1) The Progressive Pulse: “[NC gubernatorial candidate] Pat McCrory seems more obsessed with ‘tort reform’ ““ lowering malpractice insurance costs for doctors ““ than with health reform ““ lowering health insurance premiums for everyone.”
My take: Tort reform begets health reform. If the fear of baseless liability is removed, physicians will be less apt to order defensive tests or reflexively advise patients to go to the emergency room. In a perfect world, costs will be driven down leading to lower premiums for everyone.
2) Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling attributes the debacle surrounding the diagnosis of his shoulder to “medical egos“.
My take: This is demonstrative of medicine’s inherent uncertainly. In many cases, there are significant gray areas with multiple treatment approaches. That’s why doctors have differing opinions. Patients want black and white, and that isn’t possible.
Physician egos are not to blame for the confusion surrounding Schilling’s diagnosis. There are several ways to fix a shoulder skin a cat, and no where is that more true than in medicine. Schilling needs to come to grips with that and stop blaming his doctors.
3) Well: “Providing a surgeon’s e-mail address nearly triples the likelihood that a patient will contact the doctor about the surgery.”
My take: That’s a no-brainer. Many patients prefer to communicate with their doctors via e-mail. Believe it or not, physicians would be just as enthusiastic to return the favor. E-mail cuts down on phone calls, and a sizable number of complaints can be handled over the internet.
It comes as no surprise that common sense is impeded by hurdles. HIPAA forbids physician-patient communication over standard e-mail because it is not encrypted. Cumbersome third-party applications have to be used for the physician to legally respond over e-mail.
E-mails are also rarely reimbursed by insurance companies, giving physicians no financial incentive to pursue this route.
If patients truly want expanded physician e-mail use, the government and insurance companies need to be lobbied to remove these obstacles.
