Comments on: When compassion meets progress in American health care http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: MarylandMDhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html#comment-114994 MarylandMD Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:39:29 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40773#comment-114994 In a heartbeat, I would take somewhat less than "the best" for EVERYONE over the current system that gives "the best" to a good number (but leaves out a very large minority). The only thing our system is truly best at is wasting enormous amounts of money.You state: "I’ve seen the poorest, drug-abusing, cigarette-consuming individual receive the best care imaginable for lung disease, renal-failure, cancer or trauma." While I have a tremendous respect for the work done by Emergency Medicine specialists, this statement reflects the myopia that can result from looking at the healthcare system solely from the inside of the ER. Have you followed ANY of the patients that you send up to the floor or back home from the ER? For 2 weeks? 4 months? 6 years? How much luck does your poor drug-abusing smoker with lung cancer have in finding an oncologist to provide outpatient chemotherapy? Once that poor patient leaves the hospital, without insurance, he or she has little if any chance of seeing anything remotely resembling "the best" we have to offer. In a heartbeat, I would take somewhat less than “the best” for EVERYONE over the current system that gives “the best” to a good number (but leaves out a very large minority). The only thing our system is truly best at is wasting enormous amounts of money.

You state: “I’ve seen the poorest, drug-abusing, cigarette-consuming individual receive the best care imaginable for lung disease, renal-failure, cancer or trauma.” While I have a tremendous respect for the work done by Emergency Medicine specialists, this statement reflects the myopia that can result from looking at the healthcare system solely from the inside of the ER. Have you followed ANY of the patients that you send up to the floor or back home from the ER? For 2 weeks? 4 months? 6 years? How much luck does your poor drug-abusing smoker with lung cancer have in finding an oncologist to provide outpatient chemotherapy? Once that poor patient leaves the hospital, without insurance, he or she has little if any chance of seeing anything remotely resembling “the best” we have to offer.

]]> By: edwinleap.com | Compassion and technologyhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html#comment-114983 edwinleap.com | Compassion and technology Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:54:49 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40773#comment-114983 [...] http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html [...] [...] http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html [...]

]]> By: Melissa Kennedy MDhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html#comment-114977 Melissa Kennedy MD Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:13:47 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40773#comment-114977 While I agree that our system does many things well and can provide care that would have been considered miraculous not too long ago, I disagree with the premise that we are giving "the best of all, to as many as possible." The poor *can* receive the best care--when they have an emergency condition to which EMTALA applies. What they don't receive is the preventive and primary care that would decrease their chances of needing that high-tech, complex, expensive care. It's easy to overlook that fact from the perspective of the emergency physician. In the ED, we also don't directly see the financial consequences of the medical bills that are generated. The safety net of the ED is crucial, but it is not an adequate substitute for primary care that is available to everyone. While I agree that our system does many things well and can provide care that would have been considered miraculous not too long ago, I disagree with the premise that we are giving “the best of all, to as many as possible.” The poor *can* receive the best care–when they have an emergency condition to which EMTALA applies. What they don’t receive is the preventive and primary care that would decrease their chances of needing that high-tech, complex, expensive care. It’s easy to overlook that fact from the perspective of the emergency physician. In the ED, we also don’t directly see the financial consequences of the medical bills that are generated. The safety net of the ED is crucial, but it is not an adequate substitute for primary care that is available to everyone.

]]> By: Lyka from Air Ambulance Serviceshttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/10/compassion-meets-progress-american-health-care.html#comment-114963 Lyka from Air Ambulance Services Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:24:01 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=40773#comment-114963 Medigap policies assist pay some of the health care expenses that the Original Medicare Plan doesn’t cover. If you are in the Original Medicare Plan and have a Medigap policy, then Medicare and your Medigap policy will reimburse both their shares of covered health care expenses. Medigap policies assist pay some of the health care expenses that the Original Medicare Plan doesn’t cover. If you are in the Original Medicare Plan and have a Medigap policy, then Medicare and your Medigap policy will reimburse both their shares of covered health care expenses.

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