July 28th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
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While the “patient-centered medical home” may be a good idea, it needs a better name. It sounds like a hospice, reports surgeon and columnist Pauline Chen, M.D. She outlines the initial experiences of practices making the transition to the new practice model.
One problem uncovered by pilot projects is that doctors in transition to the practice model have to spend inordinate amounts of time of things other than patients. And while the patients want and welcome the changes, they face a learning curve too, as they move from seeing just the doctor to working with a team of providers for their care.
Physicians suggested using resources from the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a collaborative group set up to help offices make the transition. (New York Times)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
May 26th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, Opinion, Research, Uncategorized
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Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.
— From A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner.”
Internists, I expect, will identify with Edward Bear.
Richard Baron’s study in the NEJM on the amount of work he and his colleagues do outside of an office visit — the “bump, bump, bump” of a busy internal medicine (IM) practice — has resonated with many of his colleagues.
Jay Larson, who often posts comments on this blog, did a similar analysis for his general IM practice in Montana, and found that for every one patient seen in the office, tasks are done for 6 other unscheduled patients. Jay writes: “So really there [are] internists [who] are managing about 130 patients per day. Not much consolation when they only get paid for 18 per day.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
May 12th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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“Bold changes are needed in how the United States delivers and pays for primary care if the key goals of national health reform are to be achieved,” according to the health policy journal Health Affairs, which has released a thematic issue devoted entirely to the crisis in primary care.
(The complete articles are available only to subscribers, but Health Affairs’ blog has a good summary.)
I have spent much of the day reading the journal — 47 articles, and a combined 300 pages of text. Here are my “take-home” messages from the articles. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
