October 26th, 2010 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Interviews, News, Video
Tags: Barbara Ficarra, Consumer Health Information, Dr. Bill Crounse, Health In 30, Health Information Technology, Health Insurance Options, Health Tech Today, Healthcare reform, Healthcare.gov, HHS, Microsoft, Patient Engagement, President Obama, Private Health Insurance Plans, Todd Park, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Microsoft’s Dr. Bill Crounse Talks with Todd Park, CTO of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on Health Tech Today
There’s a plethora of health information for consumers today. We are surrounded by smart meaningful material, but somehow it is easy to get lost in the maze of information. We get stuck navigating through it and we find it hard to obtain information that is right for us.
Even the most savvy health consumer may find it difficult to find information out about healthcare reform, insurance plans and the Affordable Care Act. But Dr. Bill Crounse, host of Health Tech Today talks with Todd Park, CTO of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about Healthcare.gov — a government website that makes it simple to find information on prevention, consumer rights, health insurance plans, and tools to assess the quality of care you’re getting.
Dr. Crounse calls Todd Park the “tech guru” behind the government website, charged with improving the nation’s health through the innovative use of technology and data. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
October 25th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: ACP Internist, American College Of Physicians, Anesthesiology, California, Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services, Direct Physician Supervision, Doctor Must Be Present During Nurse's Care, Health Affairs, Hospital Medicine, Inpatient Death, Institute of Medicine, Medicare, New Jersey, Nurse Anesthetists, Nursing, Patient Complications, Practice Without A Doctor's Supervision, Ryan DuBosar
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New Jersey’s state health department is considering a rule that would allow nurse anesthetists to work without a doctor’s supervision, as long as there’s a plan to reach one in case of an emergency. New Jersey would join the 30 states that allow nurse anesthetists to work without direct supervision.
On the other end of the country, a California court upheld the state’s decision to opt out of a Medicare requirement that doctors be present while a nurse anesthetist works in order to be reimbursed. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have allowed states to opt out of that requirement since 2001.
Since then, there has been no evidence of increased inpatient deaths or complications, researchers reported in the August 2010 issue of Health Affairs. Earlier this month, the Institute of Medicine reported that nurses should have a larger role in medical care, including anesthesiology.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
October 25th, 2010 by Debra Gordon in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: Big Pharma, Copaxone, Cost of Drugs, Cost of Medications, Costs of Disease, Debra Gordon, Drug Companies, ECTRIMS, European Committee for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, FDA, Fingolimod, Food and Drug Administration, Fragmented Healthcare System, General Medicine, Gilenya, Glatiramer Acetate, Health Insurance Coverage, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare reform, Insurance Companies, Interferon beta-1b, Long-Term Healthcare Costs, Long-Term Healthcare Fix, Medications Not Covered By Insurance, Musings on Medicine and Healthcare, Natalizumab, Out-Of-Pocket Costs, Perscription Medications, Quality of Life, Rebif, Sweden, Tysabri, U.S. Healthcare System, Unapproved Prescriptions
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I spent last week in Gothenburg, Sweden covering the European Committee for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) meeting. Lots of good science, lots of excitement over the new oral and targeted therapies coming on the market to treat this awful disease. But what I want to write about isn’t the science, but about how it will play out in the brave new world of healthcare in which we all live in today.
For instance, consider the first oral therapy to hit the market: Gilenya (fingolimod), which the FDA approved in September. Last month Novartis announced the price: $48,000 a year.
This is not a rant against the high cost of drugs, however. It is a rant against the inability of our healthcare system to take the long view of the impact of such drugs, a view that is particularly important with a chronic disease like MS that strikes healthy young adults in their early 20s and 30s. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at A Medical Writer's Musings on Medicine, Health Care, and the Writing Life*
October 25th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Australia, Big Pharma Campaigns, Consumer Drug Marketing, Direct-To-Consumer Drug Advertising, Disease Mongering, Drug Hype, Femail Urogenital Problems, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, Medical Advertising, Medical Marketing Language, Medicalization, Menopause, Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies, Postmenopausal Women, Public Relations, Sexual Dysfunction, Sexual Health, Signs of Aging, Vaginal Atrophy, Women's Health
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Just five days ago we wrote about an American journalist’s observations of medicalization of one problem sometimes observed after menopause: Vaginal atrophy.
Today we see that this disease-mongering trend has popped up in Australia as well. This should be no surprise. Such campaigns are usually led by multinational pharmaceutical companies and their advertising and public relations agencies.
What caught our eye was an article on a women’s health foundation website — a foundation that posts a pretty thin excuse for why it won’t tell you its source of funding. Its article on vaginal atrophy uses classic disease-mongering language:
“Ask a woman over the age of 50 about the ‘signs of ag[e]ing’ and she’ll most likely lament about grey hairs, wrinkles and certain body parts having lost their youthful perkiness. What she probably won’t mention is that is that things are ageing “downstairs” too; up to 40% of postmenopausal women show signs of vaginal atrophy.”
The silent epidemic that no one talks about. The huge prevalence estimate — where does that 40 percent figure come from? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
October 25th, 2010 by DavedeBronkart in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: British Medical Journal, Dave deBronkart, Dr. Marcia Angell, e-Patient Dave, e-Patients.net, Empowered Patients, General Medicine, Grant Funding, Inaccurate Studies, JoPM, Journal of Paticipatory Medicine, Lies, Medical Misinformation, Medical Publishing, Medical Research, Medical Science, Medical Studies, Misleading Scientific Conclusions, Peer-Reviewed Journals, Peter Frishauf, Research Grant, Research Studies, Richard Smith, Scientifically Weak, The Atlantic, Understanding Statistics
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There’s an extraordinary new article in The Atlantic entitled “Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science.” It echos an excellent article in our Journal of Participatory Medicine (JoPM) a year ago by Richard W. Smith, 25-year editor of the British Medical Journal, entitled “In Search Of an Optimal Peer Review System.”
JoPM, Oct 21, 2009: “….most of what appears in peer-reviewed journals is scientifically weak.”
The Atlantic, Oct. 16, 2010: “Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong.”
JoPM 2009: “Yet peer review remains sacred, worshiped by scientists and central to the processes of science — awarding grants, publishing, and dishing out prizes.”
The Atlantic 2010: “So why are doctors — to a striking extent — still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice?”
Dr. Marcia Angell said something just as damning in December 2008 in the New York Review of Books: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.” (Our post on Angell is here.)
What’s an e-patient to do? How are patients supposed to research if, as all three authorities say, much of what they read is scientifically weak? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at e-Patients.net*
