Health policy and public health

4,357 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 81

A physician’s take on thoughts and prayers

June 14, 2018Jun 14, 2018

They are intangible, as intangible as the space that the death of a loved one leaves behind. There is emptiness where there was once-occupied space. The past tense supersedes the present and definitely any aspect of the future tense and verse. Where they are supposed to be — in our homes, in our cars, at our kitchen tables, out to dinner with us, in our arms — there are only …

Health policy

More equitable health care starts with you

Rehaan Shaffie, MD

June 14, 2018Jun 14, 20185

I am a hospitalist at a safety-net hospital. Through my work, I have come to understand how our daily decisions — filtered through our own biases — influence how health care is implemented, and I had a personal teacher in my first year as an attending. Soon after starting my job, I met Mr. K. He was in his 40s, well-kempt, soft-spoken and had the good habit of looking people …

Physician voices

A fight for the heart and soul of health care

Suneel Dhand, MD

June 13, 2018Jun 13, 20185

Health care has undergone innumerable changes over the last decade, and the pace of change only appears to be accelerating. At the crux of most of the changes we’ve seen is the central problem that the cost of our health care system is unsustainable, and we as a nation need to put the brakes on it. The costs to individual patients are also unacceptably high.

Unfortunately, the prevailing philosophy has been …

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Physician voices

Today’s unassailable fact could become tomorrow’s flat earth

Edwin Leap, MD

June 13, 2018Jun 13, 20188

It’s easy to be excited about facts when they support our own opinions. It’s nice to believe that uncomfortable facts are fake. Likewise, it’s comforting to believe that everyone who disagrees with us is ignorant. When the truth is so…

And yet, it seems that much of our knowledge is incomplete and that our deeply held beliefs may be …

Health policy

Don’t blame doctors for outrageous emergency department prices

Peter Ubel, MD

June 12, 2018Jun 12, 201811

Recently I posted a piece, describing research out of Johns Hopkins, showing that when patients come to ERs -- either with no insurance or insurance that is out-of-network -- they often face charges that are four, six, or even ten-fold…

Recently I posted a piece, describing research out of Johns Hopkins, showing that when patients come to ERs — either with no insurance or insurance that is out-of-network — they often face charges that are four, six, or even ten-fold greater than what Medicare would pay for the same services.

After the post, I was inundated with angry tweets and emails, mainly from emergency medicine …

Conditions and diseases

Has the anti-vaccine movement affected vaccination rates?

Christopher Johnson, MD

June 12, 2018Jun 12, 2018

Vaccines have been hailed by virtually all medical experts, as well as medical historians, as the among the greatest triumphs of public health to occur in the past two centuries. Yet since Jenner first proposed vaccination for smallpox using the vaccinia, or cowpox, virus there have been both skeptics of its effectiveness and people who thought it was dangerous. That is, they had the risk/benefit ratio of vaccination exactly backwards, …

Health policy

Why physicians should care about structural racism

Akshay Pendyal, MD

June 12, 2018Jun 12, 20185

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, which formally outlaws racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing. The Act, passed in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had, at its core, the goal of affirmatively promoting equitable and integrated housing across the United States.

Earlier this year, however, the current presidential administration announced that it would suspend an …

Health policy

Identifying social determinants of health is critical to the patient interview

David Velasquez

June 11, 2018Jun 11, 2018

After a semester of medical school, I returned home to the Antelope Valley in California, an area CNN coined, “health care’s nowhere land” because of low health insurance rates and limited provider networks that force residents to travel far for care. I wanted to help my family and neighbors by using the physical exam skills I learned during my first few months as a medical student, but …

Health technology

Patients know what’s wrong with the industry more than we do

Praveen Suthrum

June 8, 2018Jun 8, 20186

As a system, we don't invest as much time in understanding the broader context of the patient in front of us. The before/after factors that we don’t notice have a far-reaching impact on care. Recently, I shadowed a patient through…

As a system, we don’t invest as much time in understanding the broader context of the patient in front of us. The before/after factors that we don’t notice have a far-reaching impact on care.

Recently, I shadowed a patient through a day procedure at an endoscopy center from the time that the nurse checked her weight to the time that she was discharged.

Let’s call her Nancy. She was 82 years old …

Health policy

Limiting access to guns may not be the best solution to the present crisis

John Corsino, DPT

June 6, 2018Jun 6, 201812

Less than one year ago, on an early fall evening in Las Vegas, 59 people were killed at the outdoor Harvest music festival. A single shooter injured hundreds more, using firearms purchased through lawful channels. There have been many mass…

There have been many mass shootings in our country, before and since, and in 2015, deaths from gun violence eclipsed for the first time deaths from motor vehicle accidents.

Not long after Las Vegas, discussion emerged in …

Health policy

The caste system is thriving in medicine in the U.S.

Pramod Theetha Kariyanna, MD

June 4, 2018Jun 4, 201816

On my morning commute as I read this NPR article, memories started flooding my brain. I could not control myself and had to write this. My last name “Theetha Kariyanna" has its origin from a small village Theetha and added…

On my morning commute as I read this NPR article, memories started flooding my brain. I could not control myself and had to write this.

