July 21st, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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Most doctors have a love/hate (and mainly hate) relationship with health insurance companies. We struggle with their confusing and complex coding rules in an effort to be reimbursed for our care of patients. When patients leave the office, they may think that a bill is sent to their insurance company and payment follows. More often than not it rarely happens that way.
I am staring at an explanation of benefits (EOB) from Blue Shield of California for a patient I saw for a physical exam and Pap test. This patient had recently been hospitalized with a life threatening throat infection and abscess and saw me for needed follow up. I spent about 45 minutes with the patient, reviewing the events leading to hospitalization, coordinating the medications, as well as addressing the routine screening and examination of a middle aged woman with some chronic health problems. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 19th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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One doesn’t usually look to the Federal Register to define meaning or purpose (philosophers, yes, but bureaucrats?), but the federal government has officially ruled on what constitutes “meaningful use” — for the purposes of distributing dollars to clinicians for electronic health records.
The Wall Street Journal’s health blog has an excellent synopsis of the rule and the reaction from different interest groups and experts, and the New England Journal of Medicine has a very clear explanation and summary of its key elements by David Blumenthal, M.D., F.A.C.P., the federal government’s coordinator of health information technology. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
July 18th, 2010 by Jon LaPook, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, True Stories, Video
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FilmAid International provides the children of Haiti what many doctors can’t bring earthquake survivors — a moment to forget about the pain and suffering the last six months has brought. Dr. Jon LaPook reports.
Click HERE to watch the CBS Evening News video.
July 18th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
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Today I refer you to an excellent post by Peter A. Lipson, M.D., at the blog Science Based Medicine entitled “HuffPo blogger claims skin cancer is conspiracy.”
The post focuses on an article by someone who contends that the link between sunlight and skin cancer is a conspiracy by dermatologists and the cosmetic dermatology industry. Dr. Lipson’s highly insightful analysis about the “interview” process and how doctors must act these days on behalf of their patients concludes:
This article shows a misunderstanding of journalistic ethics, medical ethics, and medical science. It’s a disaster. And it’s no surprise that it’s in the Huffington Post.
While this is a medicine story, my question relates to why an organization with a lot of great front-page news so frequently posts medical articles that are wrong and, sometimes, downright dangerous.
Read the article first, then read Dr. Lipson’s analysis.
Disclosure: I am an occasional contributor to Science Based Medicine but, like all contributors there, receive no compensation.
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
July 18th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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What would you be if life gave you a do-over, and stipulated you couldn’t be what you are now?
It’s true, I’m a dreamer. I cried during “Stand and Deliver.” A believer in the power of passionate leadership am I.
Finally, this Saturday morning, I was able to drink coffee, eat bagels and read the paper. Ah, it felt so good. And in doing so I was moved by the WSJ piece on Teachers for America, an organization that allows recent Ivy league graduates to try their hand at being “Kimo-sabes.”
As a dreamer, I often find myself thinking of what I would be after finishing a stint as a doctor, or even more dreamer-esque, what would I be if I wasn’t a doctor. For me, an equally-attractive job to doctoring would have to entail contributing something positive to humanity.
One of the coolest things about being a doctor is asking patients what they do. Not just to find out how much one’s occupation contributes to the inflammatory soup of life, but also to feed a dreamer’s visions. Few patient occupations pique my interest more than teaching. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
