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Latest Posts

A Stunning Look At The Fragility Of Osteoporosis

Occasionally I like to post great visuals from Street Anatomy. Here is another set, this time depicting the bone fragility of osteoporosis. Apparently these were glass models that were shot as they hit the ground. Stunning:

Stunning osteoporosis visuals

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*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Panelist Video Interviews From The “Fact Or Fiction: ADHD In America” Capitol Hill Forum

On September 16, 2010, I attended Fact or Fiction: ADHD in America, a Capitol Hill Forum, along with Dr. Val Jones of Better Health and Dr. Rob Lamberts of Musings of a Distractible Mind.

The event, coinciding with ADD/ADHD Awareness Week, was a panel discussion about the impact ADHD has on our society. It was sponsored by Shire, in partnership with the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) and the Lab School of Washington [Disclosure: I received a stipend for covering the event.]

Below are interviews Rob and I did with some of the panelists.

Kevin Pho interview with Michele Novotni, Ph.D., ADHD Expert and Former Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) President:

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*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

ADHD: Fact Or Fiction? Join Me On Capitol Hill

adhdAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is probably overdiagnosed by physicians. In the lay public, the term is often used jokingly to describe the common feeling of distraction we experience in a world filled with interruptions. With a constant stream of text messages, Facebook updates, TV commercials, and fast-paced Twittering, there’s little wonder that we all feel frazzled at times.

But the occasional experience of jangled nerves is not a proper basis for a diagnosis of ADHD. Unfortunately, there has been great confusion between the actual disorder, and its misuse as a label for simply feeling distracted.

So to help set the record straight and to tease out fact from fiction, I’ll be attending a forum on Capitol Hill with my co-bloggers Dr. Kevin Pho and Dr. Rob Lamberts.

If you’re in the DC area, please come and join us in person. If you’d like to view some of the event via the Internet, we’ll be conducting live interviews with the speakers on Ustream. You can join the conversation by asking your questions in real time in the chat room starting at 2:00PM (EST) on Thursday, September 16, 2010. Please save the Ustream link to join the conversation: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fact-or-fiction-adhd-in-america. Read more »

Why We Need Private-Practice Primary Care Doctors

A recent post on Kevin MD by Joseph Biundo, a rheumatologist, challenged my assertion that primary care doctors can save money:

(In reference to my claim…) That may be true in theory, but I see patients in my rheumatology office every day who have been “worked up” by primary care physicians and come in with piles of lab tests and X-ray and MRI reports, but are diagnosed in my office by a simple history and physical exam.

Prior to that, an article in the New York Times along with a post by Kevin Pho noted the fact that more solo practitioners are leaving private practice and joining hospital systems. Why are they doing this? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

Better Health Sponsors Blogger-Politician Healthcare Reform Discussion At National Press Club

To join the event live, please contact john.briley@getbetterhealth.com Seating is limited…

paul_ryan

Congressman Paul Ryan

reablakey

Media Personality Rea Blakey


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First

Elected Officials Join America’s Top Medical Bloggers to Discuss the Real,

Clinical Impact of Health Care Reform

    WHAT: As the health care debate heats up on the Hill, join Representative Paul Ryan as he sits down with top medical bloggers from across the country to discuss health care reform and its impact on practicing clinicians. This keynote discussion will be followed by two panels of physician and nurse bloggers who will highlight the importance of putting patients first.  Topics covered will include key barriers to health care quality, affordability, and access as well as the potential pitfalls of a new public plan and ways to fix the current system without investing billions in a new one.

WHEN: Friday, July 17, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: The National Press Club, Broadcast Operations Center 4th Floor, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC
WHO: Keynote: Representative Paul Ryan, (R-WI), House Budget Committee Ranking MemberModerator: Rea Blakey, Emmy award-winning health reporter and news anchor, previously with ABC, CNN, and now with Discovery Health

Host: Val Jones, M.D., CEO and Founder of Better Health

Policy Expert: Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., co-founder and vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI)

Primary Care Panelists:

Kevin Pho, M.D., Internist and author of KevinMD

Rob Lamberts, M.D., Med/Peds specialist and author of Musings of a Distractible Mind

Alan Dappen, M.D., Family Physician and Better Health contributor

Valerie Tinley, N.P., Nurse Practitioner and Better Health contributor

Specialty Care Panelists:

Kim McAllister, R.N., Emergency Medicine nurse and author of Emergiblog

Westby Fisher, M.D., Cardiac Electrophysiologist and author of Dr.Wes

Rich Fogoros, M.D., Cardiologist and author of CovertRationingBlog

And Fixing American Healthcare

Jim Herndon, M.D., past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Better Health contributor

####

For more information on Better Health, visit https://www.getbetterhealth.com.

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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