May 11th, 2010 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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I have to give my dentist credit. He and his staff know when I am due for a cleaning and call me to schedule an appointment without fail. They also call to remind me the day before an appointment. Many dentists, I understand, do similar kinds of things for their patients.
As a patient, I like being reminded — it’s a great service. I also like the fact that someone’s looking out for me. From a business perspective it makes a lot of sense as well. Fewer “no shows,” more cleanings, more billings, and so on.
It’s too bad that more physicians don’t routinely follow up with their patients, particularly when it really counts. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
May 10th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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Yesterday a much-anticipated package arrived in the mail containing a documentary film directed (and acted) by a young emergency room physician, Ryan Flesher, M.D., and produced by a former clinical social worker, Nancy Pando, L.I.C.S.W. The film is called “The Vanishing Oath.”
As background, the film is a 3-year project born in 2007 just before the great U.S. healthcare reform debate began. Over 200 hours of interviews were conducted to explore a simple question:
Why Dr. Flesher had grown to hate medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
May 5th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
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It’s all too easy to try and quantify everything in medicine. We are, after all, under the widely held delusion that medicine is like physics. A thing that follows fixed, predictable mathematical models. A thing reproducible if only algorithm A is followed for this disease and algorithm B is followed for that disease.
This belief is also held by the government, which doesn’t want to pay for readmissions or mistakes. Because it is believed that all things in medicine can be known from an exam, some labs, some tests, and some studies.
Nevertheless, things happen. Disease are transmitted in public or by families. Medications don’t always work. Bodies change. Bodies age. Humans are non-compliant. Humans are suffering from physiologic phenomena we can’t yet comprehend. Viruses are synergistic with other diseases.
The immunity of our patients is affected by their happiness, their diet, their work history, their family. The algorithms necessary to make medicine anything like physics would be mathematically beyond comprehension. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
April 25th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
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Many people like to make a comparison between the airline industry and the medical industry when it comes to protocols.
Is there a maximum age restriction for commercial pilots in the United States? Yes, there is. In 2007, Congress raised the age of forced retirement for commercial pilots from 60 to 65 years old.
In light of that, should physicians be forced to retire after a certain age as well? Should we trust our health to the abilities of a physician who is 70, 75, 80 years or older? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*
April 10th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, True Stories
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Physicians aren’t exempt from the struggles with personal health insurance coverage, affordability, denied coverage, etc.
When I finished my medical training and opened my practice 20 years ago, I had to buy individual coverage. All options included a rider that excluded coverage on my uterus and ovaries due to fibroid surgery during my training, so when I had my TAH & BSO a few years later, the entire cost came out of my pocket. Fortunately I knew how to ask for cost reductions, but still.
My husband and I are both small business individuals. I have always carried our health insurance under my name (office). Over the years we have gone to a health savings account with a high deductible to keep the cost reasonable. Fortunately, we have been mostly healthy. Last month we received a letter from Assurant Health. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
