January 29th, 2010 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
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“Dr. A, your student is here,” the front desk squawks through the intercom. “Sheesh,” I say to myself as I look at my full schedule of patients. Now, don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy teaching. Something I do know is that I could not do teaching full time. I thought about possibly joining a residency program or exploring the possibility of teaching full time at the med school. But, at this point in my career, patient care is still my passion. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*
January 27th, 2010 by AlanDappenMD in Primary Care Wednesdays
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Health and wellness go hand in hand; there is little question of this. I therefore ask why isn’t primary care at the heart of the health and wellness movement? This, I feel, would make outstanding economic sense for all involved.
In an effort to survive these sour economic times, more and more companies are trying to stave off the escalating cost of healthcare by pushing for wellness. There is good reason for this. According to Buck Consultant’s third annual global wellness survey which was cited on the Society of Human Resources Management web site those U.S. companies who measured financial outcomes of their wellness programs reported a 43% reduction in healthcare costs or about two to five percentage points per year. Read more »
January 26th, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Bill will not work. It is based on decreases in physician reimbursement while forcing physicians to increase overhead with unaffordable electronic medical records. More and more physician groups and practices are starting to realize that they cannot make a living from the reimbursement from Medicare. They are quitting taking new Medicare patients and trying to get rid of the old ones by not taking assignment.
President Obama’s idea is to force physicians to be more efficient producers. It is very difficult to force anyone to do anything they cannot afford. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
January 25th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News
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California debuted new rules that specify patients in health maintenance organizations (HMO) see a doctor within 10 days of asking for an appointment. Calls must be return within a half-hour, and health professionals must be available 24/7. Urgent care must be seen in 48 hours.
Richard Frankenstein, FACP, former president of the California Medical Association, told the Los Angeles Times that this places pressure on the HMOs to have a big enough network to deliver what they promise. Critics contend this will force doctors to rush patient care even more, or be especially damaging to rural areas already facing a shortage. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
January 22nd, 2010 by JessicaBerthold in Better Health Network, News
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The Philadelphia Inquirer had an interesting piece Monday about a successful initiative in Camden, NJ (one of the poorest cities in the U.S.) that has dramatically reduced ED visits and readmissions. Among other things, a coalition of primary care providers has banded together to get more patients to see PCPs instead of going straight to the ED. (Appropriate patients are referred from the ED to these providers, for eg). Open-access scheduling, electronic prescribing and chronic disease registries also further the goal of preventive medicine that keeps patients from getting to the point where they need to go to the ED, or need to be admitted to the hospital.
The result? Monthly ED visits down by 32%, hospital admissions–and charges–down by 56%. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*
