October 14th, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Ethics, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, 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*
October 13th, 2009 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Burn Out, Family Medicine, Fantasy, Ideal, Medical Practice, Physician, Practice Of Medicine
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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*
October 13th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Don't Mix, Healthcare reform, James Guest, John Mackey, 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*
October 12th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Cardiology, Finance, Funding, healthcare, Healthcare reform, Monetary, Musical Chairs, Seniors, Specialists, WSJ
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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*
