November 16th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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When perusing my Twitter feed [one] morning, I stumbled onto this post directed to me:
Patients reaching me in public social spaces is becoming a regular thing. I’ve discussed this in the past, but I think it bears repeating. So here’s what I did:
I understood the mom’s needs. Patients resort to “nontraditional” means of communication when the traditional channels fail to meet their needs. Recognize that these patients (or parents in my case) are simply advocating for themselves. My specialty struggles with a shortage of physicians, so we’re dependent upon phone triage to sort out the really sick from the less-than-sick. It’s an imperfect system and consequently parents find themselves having to speak up when the gravity of their child’s condition hasn’t been properly appreciated.
I took the conversation offline. I don’t discuss patient problems in places where others can see, so my first order of business in this case was to get the conversation to a place where it can be private. I called the mom, found out what was going on, and rearranged her appointment to a time appropriate to the child’s problem. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 1st, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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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*
October 26th, 2010 by Jennifer Shine Dyer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
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When it comes to understanding medical information, even the most sophisticated patient may not be “smarter than a fifth grader.”
In one of the largest studies of the links between health literacy and poor health outcomes, involving 14,000 patients with type 2 diabetes, researchers at the University of California San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente found that more than half the patients reported problems learning about their condition and 40 percent needed help reading medical materials. The patients with limited health literacy were 30 to 40 percent more likely to experience hypoglycemia — dangerously low blood sugar that can be caused if medications are not taken as instructed — than those with an adequate understanding of medical information.
Now, federal and state officials are pushing public health professionals, doctors, and insurers to simplify the language they use to communicate with the public in patient handouts, medical forms, and health websites. More than two-thirds of the state Medicaid agencies call for health material to be written at a reading level between the fourth and sixth grades.
A new federal program called the Health Literacy Action Plan is promoting simplified language nationwide. And some health insurers, doctors’ practices, and hospitals have begun using specialized software that scans documents looking for hard-to-understand words and phrases and suggests plain-English replacements. Read more »
September 25th, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Humor, Opinion, Research, True Stories
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At TCOYD [Taking Control Of Your Diabetes], one of the sessions I attended was about Diabetes Police (Healthcare Providers) and Diabetes Criminals (People With Diabetes). And I was a little taken aback by the title of the session, but we used it to our advantage when we walked into the session a few minutes after it had already started.
“Okay, we see a few late stragglers in here. It’s not like they had to be on time or anything,” Dr. Edelman quipped from the front of the room, giving us a smirk.
“I’m sorry we’re late. But what do you expect? We’re the criminals, man!” I shot back at him. And the crew of us “criminals” took up the last few rows, our smartphones at the ready to Tweet out the best of the session. (We were the total nerd row.
The charismatic team of Dr. Bill Polansky and Dr. Steve Edelman were running this session, and it was packed with both PWDs [people with diabetes], caregivers, and medical professionals. Bill and Steve took to the white board, asking first for complaints that PWDs have about healthcare providers. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
September 6th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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A new patient recently said he was referred to me after his last doctor had left medicine. His old doctor always looked unhappy and burned out, he noted.
Burnout affects more than half of doctors, according to researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Beyond mere job dissatisfaction, these doctors are emotionally exhausted to the point where they lose focus. They tend to be more depressed — perhaps one reason why doctors have a higher suicide rate than the general population.
While burnout can happen in any profession, the performance of stressed-out doctors can hurt someone else: Patients. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
