May 10th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: Cancellation of Coverage, Confidence, Consumer Healthcare, Diagnostic Tests Canceled, Diagnostics, Difficulty Paying for Care, Elective Surgery, Faith, Fallen, Falling, Family Medicine, General Medicine, General Surgery, Health Insurance, Healthcare reform, Healthcare Services, Internal Medicine, Patient Confidence, Patient Satisfaction, Pharmacology, Prescriptions Filled, Primary Care, Reduction in Coverage, Surgical Services, Thomson Reuters Consumer Healthcare Sentiment Index
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A newly-created index of consumer healthcare confidence has fallen steadily this year, reports The Thomson Reuters Consumer Healthcare Sentiment Index. Consumers report declining confidence in their ability to access, use, and pay for healthcare. The index, set at a baseline of 100 in December 2009, is now at 97.
More consumers reported difficulty paying for services and insurance, or reported a reduction or cancellation of their insurance. More delayed or failed to fill a prescription in the past three months or canceled a diagnostic test (such as blood work, X-ray or mammogram). Further, consumers expect the situation to worsen in the next three months, including putting off elective surgery.
Thomson will report figures monthly and has published their methodology online.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 10th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Behind the Scenes, Discontent, Doctor Burnout, Doctor Satisfaction, Doctor's Point of View, Doctors, Documentary Film, Dr. Ryan Flesher, Emergency Medicine, Fear of Malpractice, General Medicine, Hate Medicine, Healthcare reform, Healthcare System, Internal Medicine, Loss of Physician Autonomy, Medical Malpractice, Medical Students, Nancy Pando, New Doctors, Physician Recruitment, Physicians, Primary Care, The Foundation of Medicine is Cracking, The Vanishing Oath, Unhappy Doctors
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Yesterday a much-anticipated package arrived in the mail containing a documentary film directed (and acted) by a young emergency room physician, Ryan Flesher, M.D., and produced by a former clinical social worker, Nancy Pando, L.I.C.S.W. The film is called “The Vanishing Oath.”
As background, the film is a 3-year project born in 2007 just before the great U.S. healthcare reform debate began. Over 200 hours of interviews were conducted to explore a simple question:
Why Dr. Flesher had grown to hate medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
May 10th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Chemical Exposure, Child Care Safety, Children's Health, Drug Disposal, Electromagnetic Energy, Environmental Cancer, Environmental Carcinogens, Environmental Contaminants, Environmental Health, Internal Medicine, kids, National Cancer Institute, NCI, Oncology, Overexposure, Pediatrics, Pharmaceutical Disposal, President's Cancel Panel Report, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Secondhand Smoke, Tobacco Exposure, Toxics, toxins, Ultraviolet Light, UV Rays
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While most of the news sources are reporting that cancers from the environment are ‘grossly underestimated’ in response to the recently released 240-page report from the President’s Cancer Panel, I want to focus on the steps individuals can take to lessen their personal exposure to environmental carcinogens. Collectively, these small actions can drastically reduce the number and levels of environmental contaminants. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
May 10th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Book Reviews, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: DNA, Empowers Doctors, General Medicine, Genes, Genetics, Health Blueprint, Health Infosphere, Healthcare Consumers, Healthcare Decisions, Medical Destiny, Medical Technology, Naysayers, New Era, Patient Empowerment, Patient Liberation, Patient Responsibility, Personal Genomics, Personal Roadmap, Personalized Health, Personalized Medicine, Primary Care, Rodale, Self-Care, Silly Old Doctors, Stewards of Our Own Health, Taking Control of Your Health, The Decision Tree, Thomas Goetz
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What’s amazing is that despite the vocal movement to empower patients, no one has put together a well-referenced, readable book to help patients understand how they should use personalized medicine to influence their health — until now.
Enter The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine (Rodale 2010), something of a blueprint of patient liberation written by Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired magazine. It offers constructive narrative not only about the importance of the decisions we make but how to apply the concept of an old-fashioned decision tree in making those decisions. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
May 10th, 2010 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: AJ Managed Care, American Journal of Managed Care, Commonwealth Fund, Conventional Care, Diagnostic Cost Groups, DvCGs, Group Health, Health Affairs, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare spending, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, Low-Income Patients, medicaid, Medical Home, Medicare, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Patient-Centered, Primary Care Economics, Primary Care Medicine, The Poor
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Group Health has published two papers recently, one in Health Affairs and the other in JAMA, both extolling the virtues of its Medical Home. These follow their brief report last fall in the NEJM and the lengthy description of their model in the American Journal of Managed Care. Their model has been promoted by the Commonwealth Fund, and it is cited in the currrent issue of Lancet.
The big news is that costs were a full 2% lower than conventional care, hardly a great success –- it wasn’t even statistically significant. But was even this small difference due to the Medical Home, or was it because the Medical Home patients were less likely to consume care? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
