Reporting from the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, empowered patient Andrew Schorr discusses how long it can take before a study is presented at ASCO and the role of clinical trials in giving patients access to the medicines of tomorrow today.
What’s Old is New at ASCO from Patient Power® on Vimeo.
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
Last week I heard a lecture about Accountable Care Organizations by a physician leader working for one of the major hospital systems. His discussion made me realize that large physician organizations and hospitals are spending lots of time solving problems of quality medical care. In my opinion quality medical care has not been adequately defined.
A working definition right now is to decrease hospital stays, efficient medical care for a disease at lower cost, avoidance of medical errors in the hospital, and avoidance of hospital acquired infections. These are important goals. They must be attached to monetary incentives. Many of these problems can be solved now.
The solution demands the development of processes of care. An important question is how much money will process improvement save? I estimate that this process improvement could save an estimated 7 to 10% of the healthcare dollar.
The real question should be focused on how to repair the healthcare system by decreasing costs while improving the health of Americans. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
The worst-kept secret in journalism circles recently was that the New York Times was planning an article critical of the Dartmouth Atlas. Among the main points in the article:
• “The mistaken belief that the Dartmouth research proves that cheaper care is better care is widespread.”
• “The atlas’s hospital rankings do not take into account care that prolongs or improves lives.”
• “Even Dartmouth’s claims about which hospitals and regions are cheapest may be suspect.”
• “Failing to make basic data adjustments undermines the geographic variations the atlas purports to show.”
The Times has also published the correspondence it had with the Dartmouth team about methodology questions.
The Dartmouth team challenges each of these criticisms. The team says the Times made at least five factual errors and several misrepresentations. They write:
“What is truly unfortunate is that the Times missed an opportunity to help educate the American public about what our research actually shows — or about the breadth of agreement about what our findings mean for health care reform.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
Red meat consumption has been linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several types of cancer (breast, colorectal, stomach, bladder, prostate, and lymphoma).
There are plausible mechanisms: Meat is a source of carcinogens, iron that may increase oxidative damage, and saturated fat. But correlation and plausibility are not enough to establish causation.
Is red meat really dangerous? If so, how great is the risk? A couple of recent studies have tried to shed light on these questions, but they have raised more questions than they have answered. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
Japanese dried plums may suppress H1N1 influenza viruses, report researchers. In Japan, umeboshi (literally, “dried plum”) is thought to convey good digestion and cure hangovers. It’s the Japanese version of “an apple a day.”
Recently, Wakayama Medical University researchers added umeboshi extracts to cells infected with the H1N1 virus and found it inhibited viral growth by 90 percent after seven hours. Researchers think that a polyphenol in the food may suppress H1N1. By the way, Wakayama prefecture is the heart of Japan’s plum-growing region. (Hindustan Times, Wikipedia)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
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