December 13th, 2010 by DrWes in Opinion
Tags: Diane Fisher PhD, Dr. Wes Fisher, Fixing American Healthcare, General Medicine, Illusion of Healthcare Reform, New U.S. Healthcare System, Solutions For Healthcare
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The greatest minds are assembled to discern the answer in healthcare reform. Powerful interest groups are aligned to design solutions to protect their turf. Rubrics, formulas, slogans and taglines get designed, spun, pitched and thrown out. The burden of finding alignment, an answer, a plan that suits everyone seems insurmountable — unless we don’t.
The idea of a fit for all is an illusion. Justice and equity are seen differently. We imagine some public consensus at our own peril. But honesty has been in short supply. To paraphrase Oprah: What do we know for sure?
Some people want a relationship with a trusted doctor who knows them well. They want to pick the doctor, the neighborhood and the hospital they attend. Others want immediate access and have little trust or interest in a personal relationship with a doctor.
Some people want interchangeable access to medical care in the most convenient venue — they care little if it occurs at Walgreens, doc-in-a-box, by a nurse practitioner or by a newly-minted resident — it is about access that fits their lifestyle, which may be at a late hour and may be chosen by shortest waiting time at an ER. To others, this type of medical care is anathema. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 13th, 2010 by Lucy Hornstein, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Direct-To-Consumer Healthcare Advertising, Dr. Lucy Hornstein, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Healthcare Ad Campaigns, Healthcare Dollars, Healthcare Politics, Hospital Advertising, Lucrative Healthcare, Making Money, Medical Advertising, Medical Marketing, Musings of a Dinosaur, Primary Care
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There was a series of ads on the radio awhile back that went something like this:
When Mrs. Willis had a stroke, her husband never slept alone. Her daughter never had to go dress shopping for the prom by herself. And her son didn’t have to sit out the Mother-Son dance at his wedding. Why? Because she came to Hospital A…and she didn’t die!
There’s another ad for one of the big downtown hospital’s cancer center (sorry, “advanced cancer center”):
Every cancer, every stage. Your life depends on it!
Let’s see: No one ever dies at Hospital A. And the big downtown cancer center can cure any cancer. That’s certainly what those ads would have you believe. Even the little local suburban hospitals have taken to advertising: Billboards around the neighborhoods, kiosks at the outlet malls, mainly pushing the lucrative stuff like cardiac care and bariatric surgery.
Every time I see this stuff, I can’t help but wonder how much it all must cost. And how much medical care could have been provided to the uninsured instead of enriching the ad execs and billboard owners who are already rolling in dough. Clearly there is still plenty of money to be made in the hospital business, because these people aren’t stupid. They wouldn’t spend this kind of money on marketing unless there was plenty more to be made from it. I believe it’s a little business concept known as “return on investment.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*
December 13th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Medblogger Shout Outs, Opinion
Tags: Best Doctors, Cutting Healthcare Costs, Employee Health, Employee Healthcare Benefits, Employer Healthcare Contributions, Employer-Provided Health Coverage, Evan Falchuk, Healthcare Quality, Healthcare reform, Healthier Employees, Medical Blog Carnivals, Medical Blogosphere
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Welcome to The Benefits Package — the very first employee benefits blog carnival. After healthcare reform, employee benefits move to center stage as one of the most important issues facing Americans.
So what are employers, insurers, and the government really doing to rein in healthcare costs, get their employees to live healthier lives, and improve healthcare quality?
The Benefits Package is the first-ever blog carnival dedicated to these issues. With benefits executives starting to make the leap into the blogosphere, The Benefits Package will highlight the best insights and opinions on this important subject. You will discover new blogs, learn new things, and hopefully think about issues a little differently. I’ll host the first couple of Benefits Packages, and then others will take their turn.
Below you’ll find a terrific set of posts by some true thought leaders. If you like what you see, please submit a post of your own next time. Enjoy the first Benefits Package!
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At the Health Business Blog, David Williams explains why mini-med plans aren’t as bad as some people would have you believe.
At Hank Stern’s Insure Blog, Mike Feehan explains how the federal government makes private coverage more expensive in a way that makes its own coverage cheaper.
Jen Benz of the Benz Communications Blog explains that companies who fail to put their benefits information online are making a big mistake. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
December 13th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: ACP Advocate, Allocated Medical Care, American College Of Physicians, Arizona, Bob Doherty, Death By Budget Cuts, Death Panels, Denied Coverage, Denied Treatment, Fear Mongering, General Medicine, Government-run Healthcare, Healthcare Rationing, Healthcare reform, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, Managed Care, Marc Lacey, medicaid, New York Times, Organ Transplants, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, Private Sector Health Insurers, Rationed Care, Transplantation
1 Comment »
One of the canards slung at the Affordable Care Act is that it creates “death panels” that would allow the government to deny patients lifesaving treatments, even though two independent and non-partisan fact-checking organizations found it would do no such thing.
I don’t bring this up now to rehash the debate, but because the New York Times had a recent story on Arizona’s decision to deny certain transplants to Medicaid enrollees — “death by budget cuts” in the words of reporter Marc Lacey. His story profiles several patients who died when they were unable to raise money on their own to fund a transplant. Lacey quotes a physician expert on transplants who flatly states: “There’s no doubt that people aren’t going to make it because of this decision.”
Arizona Medicaid officials told the Times that they “recommended discontinuing some transplants only after assessing the success rates for previous patients. Among the discontinued procedures are lung transplants, liver transplants for hepatitis C patients and some bone marrow and pancreas transplants, which altogether would save the state about $4.5 million a year.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
December 12th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: AV Node, Cardiac Arrhythmia, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiac Output, Cardiology, Cubicle Doctors, December, Deductible Health Plans, Depression, Dr. John Mandrola, Electrophysiology Lab, Heart Rhythm, Holidays, Human Heart, Insurance Companies, Pacemakers, SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder
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The human heart resides in a lighltless 98.6-degree chest cavity. Its contracting muscles are further cushioned by the well-lubricated glistening smooth pericardial sac. One wouldn’t think that the heart could sense the time of year. The heart’s rhythm should remain independent of the holiday season. But then there is December in the EP lab. They are as busy as the malls.
Is it the depressing weather? Or the short days? Or a post-Thanksgiving hangover? It’s hard to say, but every year for as many as I can remember, the EP lab rocks in November and December. And with the advent of deductible health plans, this holiday phenomenon has only intensified.
The I-90 of the heart, the AV node, seems to give out more in the holidays. I’ll never forget the Saturday in December many years ago when I did five “urgent” pacemakers — and neither will the pacemaker rep. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
