How PTSD is hurting nursing

Anne Naulty, RN

May 22, 2019May 22, 20196

Every time I hear that there is a nursing shortage in America, I feel myself cringe. There is not a shortage of nurses in America. There is a shortage of nurses who choose to work at the bedside. There is…

Medically, we have learned that PTSD can occur after a single event or as a result of chronic stressors for a period …

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How PTSD is hurting nursing

Health policy

No politician has a realistic solution for health care

Margalit Gur-Arie

May 19, 2019May 19, 20198

If you live or work in Washington DC, your number one health care question is how do I (or my meal ticket people) win the next election. If you live or work in Caruthersville MO, chances are that your most pressing health care question is how do I (or my immediate family members) get a hold of some insulin this month. Theoretically speaking, in a healthy democracy, the answers to …

Physician voices

Even the most seasoned patients are no match for the Medical Insurance Industrial Complex

Michael Kirsch, MD

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019

“Does my insurance cover this?” I cannot calculate how often a patient poses this inquiry to me assuming wrongly that I have expertise in the insurance and reimbursement aspects of medicine. If I -- a gastroenterologist -- do not even…

“Does my insurance cover this?”

I cannot calculate how often a patient poses this inquiry to me assuming wrongly that I have expertise in the insurance and reimbursement aspects of medicine. If I — a gastroenterologist — do not even know how much a colonoscopy costs, it is unlikely that I can speak with authority to a patient’s general insurance coverage issues.

Of course, patients assume that we physicians have an expansive …

Physician voices

An experiment in removing the heart from medicine

Janice Boughton, MD

May 16, 2019May 16, 2019

I delight in learning my patients' stories and giving them exactly what they need when I take care of them in the hospital. Who they are and what is the best approach to their problem is the primary mystery to…

I delight in learning my patients’ stories and giving them exactly what they need when I take care of them in the hospital. Who they are and what is the best approach to their problem is the primary mystery to be solved, my Sherlock Holmes moment. This is why, if somebody asks me, I will tell them that doctoring is the best job in the world. The opportunity to connect …

Health policy

The problem with burning health insurance down

Margalit Gur-Arie

May 16, 2019May 16, 20193

Let’s burn health insurance down. Greedy corporate bastards should burn. Big Pharma and big hospitals should probably burn too. You know who else is really, really, bad? Wall Street. Let’s burn the banks. And let’s burn Big Tech and the entire Silicon Valley cartel. Let’s also burn Big Agribusiness that’s making us fat and sick. And let’s burn the Oil companies that are destroying the planet, and let’s burn the …

Health policy

What’s wrong with health care, and do we have the will to change?

Davis Liu, MD

May 16, 2019May 16, 2019

Our health care system is in crisis and needs significant change. So, I was excited to read Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum's great February 2019 three-part series in the New England Journal of Medicine and accompanied round table about teamwork in health…

Our health care system is in crisis and needs significant change. So, I was excited to read Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum’s great February 2019 three-part series in the New England Journal of Medicine and accompanied round table about teamwork in health care. Rosenbaum kicks off each piece with a story: How the Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital’s “shock team,” doctors of different specialties, worked seamlessly in a “remarkable …

Physician voices

The inspiring story of how a physician fought MOC against all odds

Meg Edison, MD

May 16, 2019May 16, 20193

Well, I won. Six years after I started down the very slow process to end forced MOC in my state, it happened. On December 27, 2018 Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed HB 4134 and 4135 into law. The harm BCBS…

I know. Crazy. I’m still in shock. It’s taken a while to process it enough to …

Physician voices

Lawmakers should stop trash-talking health care professionals

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

May 15, 2019May 15, 201913

Washington state Sen. Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) became a national headline for alleging that " probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day” during debate on legislation mandating break periods. Many nurses have mailed decks of cards to…

Washington state Sen. Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) became a national headline for alleging that “[nurses] probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day” during debate on legislation mandating break periods. Many nurses have mailed decks of cards to Walsh and posted pictures of blood-spattered emergency department walls in order to call attention to “last night’s card game,” driving home the point that they aren’t “playing” anything …

Health policy

Our broken health system is your fault

Anonymous

May 15, 2019May 15, 20193

“I don’t know what happened” is probably one of the most common phrases any parent hears. Last weekend, while wrapping my son’s bleeding head in gauze from our first aid kit, this was the best explanation my daughter could muster as to why her two-year-old brother was screaming, holding tightly to a blood-covered plastic ice cream cone. In the end, it was a complete accident (he hit his head on …

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Our broken health system is your fault

Health technology

Are we making artificial intelligence biased?

