January 11th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACP, Costs, EMTALA, Primary Care Shortage
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ACP Internist’s wrap-up of current events continues with ping-pong for health care reform, how the recession curbed health care spending and how legislation preventing patient-dumping can hurt the physicians required to provide treatment.
Health care reform
Negotiations for health care reform will avoid the formal conference procedure and instead negotiate directly. The “ping-pong” talks, which don’t have to be public, will send the bill back-and-forth between the House and Senate until both chambers agree. C-SPAN wants to televise the negotiations. The goal is to pass the legislation by a State of the Union speech scheduled for February. (Los Angeles Times, C-SPAN, Baltimore Sun)
The recession did what Congress has struggled to do–slow spending for health care. Spending on physicians and services rose by 4.4% in 2008 over the previous year, the slowest increase in 50 years of tracking by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Still, spending totaled $2.3 trillion, or more than 16% of the entire economy. The credit freeze in the most recent recession may have dissuaded people from paying large deductibles. (AP, USA Today) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
January 10th, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Ann Cooper, Bear Creek Elementary School, Big Agriculture, Childhood Obesity, Colorado, Diabetes, Endocrinology, food, Healthy, Inc., organic, Pediatrics, Renegade Lunch Lady, School Lunch Program, Weight Loss
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Cecelia and I just finished watching the movie Food Inc. It is a movie worth watching.
I was upset seeing the abuse of our food chain by big food corporations. There is little respect for America’s food safety.
America’s obesity epidemic is caused, in part, by the food industry’s ability to produce cheap food. Fifty years ago, when I was at Columbia College, the solution to America’s impending food shortage was debated. The predication was the nation was going to face a food shortage in the next 50 years. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
January 9th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Amy Wallace, Anti-Vaccinationist, Conde Nast, Free Speech, Frivolous Law Suit, Libel, National Vaccine Information Center, NVIC, Ratbags.com, Science, Wired
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Thanks to the always vigilant eyes of Liz Ditz, Ratbags.com is reporting that pediatric immunologist and vaccine developer Dr. Paul Offit, writer Amy Wallace, and Condé Nast (publisher of Wired magazine) are being sued for libel in US District Court by Barbara Loe Fisher, founder and acting president of the so-called National Vaccine Information Center.
Readers will recall that Wallace’s article on Dr. Offit and the fear and misinformation propagated by anti-vaccinationists was the centerpiece of a feature in Wired magazine aptly titled, “Epidemic of Fear.”
My short take: The lawsuit is an attempt to silence or intimidate those who speak out against individuals and organizations that threaten public health. When scientific facts accumulate that refute their views, the response is to file frivolous legal action. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
January 7th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Medical Art, News
Tags: Camera, Color, Japan, Ophthalmology, PaPaLaB, Vision
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PaPaLaB Co Ltd, a Japanese firm, has announced their development of the “YC-3300,” a camera they claim can capture the exact same colors as seen by the human eye. The camera is designed for archiving and medical applications. While cameras with similar technology currently exist, they are too large and expensive to be practical. The YC-3300 is currently priced at $140,477, with more affordable models in the pipeline.
Technology like this will be crucial with cameras in medicine taking an ever larger role in research, education, and diagnosis.
(Hat Tip: Engadget)
Read more at Tech-On…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
January 7th, 2010 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Dementia, Doesn't Work, Ginko Biloba, Herbal Medicine, NCCAM, Neurology, Science
1 Comment »
Another one bites the dust.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is generally a waste of taxpayer money, but they have sponsored several well-designed large trials of popular herbal supplements. And one by one these studies have shown these popular products, such as echinacea for the common cold, to be ineffective.
To add to the list, published in JAMA this week are the results of the largest and longest trial to date of Gingko biloba for the improvement of cognitive function and to treat, prevent, or reduce the effects of Alzheimers disease or other dementia. The results of the study are completely negative. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
Negotiations for health care reform will avoid the formal conference procedure and instead negotiate directly. The “ping-pong” talks, which don’t have to be public, will send the bill back-and-forth between the House and Senate until both chambers agree. C-SPAN wants to televise the negotiations. The goal is to pass the legislation by a State of the Union speech scheduled for February. (Los Angeles Times, C-SPAN, Baltimore Sun)