My last name “Theetha Kariyanna” has its origin from a small village Theetha and added to it is my dad’s name Kariyanna (a local folk god). Back in my school days, the name was weird to my friends as the name …

Medical education

How the Parkland shooting changed the way I feel about medicine

Ashira Klein, MD

June 3, 2018Jun 3, 20183

February 14, 2018. It’s the "before." My phone rang, and I stopped breathing as words poured straight from her heart about the most recent school shooting -- Stoneman Douglas High School, where I had nervously walked the halls as a…

February 14, 2018. It’s the “before.” My phone rang, and I stopped breathing as words poured straight from her heart about the most recent school shooting — Stoneman Douglas High School, where I had nervously walked the halls as a freshman and excitedly watched my sister cheer at football games in Parkland, a boring little town next to my equally boring hometown, as a teenager. Here, I protested the indignity …

Health policy

Physicians have become devalued in modern health care

Anonymous

June 2, 2018Jun 2, 201852

I’m writing this piece because I’m finally at the point that I am truly angry. I am angry at how physicians have become devalued in modern health care. I’m angry at how systems of care have participated in this by replacing physicians with lesser trained mid-level practitioners. I’m angry at how our title “doctor” has been hijacked to allow patients to be misled or, in many cases, deceived.

It wasn’t that …

Physician voices

Physicians can’t ignore health risks posed by guns

Jen Baker-Porazinski, MD

May 31, 2018May 31, 201844

I’m a family doctor in upstate New York. My patients include active NRA members and ardent pacifists. Most probably fall somewhere in the middle -- they own guns for hunting or encourage neighbors to hunt the deer that feed on…

I’m a family doctor in upstate New York. My patients include active NRA members and ardent pacifists. Most probably fall somewhere in the middle — they own guns for hunting or encourage neighbors to hunt the deer that feed on their lush gardens.

As a mother, I tried not to let my boys play with toy guns when they were little. In a young boy’s imagination, though, everything became a gun …

Health policy

Fixing our health care system won’t make us healthy

Christopher J. Frank, MD, PhD

May 31, 2018May 31, 20182

Like all doctors, I am frustrated when I see my patients missing out on what could be years of good health. And our medical system is so dysfunctional that it’s tempting for doctors and patients to blame poor health outcomes on how we pay for medical care. But, our ridiculous payment system is a symptom, not the cause of our problems, and fixing our medical system is not going to …

Health policy

Medical professionals are uniquely positioned to provide a safe space for discussion

James G. Beckner

May 31, 2018May 31, 2018

Gun safety, gun rights. On reading these words, some have immediately assumed that I’m a far-left liberal who is proposing breaking into their homes, stealing their guns and melting them down to make a statue of a kneeling, gay football…

Gun safety, gun rights.

On reading these words, some have immediately assumed that I’m a far-left liberal who is proposing breaking into their homes, stealing their guns and melting them down to make a statue of a kneeling, gay football player to place on the National Mall.

Still others have immediately assumed that I’m a far-right conservative speeding by in my rebel-flag-waving, coal-rolling, king cab pickup with my loaded AR-15 in the …

Physician voices

Medicine leads the professions in suicide. What can we do about it?

Peter Gunderman, MD & Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD

May 30, 2018May 30, 201817

Earlier this month, one of us visited a prominent U.S. medical school to give a lecture on the topic of burnout and how physicians can find more fulfillment in the practice of medicine. Sadly, that very day, a fourth-year medical…

The problem was not personal failure. She had recently matched into a competitive residency program at the one of the nation’s …

Health policy

To fix health care, ask patients to change their understanding of how a health care system should work

Richard Young, MD

May 29, 2018May 29, 201811

On a recent flight, I sat next to a woman of about 30 who was originally from France but has lived in London for a number of years for work. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, she found out I am a family physician and it became clear she wanted to give me her opinion of the British health care system. I didn’t dissuade her.

For a little background, both the U.K. …

Physician voices

Why being referred to as a physician matters

Nisha Mehta, MD

May 29, 2018May 29, 20182

Ask anybody who works with me -- I ask to be called Nisha in most cases. I’m really not someone who wants everyone to call me "Dr. Mehta." It may just be because it makes me feel old, but for…

Ask anybody who works with me — I ask to be called Nisha in most cases. I’m really not someone who wants everyone to call me “Dr. Mehta.” It may just be because it makes me feel old, but for whatever reason, it’s a personal preference.

The exception to that is when I’m speaking to patients or in a context where I’m presenting myself or my thoughts as a physician in a …

Drugs and prescribing

A missed opportunity to fix drug pricing

Brian C. Joondeph, MD

May 27, 2018May 27, 201811

President Trump recently unveiled a plan to, “Bring soaring drug prices back down to earth.” Acknowledging that the current system is broken, with drug prices beyond the reach of many patients, the President’s plan targets drug patents, pharmacy benefits managers,…

Yet he misses one of the big elephants in the room, the fact that here in the U.S, Medicare is forbidden to negotiate …

Health policy and public health

Articles, page 81

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