August 13th, 2011 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
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A rumble of discontent is being heard across the dietary supplement industry since a draft guidance document was published last month by the US Food and Drug Administration. In response to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act signed into law in January by President Obama, the FDA was required to produce documents requiring dietary supplement and foods companies to submit safety information on any new dietary ingredient (NDI) placed into products after 1994.
The guidance document is open for comments from industry but, when issued, a final rule will require dietary supplement products to file a claim of a New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) for any supplement component that was not part of the diet before 1994. What seems to be riling up the industry is that any change in supplement composition after 1994 will require filing of a NDI disclosure. That is, if you as a manufacturer add more DHA to your fish oil supplement, you have to file a NDI notification.
Stepping back, the goal of the FSMA makes perfect sense: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 12th, 2011 by Emergiblog in Opinion
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You want to be a registered nurse?
Let’s cut through the B.S. and get real about it.
Put a hold on all this soft-focus “I live to care!” or “It gives my life meaning…”
Here’s the reality.
***
You will study your butt off.
Nursing science is based on biology, chemistry, microbiology, anatomy, physiology, psychology, sociology and philosophy. Yeah, every single one of them. You will incorporate those into every decision you make in your practice. It’s called critical thinking. You master it and become a professional, or you don’t and you become a robotic technician.
Bottom line.
Your choice.
Oh, and the studying doesn’t stop after you graduate. Nursing school is just the warm-up.
***
The work is physically exhausting and emotionally demanding. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
June 8th, 2011 by DrWes in Health Policy
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We certainly have seen regulations upon regulations appear for health care over the past several years, and this letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal (1 June 2011) from the Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Nancy A. Nord, should cause us all to pause:
As a commissioner at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), I can attest that no such (regulatory reform) activity is happening at this agency. We certainly have not combed through our regulations to eliminate those that are “out-of-date, unnecessary, [or] excessively burdensome,” as he suggests is being done across the government. Instead, we are regulating at an unprecedented pace and have pretty much abandoned any efforts to weigh societal benefits from regulations with the costs imposed on the public.
In health care, we have seen an unprecedented rise in regulations for in-hospital MRSA screening while little data have been forthcoming about its patient benefits. Doctors are under increased administrative burdens to complete Pay for Performance questionnaires without any evidence of their benefit to patients. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 29th, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Opinion
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Doctors are pushed to adopt electronic medical records harder than ever before.
However, costs are often the prohibitive obstacle, and whether the current generation of EMRs improve patient care remains in question.
But what about liability? Surely, more complete, legible medical records would reduce the risk of being sued. Right?
Well, it’s not that cut and dry. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
September 29th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Policy, Opinion
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Ever wonder why your physician only spends 5-10 rushed minutes with you during your office visit? You may think it’s because there are simply too many patients vying for her time, but that’s not the real reason. The root cause is that health insurance companies are stealing time from your visit by requiring excessive documentation from your doctor. She can’t give you the time you need, because doing so would put her out of business.
In a special report on the administrative burden of healthcare, MedPage Today revealed that PCPs spend about one third of their income on documentation required by health insurers. Because they run a business with thin margins, they must increase the volume of patients they treat in order to cover the salaries of the staff required to manage this “paper weight.”
About 49% of all physicians have said that they are considering retiring or quitting medicine in the next two years (the rate is lower for specialists), largely because of increasing documentation requirements and decreasing reimbursement. Read more »
