November 1st, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Best Doctors, Boston Globe, Doctor Patient Relationship, Evan Falchuk, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Health Insurance, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Incentives, Healthcare Law, Healthcare reform, Internal Medicine, Long Waits for Patients, New Doctors, New U.S. Healthcare System, Not Enough Doctors, Physician Recruitment, Practicing Medicine, Primary Care, Recruiting Doctors, See First Blog, Shortage of Primary Care Doctors, The Future of American Healthcare, Wait For An Appointment, Waiting To See A Doctor, White Coat Notes Blog
1 Comment »
You want to see a doctor? You’re going to have to wait. And I don’t mean like an hour in the office. I mean like 53 days.
It’s not some doomsday story from the future. It’s happening today here in Massachusetts. Massachusetts — the state whose 2006 law was the model for the federal healthcare reform law. Massachusetts — home to some of the world’s best medical centers and doctors. And, as the Boston Globe’s “White Coat Notes” blog reports, Massachusetts — home to doctor shortages and long waits to see a doctor:
When primary care patients do secure an appointment for a non-urgent matter, they have to wait to get in the door, the survey found. The average delay is 29 days to see a family medicine doctor, down from 44 days last year, and 53 days to see an internist, up from 44 days last year.
The report said shortages also exist in dermatology, emergency medicine, general surgery, neurology, orthopedics, psychiatry, urology, and vascular surgery.
But what about costs? If you make sure everyone’s covered, you’ve got the foundation for real cost control, right? Unfortunately, no. Healthcare costs have been booming in Massachusetts:
Costs are rising relentlessly for both families and for the state government. The median annual premium for family plans jumped 10% from 2007 to 2009 to $14,300 — again, that’s a substantial rise on top of an already enormous number. For small businesses, the increase was 12%. In 2006, the state spent around $1 billion on Medicaid, subsidies for medium-to-lower earners, and other health-care programs. Today, the figure is $1.75 billion. The federal government absorbed half of the increase.
So what are the lessons for the future of American healthcare? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
November 1st, 2010 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Aging Population, American Healthcare, Annals Of Internal Medicine, Complete Lives System, Covert Rationing Blog, Discrimination Against the Elderly, Discrimination Against the Young, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Dr. Rich Fogoros, General Medicine, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare reform, Hippocratic Oath, Medical Ethics, New U.S. Healthcare System, Older Adults, Progressive Healthcare Rationing, Progressivism, The Lancet, Utilitarian Ethics, White House Chief Advisor
No Comments »
In prior posts, DrRich introduced his readers to Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., brother of Rahm, eminent medical ethicist, and one of the White House’s chief advisers on healthcare policy. Dr. Emanuel was one of the authors of that recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine which admonished American physicians that resistance is futile. He has also famously called upon American physicians to abandon the obsolete medical ethics expressed in the Hippocratic Oath.
The reason the ideas (and pronouncements) of Dr. Emanuel are important is that he presumably will be a major “decider” in determining who will serve on the GOD panels, and how those panels will operate to advance his (and Mr. Obama’s) program of healthcare reform.
So, before we leave Dr. Emanuel to his important duties, let us take one more pass at the views he has expressed, regarding the direction of American healthcare, which we can expect to see manifested in government guidelines and policies in the coming years. In particular, and especially relevant to the subject of this blog, let us view how Dr. Emanuel would direct the rationing of our healthcare. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
October 31st, 2010 by DavidHarlow in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: #chs10, Connected Health Symposium 2010, David Harlow, EHR, Health Technology, Health Tools, HealthBlawg, Healthcare reform, HIPAA, Home Health, mHealth, Mobile Health, Patient-Centered Medical Home, PHR, Social Media
No Comments »
I [recently] attended the Connected Health Symposium in Boston. I enjoyed many of the sessions (sometimes wished I could have attended two simultaneously, though the livetweeting — #chs10 — helped on that front), and as usual enjoyed the hallway and exhibit floor conversations too. As is often the case at conferences these days, I had the opportunity to meet several online connections in real life for the first time.
(I will not attempt to give a comprehensive report of the symposium here. Please see the livetweeting archive and other reports to get a sense of the rest of the event.)
This year’s exhibit floor included a diverse mix of distance health tools. Most striking from my perspective was the fact that most of these tools do one of two things: Enable patient-clinician videoconferencing, or upload data from in-home monitoring devices. The best of the second category also trigger alerts resulting in emails or PHR/EHR alerts to clinicians if vital signs are out of whack, or phone calls to consumers or their caregivers if, for example, meds aren’t taken on time (one company had a pill bottle with a transmitter in the cap that signals when it’s opened; another had a Pyxis-like auto-dispenser, that looked like you’d need an engineer — or a teenager — to program it). One tool — Intel’s — seemed to combine most of these functions, and more, into one platform, but it’s barely in beta, with only about 1,000 units out in the real world.
The speakers this year seemed to return again and again to several major themes: (1) Is any particular connected health solution scalable? (2) Who will pay for connected health, or mobile health (mHealth)? and (3) Does it work? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
October 31st, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Baseball Players, Behavior In Public, Bud Selig, Crotch Scratching, Dr. Stanley Feld, Expectoration, Infectious Disease, Poor Personal Hygiene, Public Etiquette, Public Health, Repairing The Healthcare System, Role Models For Kids, Role-Model Behavior, Saliva, Spitting, Sports Medicine, Spread Of Disease, Spread of Infection, The World Series
No Comments »
To: Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball
Dear Mr. Selig:
The World Series is an exciting time. It’s important to promote the national pastime. Kids play baseball all over the world. I have been particularly interested in the post-season games this season because my home team, the Texas Rangers, is in the World Series. They have been playing magnificent baseball.
I have been both a Yankees and Rangers fan ever since the Rangers came to Texas. In fact, my brother and I went to the first Rangers game in Arlington Stadium. I have been a student of baseball strategy for many years. Baseball is a fantastic game.
Baseball players are role models to kids all over the world. A baseball player’s behavior on the playing field should be exemplary. Baseball players have been poor role models as far as spitting and scratching their crotch. I have never become immune to these tasteless rituals. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
October 30th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: AAAnswers, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Aneurysm Screenings, Blue Light Special, CardioBrief, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, Kmart, Larry Husten, Medtronic, Public Health, Screening, Screening Tests
No Comments »
Kmart, Medtronic, and a bunch of specialty medical groups are sponsoring a campaign called “Find the AAAnswers” — the “AAA” standing for abdominal aortic aneurysm.
It’s clever marketing for Kmart’s pharmacy business, since the screenings are being offered throughout the Fall at more than 900 Kmart pharmacies. And it’s not bad business for the specialty medical groups, either, as Larry Husten wrote on his Cardiobrief blog:
…the expenses of the program and the coalition are entirely underwritten by Medtronic, which sells abdominal stent grafts used to repair AAAs, and the members of the coalition include organizations like the Peripheral Vascular Surgical Society, the Society for Vascular Surgery, and the Society for Vascular Ultrasound, whose members may derive a significant portion of their income from performing AAA repairs and screening.
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
