August 23rd, 2010 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: ACOs, Acountable Care Organizations, Bundled Care, Bundled Medical Fees, Communication Gap, Doctor-Patient Communication, Doctor-to-Doctor Communication, General Medicine, Healthcare Cost Drivers, Healthcare Delivery Models, Healthcare Economics, Hospital Discharges, Hospital Readmissions, Medicare Patients, Medication Side Effects, New England Journal of Medicine, Patient Noncompliance, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Poor Medical Staff Communication, PPACA, Quality of Care
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Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) figure prominently in the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The concept behind ACOs is that by tying both physician and hospital compensation to outcomes via a bundled fee (say for pneumonia) we can expect to see an improvement in quality and value.
In principal, accountable care makes a lot of sense. Practicality speaking, however, doctors and hospitals must address a huge challenge before they can expect benefit financially. Before doctors can be held accountable for the care they deliver, they must first be held accountable for the quality of their communication with patients.
Take hospital readmissions, which are a big healthcare cost driver today. According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, 20 percent of all Medicare patients discharged from hospitals were readmitted within 30 days, and 34 percent percent within 90 days. The Joint Commission and others rightly believe that inadequate communication between physicians — as well as between physicians and patients — is a major contributing factor. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
August 23rd, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Gary Schwitzer, Health Journalism, HealthNewsReview.org, Media Inaccuracy, Media Misinterpretation, Medical Media, Science And The Media, TomScott.com, Warning Labels
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I’ve seen the very clever journalism warning labels pictured and offered on TomScott.com. Many good friends and contacts wrote me about this, some urging HealthNewsReview.org to produce its own — and we may. Of the many great labels offered, this one is perhaps my favorite:
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
August 23rd, 2010 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Anti-Obesity Movement, Barred from Medical Services, Cost of Medical Care, Discrimination Against the Obese, General Medicine, Genetic Cleansing, Genetic Health Disorders, Healthcare Cost Drivers, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare reform, medicaid, Medicare, New Healthcare System, Obesity, Obesity Dividend, Prototype, Public Health, Public Library of Science Medicine Journal, Public Scorn, Smokers
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DrRich has pointed out several times that it is very important to our new healthcare system, as a matter of principle, to be able to discriminate against the obese.
The obese are being carefully groomed as a prototype, as a group whose characteristics (ostensibly, their lack of self-discipline, or their sloth, or their selfishness, or whatever other characteristics we can attribute to them to explain how their unsightly enormity differentiates them from us), will justify “special treatment” in order to serve the overriding good of the whole.
The obese are a useful target for two reasons. First, their sins against humanity are painfully obvious just by looking at them, so it is impossible for them to escape public scorn by blending in to the population, unlike some less obvious sinners such as (say) closet smokers, or pedophiles. And second, since true morbid obesity almost always has a strong genetic component, successfully demonizing the obese eventually will open the door to the demonization of individuals with any one of a host of other genetically mediated medical conditions. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
August 23rd, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: ACS, American Cancer Society, Associated Press, Chronic Diseases, Cost of Treating Cancer, Costliest Disease, Deaths Globally, Disability, General Medicine, Global Burden of Diseases, Global Cost of Fighting Cancer, Global Gross Domestic Product, Healthcare Economics, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Loss of Life, Oncology, Primary Care, Research Funding, UN, United Nations, WHO, World Health Organization
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Cancer is the world’s costliest disease, sapping the equivalent of 1.5 percent of the global gross domestic product through disability and loss of life, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Cancer cost $895 billion in 2008, and that’s before factoring in the cost of treating cancer.
Cancer and other chronic diseases cost more than infectious diseases and even AIDS, according to a report the ACS [presented last] week. While chronic diseases are 60 percent of all deaths globally, they receive only 3 percent of private and public research funding. The organization is calling for a new look at priorities by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. (Associated Press)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 22nd, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: Breast Compression, Breast Elevation, Breast Encapsulation, Breast Motion, Exercise-Induced Breast Discomfort, Fitness and Exercise, Impediment to Exercise, Large Breasts, Medicine & Science in Sports & Medicine, MSSE, Physical Activity, Sports Bra, Women's Fitness, Women's Health
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Many women will tell you that large breasts are an impediment to exercise, both in terms of discomfort and embarrassment. According to a study of 20 women with C+ breasts in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (MSSE), sports bras which provide breast encapsulation, compression, and elevation (whereas traditional sports bras only provide compression and encapsulation) are more comfortable during physical activity.
Breast motion tracking was done via “infrared light-emitting diodes (2-mm diameter)…placed directly on both nipples under each bra using double-sided surgical tape, as the nipples have been found to be the best indicator of vertical breast displacement.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
