A vaccination policy statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics has already drawn fire from a number of anti-vaccine groups, specifically for its endorsement of vaccination against HPV infection in boys.
First, let’s examine exactly what the AAP added to its guidelines regarding the HPV4 and HPV2 vaccines: “HPV4 may be administered in a 3-dose series …
Myths about the HPV vaccine for boys
An excerpt from Finally Out: Letting Go of Living Straight, A Psychiatrist’s Own Story.
by Loren A. Olson, MD
I once cared for an aging lesbian who began to have memory problems.
She went to a neurologist who said bluntly, “Get your affairs in order. You have Alzheimer’s disease.” My patient was confused, devastated, and depressed. She asked a companion to accompany her on her return visit. This time the neurologist said, …
Isolated gay people and support from the LGBT community
As America comes to grips with the disastrous effects of a national obesity epidemic, there’s a new feeling in the air: defeatism.
Former Carter Administration advisor Amitai Etzioni seemed to succumb to it when he wrote an article entitled “dieting gets you nowhere” for CNN recently.
In it, the liberal sociologist citied a recent nutritional study …
How obesity is a voluntary epidemic, and why we shouldn’t give up
Good primary care physicians are becoming harder and harder to find.
You may not have noticed it yet, but I predict that a year from now we’ll find it almost impossible to find primary care doctors who are willing to take on new patients – at least any primary care doctor worth seeing won’t be …
Smart patients need to establish a relationship with a primary care doctor
Recently, 47 American medical specialty societies sent Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) a letter, with copies to all members of Congress, containing a detailed defense of the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC).
For 20 years, the RUC has exclusively advised the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on physician procedure valuation …
Can the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) be defended?
Beth wrote, “I plan on having my daughter vaccinated against HPV when she’s the right age (which is what by the way?). Recently, some friends were saying they were planning to have their sons receive the vaccine as well because although males obviously don’t get cervical cancer, they can spread HPV and put their future partners …
Should the HPV vaccine be given to boys?
Paul Grundy is IBM’s Director of Healthcare, Technology and Strategic Initiatives for IBM’s Global Well Being Services and Health Benefits.
He has led the development of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, which is leading the way to create a more efficient and responsive healthcare system. Before I go any further, let me be very clear by saying that his work is hugely important and I agree with 90% of what this …
Patient centered care and the family physician’s brain
Having a picky eater seems to be the norm these days. I’d almost dare to say that children between the ages of 2-7 more often than not wind up in the picky eater category.
Why the sharp jump in membership of The Picky Eaters Club during this time? Researchers believe it could be evolutionary. That way young “cave toddlers” wouldn’t walk around tasting every potentially dangerous thing in sight. Can you imagine?
Still, there …
Your child is a picky eater, and what to do about it
At LesliesList.org we get many emails asking where an adult can get low cost vaccines.
It appears the answer is… nowhere. They don’t exist– unless you are an established patient in one of the county-funded or low-cost clinics in your metropolitan area. However, you can save a little money by comparison shopping. I think your best bet is to try one of the walk-in …
Where an adult can get low cost vaccines
A fair amount has been written on EMR for the individual physician facing retirement.
But I have come across a more complicated variation of the question. What if a multi-physician group has one physician approaching retirement who is the “lone hold-out,” opposing EMR while the rest of the docs in the group are ready to take the plunge?
The older physician has a …
Should older doctors be allowed to opt out of EMR?
In the recent Coen brothers’ remake of the 1969 movie True Grit, Mattie Ross, an intrepid 14-year-old, is determined to hunt down and kill the man who murdered her father.
To accomplish this, she hires U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, (played by a mumbling Jeff Bridges) a rough, one-eyed veteran of many such quests – then announces that she plans to come along. She figures she is prepared.
After all, she and her …
True Grit and sharing decisions on health care with our doctors
In my forays into the history of medicine I came across these six little words by Hippocrates.
They seem strangely modern, almost like something you might find on a Hallmark-card for today’s medical school graduates. I don’t know how old the translation is and I couldn’t understand the original text if I tried – but these simple words really touched me when I …
Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.
As physicians, many of us realize on some level that our practices contribute to our state and national economies – we just lacked the empirical evidence to understand how much.
That changed last month, when the American Medical Association released a report that studied the economic impact of office-based physicians. While a handful of states have previously studied the economic impact …
AMA: Getting the best value for our health care dollars
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by Benjamin P. Geisler, MD, MPH
Everybody is talking about Accountable Care Organizations or ACOs these days.
The reason being that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS has released the rules for shared savings between ACOs and CMS.
The complete proposed rule is 429 pages long and they’re seeking comments on it now until early June.
What is an ACO?
ACOs will take care of …
How an ACO will affect physicians and Medicare patients
As the number of restrictions on physicians working with industry continue to grow, and the places where policies prohibit physicians from collaborating with industry expand, close examination of the reasons supporting these policies is necessary.
The current trend of academic medical centers (AMCs), professional organizations, and States that have begun adopting policies that restrict permissible interactions and activities between industry and …
Policies prohibiting collaboration between physicians and industry
ACO regulations and related federal issuances hit the street, after several months of waiting — from CMS, OIG, FTC, DOJ and IRS.
They cover the waterfront, ranging from the central regulation defining the structure and workings of the ACO, to limited Stark self-referral ban and anti-kickback statute waivers in the fraud and abuse arena, to new frameworks for antitrust analysis, to rules governing joint ventures involving taxable …
How the ACO regulations set the stage for Accountable Care Organizations
When I was a family medicine intern, I met a diabetic patient in the hospital who had stopped seeing his regular doctor after he lost his job and his health insurance.
His untreated diabetes made his feet go numb. He stepped on a nail and didn’t realize it until he noticed …
Preventing disease saves the crippling costs of tertiary care
My Google Reader accidentally picked up an intriguing abstract that examined a research study of resources that medical students use in solving diagnostic cases.
The abstract was picked up because it contained the word “exercise” that is one of my PubMed filter queries. Although we often think that most diagnostic decision-making occurs from learned information stored in physician’s brains, information resources can …
Google affects how clinicians and the public collect diagnostic information
Recently, I attended a conference on integrative medicine. It was a lovely conference and I learned a lot: about Chinese therapies used for cancer, about osteopathic manipulation, and about the growing community of doctors that respect the value of complimentary medicine practices and are working to integrate them into their general practice.
I also left with a sense of dissatisfaction with what …
Could alternative medicine practitioners take the lead in health policy?
They’re everywhere, all of a sudden: little medical kiosks tucked into the back of drug stores, grocery stores, and big box outlets.
With names like “Minute Clinic” or “RediClinic,” they stress speedy, in-and-out service. And of course, you’re already there in the store, ready to buy whatever has been prescribed. A win-win, no?
No.
Everyone knows that if you’re …
If you want good pediatric care, stay away from retail clinics
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