Iyesatta Massaquoi Emeli, MD

May 12, 2019May 12, 2019

The tale is told of a large realm, of 1.4 billion, the largest nation in the world. It has a culture that is old, rich and grounded. A citizen’s worth can be understood, determined, exalted or decried. In modern times said country has a visionary leader for life. His foresight includes the automation of culture through the use of big datasets, mass surveillance, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence. A citizen’s …

Health policy

Nurses are striking. Where are the physicians?

Michael D. Pappas, MD

May 11, 2019May 11, 201921

The U.S. health care "system" is completely and utterly broken. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. system ranks 37th in the world, all while spending dramatically more on health care than other wealthy countries. Tens of millions…

The U.S. health care “system” is completely and utterly broken. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. system ranks 37th in the world, all while spending dramatically more on health care than other wealthy countries. Tens of millions remain without any health insurance coverage. For many, medical bills can mean economic ruin — some surveys show that up to …

Physician voices

The systemic poverty in Navajo Nation is a national travesty

Vincent DeGennaro, Jr., MD, MPH

May 10, 2019May 10, 20194

"I have the CPAP machine. I've had it for a year, but I don't have electricity in my house. I stayed with my aunt who has electricity but things didn't work out," said the young Navajo man, his massive belly…

“I have the CPAP machine. I’ve had it for a year, but I don’t have electricity in my house. I stayed with my aunt who has electricity but things didn’t work out,” said the young Navajo man, his massive belly protruding out from underneath the tray table.

The old Navajo man with Parkinson’s disease, unable to walk fast enough to make it to the outhouse in time, had started taking anti-diarrheal …

Health policy

In a single-payer system, who will be doing the rationing?

Edward Hoffer, MD

May 9, 2019May 9, 20198

One of the arguments made against adopting single-payer health care in this country is that it would “lead to rationing.” This assumes that we lucky people in the U.S. have unlimited access to whatever health care we need and are…

This argument came to mind when I saw a few recent news items. One was that a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, recused himself …

Health policy

Medicare for all doesn’t look like single payer in the rest of the world

Niran S. Al-Agba, MD

May 9, 2019May 9, 20194

Recent polls show a majority of Americans support Medicare for all, but few seem to realize that no other system in the world operates like the current single payer proposals in Congress. Recently, I addressed the concept of single-payer health care, with Cuba’s system as an example. Today I’m writing more about the ideas being discussed now in our country and how those compare to other nations …

Health policy

What do organized crime and health care have in common?

John H. Wasson, MD

May 8, 2019May 8, 20194

During college and medical school, my summer employment acquainted me with members of organized crime families. Now, reflecting on my full career as a primary care clinician, geriatrician, and researcher on health care delivery improvement, I have discovered that several…

Organized crime and the U.S. health care industry have more in common than might be immediately …

Health policy

What volunteering during a crisis taught this medical student

Sudhakar Nuti, MD

May 8, 2019May 8, 2019

"Were you on the hurricane emails this weekend?" This was not the question I expected to start the week. I came to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend part of my fourth year of medical school as special assistant to Dr.…

“Were you on the hurricane emails this weekend?”

This was not the question I expected to start the week.

I came to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend part of my fourth year of medical school as special assistant to Dr. Mandy Cohen, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina. I wanted to work in government — to understand what public service meant, gain operational experience and …

Patient voices

Physicians and patients must work together to improve health care

Michele Luckenbaugh

May 8, 2019May 8, 20193

According to Wikipedia, a livestock guardian dog is a type of pastoral dog bred for the purpose of protecting livestock from predators. If only our doctors had these noble creatures to protect them from the predators of the world, to alert them when those interested in only the “bottom line” entered the halls of healing, our medical practices. Apparently, a “fox is guarding the hen house,” one who is not …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 70

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