Some physicians and physician groups are quite upset about insurers' recent moves to offer employer customers tight, small networks of providers based on quality and cost criteria. In an effort to block these new plans, the AMA and other groups are focusing on the few problems with ratings and avoiding the larger issue - some physicians are just bad actors.
What they should be doing is working closely with health plans ...
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What are entry-level non-clinical physician job salaries?
Let me clarify what I mean by "entry-level" here: I'm referring to non-clinical jobs that physicians may find if they leave clinical medicine to pursue a non-clinical job in a company (such as a medical communications company, a health IT company, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or a consulting company).
So, let's look at several examples:
* A primary care physician who's making $120k/year leaves clinical medicine and begins ...
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Three years ago, the Department of Justice took stock of the orthopedic medical device industry--represented by the five big makers of orthopedic implants--and concluded that it was rampantly violating federal anti-kickback laws with the bribes and favors it was offering to surgeons. Such bribes often came in the form of training grants for those just starting out in the profession, or as lucrative consulting contracts for influential academic orthopedists.
The ...
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Say the words, "Patient-centered medical home," and you're bound to get a variety of opinions.
On this blog alone, there are a variety of guest pieces critical of the effort, saying it does not increase patient satisfaction, nor does it save money.
And that's not good news for its advocates, who are pinning primary care's last hopes on the model.
Medical homes hit the mainstream media recently, ...
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by Kate Atkinson, MD
Six years ago, I organized a group of female healthcare practitioners for a women’s medical journal club. A multidisciplinary team of doctors and NPs from primary care and sub-specialties regularly attended monthly dinners. Invited speakers presented on a variety of topics and over the course of a meeting we exchanged insights while challenging each other on how best to manage our challenging patients.
Our group grew ...
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You've probably had the experience of going to see a primary care physician and wondering about the many aspects of that visit that just didn't make sense.
Why is it so important for me to arrive on time when, in reality, I won't be called back until half an hour (or more) later? What's the point of waiting for another 20 minutes in a chilly examining room for the doctor ...
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by Kristina Fiore
Measures designed to prevent postoperative infections work if measured as a package, but looked at individually they provide no improvement, researchers found.
When analyzing the six components of the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) on an all-or-nothing basis, there was a 15% reduced risk of infection, according to Jonah J. Stulberg, MD, PhD, MPH, of Case Medical Center in Cleveland, and colleagues.
But the three core infection prevention measures taken ...
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Recently, JAMA published a study concluding that doctors are hesitant to report incompetent physicians or those who were impaired. According to the article,
more than a third of docs don't think they're responsible for reporting those who aren't fit to practice, according to the results just published in JAMA. And only 69 percent of the docs who knew about an impaired or incompetent colleague reported them.To those who advocate that the medical ...
You've seen it, somewhere.
Every city in America, and likely the world, has a local magazine. And once a year, that magazine publishes a "Best Docs" issue, usually listing 10 doctors from each specialty who they consider the best of the best.
Dr. Grumpy, for the record, is not biased against this. I've been named a "Best Doc" in my field several times.
And I know most of the other neurologists on the ...
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If we really want to find out how to damn near perfectly manage any medical problem as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, we should be studying how doctors manage the medical problems of the cash-paying doctors they see in their own practice.
Read part one here.
My visit with Dr. Grubman was fairly simple. We discussed allergy shots and how they could possibly help significantly with my dust allergy. Since ...
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"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
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Past 6 Months
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