Repeat patients to the emergency room are costing millions:
One Camden resident was admitted 113 times in one year, Brenner found. Another was admitted 324 times over the five-year period. The most expensive patient cost $3.5 million over five years. Overall, the city's three hospitals were paid $46 million to care for these top users, most of it from government insurance and New Jersey charity care.(via GruntDoc)
Medicine is often the service of last resort, who has to admit everybody: "The psychiatrist said to me 'is there anyway we can find a reason to admit her to medicine?'"
The twin pressures of teaching and maintaining productivity is straining some residency and fellowship programs.
Does more harm than good: "This practice of early reporting of technologies before they are proven safe or effective introduces unprecedented bias in to any trial: bias for the research subjects, bias of the researcher's perceptions of the technology, and bias for the public at large. The patient who didn't fare so well is never brought forward - this would too unseemly for the institution, the doctor-researcher, and the ...
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| In the Clinic - Dr. Matthew Gardiner, MD, Discusses Indications for Cataract Surgery | |||
classid='clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000' codebase='http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0' WIDTH='380' HEIGHT='240' id='play_continuous_flvs'> Nathan Lanier: Solving the emergency room crisisThe following is a reader take by Nathan Lanier. PNHP is hurting health reformPhysicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) is a group of radical left-leaning doctors in favor of single-payer health care. As progressive blogger Ezra Klein writes, they are opposed to any measure that isn't single-payer: Their take on Obama's health plan is that it's not single payer, so they don't support it. And their take on Health Care for America Now coalition is that it's not pushing single payer, ... Heparin overdosesWould computerized order entry have helped the Texas case? Probably not. Medicare cuts updateSo you’re starting a surgery rotationTips for medical students: "First, you should address everyone as 'ma'am' or 'sir.' That includes the nurses, the techs, and all of the residents and attendings. For some reason, surgeons believe that medicine should be run like the military. Granted, none of them had ever served in the armed forces, but I certainly heard a lot of attendings say, 'This is just like the military.'" E845.0An ICD-9 code for someone hurt in a spaceship? (via Dr. Secretwave101) AbortionsVia the internet: "Some women in countries where abortion is restricted are using the internet to buy medication enabling them to abort a pregnancy at home." When your hospitalist program collapsesFascinating insight about the inner workings of a burgeoning hospitalist program. Many are in their infancy, and the growing pains are still raw. Combine this with the transient nature of hospitalist physicians, and you get a perpetually fluid situation. Someone who cares about Medicare AdvantageA physician who's upset that the Medicare bill passed: "As a family physician, I'm deeply disappointed that the Senate voted on Wednesday to pass a bill that would limit health care choices for our growing aging population." Measles outbreak reduxAll thanks to the anti-vaccine movement. Happy now? How many doctors take Medicare in Texas?58 percent. Maybe that's why both Texas senators flipped their vote. A Child With Asthma
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