Isn't a single-payer system supposed to solve these problems? Apparently not, as this scenario in Canada sounds suspiciously like what's happening Stateside:
With no ability to address changing environments in their businesses and the government "paying the piper", physicians soon began to lose their professionalism, and, as the only means of controlling their incomes, began choosing what they would and would not do, depending on time involved, remuneration per ...
Pressure continues to mount on UnitedHealth in the LabCorp scandal, but what they are doing the physicians may just be the tip of the iceberg:
I agree that UnitedHealth has stirred up a hornet's nest with this notion of penalizing physicians for the behavior of their patients. I suspect that the company will not formally retract the policy because they may be desperate enough to actually enforce it, or ...
Reimbursements for even routine vaccines like the MMR are hurting the vaccination coverage for children:
Pediatricians spend tens of thousands of dollars and must frequently wait months before payment by payers (including Medicaid and private health plans). Often payments are below the cost of the vaccine. Gardasil, the new cervical cancer vaccine, costs physicians $360 for the recommended series of three doses per person. RotaTeq, the vaccine against diarrhea-causing ...
Backlash continues on Michael Moore's Cuba stunt, with some revealing pictures:
Only, it isn't the best. Not near it. Those foreigners and wealthy people who go to Cuba, including the people that Michael Moore are bringing down, are only shown the few top of the line facilities which probably are some of the best in the world. It's a huge propaganda campaign aimed at deceiving people into believing that Cuba ...
A story in today's WSJ questions Gardasil's efficacy:
But behind the scenes, Gardasil has been dogged by uncertainty about how effective it really is. Merck won approval for the vaccine based on research that showed it protected against two strains of the human papillomavirus, known as HPV 16 and 18, that are thought to cause 70% of cervical-cancer cases. The Food and Drug Administration didn't ask its panel of ...
Bruce Kesler points out that the majority are quite happy with their health care:
As I pointed out here, the Trojan Horse of the uninsured is overstated, to propel nationalized health care, and used to undermine the health care of 80% of Americans. The latest poll of the privately insured (consistent with many other polls), for example,. . . found most U.S. workers are very satisfied with their ...
One stunt is detailed in the NY Post. Get ready for some single-payer love in his upcoming film:
Filmmaker Michael Moore's production company took ailing Ground Zero responders to Cuba in a stunt aimed at showing that the U.S. health-care system is inferior to Fidel Castro's socialized medicine, according to several sources with knowledge of the trip . . .
. . . But the sick ...
More are not willing to take the risks of specialty call in the ER. So hospitals are starting to show them the money:
Until recently, specialists accepted on-call shifts in return for admitting privileges. But many now expect to be compensated for keeping their beepers on during nights and weekends. The change in the relationship between specialists and hospitals is being debated in the medical community, with ...
Two "anti-aging" osteopaths find a way to add M.D. after their names. Are they afraid of not selling enough books with their D.O. degree?
Both men received medical degrees in 1998 from the Central American Health Sciences University in Belize, without, they acknowledged, ever having studied in the country. Dr. Klatz and Dr. Goldman say through their lawyer that they earned their medical degrees with transfer credit from ...
"Just admit the patient to medicine."
Been there, done that. It's the only service in the hospital that can't refuse admissions. Scalpel with another example.
There are two major routes that unrestrained persons take in a front-end MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident). Up-and-over or down-and-under (AKA "submarining"). With up-and-over, the upper body launches forward and up. The head strikes the windshield. (This produces the classic "windshield star") Your injuries here include concussion, scalp laceration, and various brain bleeds. You can suspect fractured cervical vertebrae (and if you have a fracture with compromise to ...
Believe it or not, one point me and Ezra Klein agree on. Even with his socialist views, he admits that cost-sharing is inevitable. Finally, a bit of reality is sinking into the liberal thinkers:
But even though conservatives have embraced a crude, even regressive, form of cost-sharing, there's a kernel of insight to their account. In 1965, the average American received a bit under $1,000 in health ...
