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What Constitutes Good Primary Care?

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There’s a big buzz about primary care being a great thing; and there are a lot of people touting it as a lynchpin of financial reform.  I believe this is true.  But there is a condition that must be met for any of this true.  It must be primary care done well.

The idea of good primary care is an assumption that may not be valid for many PCPs.  There are many good PCPs out there, and I believe they constitute the majority, but there are also those who have frustrated and discouraged patients.  I think this is mostly due to a payment system that has discouraged everything that primary care should be, but as the discussion goes on there needs to be more than just warm bodies labeled as PCPs.

Here is what I see as the essentials for good primary care: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

A Physician’s Fantasy World: The Ideal Medical Practice

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Medscape has a physician portal and they asked the question: “Where would you like to practice medicine?” The responses from physicians were varied with lots of complaining and joking like “Dubai”, but this reply from a family medicine doctor got my attention. I think he speaks for many physicians.
  • I would like to work in a fantasy world.
  • One where I didn’t have to worry about someones economic status. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*

Doctors: Don’t Mix Medicine & Politics

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Health care reform has become a deeply political subject.  And like other subjects that have become political, wading into them can be perilous.

Take two recent examples from the world of business to see what can happen.

In August, John Mackey, the CEO of the Whole Foods supermarket wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on against the proposed health care reforms.  From a policy perspective his views were within the mainstream.  But from a political perspective he was sharply to the right of his customer base.  The result?  Whole Foods was hit with organized protests and boycotts.  Mackey had greatly tarnished his personal “brand,” if not that if his company.

Another CEO did something similar just a few days ago. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*

Healthcare’s Monetary Musical Chairs: Seniors Most Likely To Lose

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From “War on Specialists” in the Wall Street Journal:

Take a provision in the Baucus bill that would punish any physician whose “resource use” is considered too high. Beginning in 2015, Medicare would rank doctors against their peers based on how much they cost the program—and then automatically cut all payments by 5% to anyone who falls into the 90th percentile or above. In practice, this rule will only apply to specialists. , Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*

Will Spending More Federal Money On Healthcare Improve Outcomes?

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One need only look at the experience with education.

*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*

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IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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