August 18th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News
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New primary care arrangements show how primary care is evolving — or splitting apart, depending upon one’s perspective.
Retainer fees let one practice handle more patients by phone or email. But, points out Richard Baron, FACP, affluent communities can take advantage of such arrangements, and not every community is. And Sam Fink, FACP, of southern California says tele-visits are no substitute for hands-on care. In another model, nurse-led facilities service the poor in north Philadelphia, and more states are expanding the power of the pen to cover shortages.
Another trend is the shared medical appointment. Led by physicians and conducted by “behaviorists,” the sessions cover a half-dozen or more patients at a time for both primary and specialty care.
Even pharmacists are getting in on primary care. Blue Shield of California is trying a pilot project of pharmacists, believing they have the clinical and patient communication skills to be as effective as doctors, but for less cost. But primary care doctors aren’t completely ceding their profession. There are also pilot projects in California to train more doctors and steer them into communities facing a shortage of primary care services. (USA Today, Fox News, ACP Internist, New York Times, Whittier Daily News)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 18th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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This article was written more for family medicine physicians, but all of us can benefit from self-assessment of potential biases that might affect our judgment. It was also written with the potential bias towards the obese patient in mind, but the article could have been written with any “fill in the blank” bias as the topic.
The article points out that bias among physicians tends to “be implicit rather than explicit because of social pressure for healthcare providers to show tolerance and cultural sensitivity.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
August 17th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
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Sending a child off to college? Call your lawyer first. From the Weekend Wall Street Journal:
After a few clients ran into difficulty getting information about adult children who were ill, Sheila Benninger, an attorney in Chapel Hill, N.C., began recommending that clients’ children designate a health-care power of attorney after they turn 18 to identify who can speak for them if they can’t.
She also includes a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, release form that allows patients to determine who can receive information about their medical care and whether information about treatment for substance abuse, mental health or sexually transmitted diseases can be disclosed.
You don’t have to use a lawyer. Generic health-care power-of-attorney forms can be found online. If the school has a HIPAA release online, it’s best to use that more-tailored document.
Parents should keep a copy in an email folder, where it can be easily accessed in an emergency. And students should designate a general power of attorney so someone can pay bills or handle other issues if they go abroad.
It’s good advice for those of us shipping one more child back to college this week.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
Hat tip: Instapundit
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
August 17th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
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This summer I learned a couple of very important lessons. Drowning kids don’t scream. Mothers have a sixth sense even when it’s not their own child.
On a beautiful warm sunny day in San Diego, my family and our good friends were enjoying a well-deserved vacation. My five-year-old daughter was splashing around with her friends as their father and I observed them from the pool. Though he had to watch three kids, one was already on a swim team and the two younger children had followed their big sister in swim class. He also had some help. His wife was watching the kids from her chair. The scene was certainly picturesque, serene, and unassuming. Children playing happily in the pool. Adults relaxing and talking. It was a great day to be away from home and work.
Who would realize that nearby a little boy would be in serious trouble? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
August 16th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
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One in five Americans didn’t seek medical care for a recent illness or injury, often because of the cost, according to a survey of adults polled by a healthcare consulting firm, and the number of people who saw a doctor fell as well.
Four out of 10 adults said the cost was the main reason not to seek care, a trend that be driven by unemployment and health insurance costs, said a survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. They surveyed more than 4,000 adults. Also, 79 percent of respondents sought medical attention from a doctor or other health care professional in 2010, down from 85 percent in 2009. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