Solutions to a pressing health problem are fighting an uphill battle:
But across the country, the new rules are also sparking a backlash among parents, children and even some teachers and school officials. The efforts often draw derision for being too extreme and demonizing children. Arkansas, the first state to pass legislation requiring schools measure students' body-mass index, backtracked last month and now allows parents to refuse the assessment. The ...
Orac takes stock of his critical injuries. Wear your seatbelts people:
Corzine required seven units of blood and needed to undergo surgery to fix his femur. Even if he does not suffer complications from his chest injury, such as pneumonia and ARDS, he will likely not be able to walk again for months, and will require more surgeries to wash out the damaged and devitalized tissue and to complete ...
Blogs are exclusively responsible for the current AstraZeneca scandal:
Where was the mainstream media in all this? Almost entirely absent. But already, the episode signals a new chapter in the way the pharmaceutical industry is being scrutinized and to whom drugmakers must answer, like it or not. Blogs, whether run by whistleblowers, marketers, patients or journalists, are a new front. And there's no going back.Peter Rost and Ed ...
They come up with an asinine medical dispensing rule. Shadowfax and Kim at Emergiblog vent. Once again, those that make the rules don't live in the real world.
The strongest point of the VA system is their EHR. I used it extensively during medical school, and really is the only feature that should be copied from the VA system. DB and #1 Dinosaur comment on a Washington Post article.
The NY Times on hip resurfacing, a growing alternative to hip replacement. UnitedHealth apparently is behind the curve:
He said his insurer, United Healthcare, initially denied coverage because he wanted to go out of the approved doctors' network and that several of the United representatives whom he spoke with on the phone were confused because they had never heard of the procedure. United eventually provided oral approval. Mr. ...
It's seems inevitable that out-of-pocket expenses will soon be a reality in the UK's health care system.
If you thought the price of prescription drugs, you're missing more important factors. Charlie Baker explains.
A version of this column was published on April 24, 2012 in USA Today. There has been a recent uptick of elderly men...
The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today. I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic...
The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph. Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors...
The following column was published on April 11, 2012 in CNN. When you visit the doctor, chances are you are given a...
As a cardiac electrophysiologist, I have had to discuss bad news with patients and families more times than I would like during...
He looked dead. The paramedics brought him down the hall toward one of my critical care beds, and for a moment I...
I was recently appointed the Assistant Director of the Yale Cancer Center with the portfolio of Diversity/Disparities. While I’m not sure I’m...
How do you define a “good” doc? I was reading the patient responses to an article here on KevinMD.com and was saddened...
I was honored to be part of a beautiful experience in late January of 2011. It was the death of my mother-in-law...
Theirs is a lonely journey; to be moving towards the separation and end of all things known and loved. Being with a...
As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert....
Nothing will force you to live life on your own terms faster than almost losing it. In 2008, I was on fire....
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." So begins a story called A Tale of Two...
The nation’s “safety net” hospitals are designed to ensure that uninsured, lower income and indigent populations receive adequate medical care – a...
Technology to lower costs rather than accelerate them. Smart phones to increase physician and other providers’ productivity. Fewer primary care physicians but...
It is both conventional wisdom and factual truth that, unimpeded, American healthcare cost inflation will bankrupt the United States economically, educationally, socially,...
Every month, hundreds of thousands of people look for a doctor on Google. As an amazing practitioner, your site deserves to be...
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the physician’s office were the tall cabinets filled with manila folders, tabbed with...
This example of a disaster waiting to happen, in the form of an error-promoting CPOE, is a poster example of why the...
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Continuing our efforts to move medicine forward while prioritizing patient care and minimizing...
Prior to 1794, farms across the world could only pick cotton as fast as humanly possible. In the late 18th century, Eli Whitney...
Social media in healthcare is all the rage these days. You can’t visit even one physician-oriented website without someone breathlessly advising you...
Want to understand social media? Physicians wanting to learn about social media must learn transparency. We must learn transparency on a personal...
It was my first ER shift in charge of the resuscitation area. Needless to say, my adrenaline and nerves were firing like...
