From the archive

The collapse of rural health care: Why small-town hospitals are closing

June 24, 2024Jun 24, 2024

Half a dozen brick steps from the side road led directly to the emergency room (ER). The hospital building resembled a thin strip of warehouse in the middle of a remote small town. A couple of ill patients occupied the beds in the tiny ER. A room beyond the ER served as the intensive care unit (ICU), where the ER doctors frequently checked on patients. The ICU’s location was a …

Is health care shifting towards convenient retail clinics?

David Williams

September 13, 2010Sep 13, 2010

Mark Perry provides an interesting inference from two news stories: a WSJ article that suggests consumers are using less health care and another that reports a big jump in MinuteClinic volumes. Consumers aren’t necessarily consuming less health care like the…

Mark Perry provides an interesting inference from two news stories: a WSJ article that suggests consumers are using less health care and another that reports a big jump in MinuteClinic volumes.

Consumers aren’t necessarily consuming less health care like the WSJ suggests; rather, they are shifting their demand for health care away from expensive, conventional physician offices with limited hours to affordable and convenient retail clinics. Especially

…

Contraceptive pill prices have a huge price range

Leslie Ramirez, MD

September 10, 2010Sep 10, 2010

Do you know that the price of a contraceptive pill in Chicago pharmacies varies from $9 (Trinessa, aka generic Tricyclen, at Target pharmacy) to $84 (Loestrin 24 at Kmart pharmacy) a month? That means, over the course of the year, depending on what pill you take and where you shop, you could drop as little as $84 or — let me get my calculator here — $1008! These prices are if you pay out …

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6 top medical comments, May 3rd, 2009

Kevin

May 3, 2009May 3, 2009

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.1. Carla Kakutani on the lack of primary care access in Massachusetts:So we have a chicken and egg problem. Do we wait health care reform until we have revived…

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.

1. Carla Kakutani on the lack of primary care access in Massachusetts:
So we have a chicken and egg problem. Do we wait health care reform until we have revived US primary care, or is that even possible without health care reform to create the disruption needed to change our entrenched fee-for-service, procedure-happy payment …

Read more…

6 top medical comments, May 3rd, 2009

6 top medical comments, April 19th 2009

Kevin

April 19, 2009Apr 19, 2009

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.1. Manalive on quality measures:It is almost always a leap of faith to apply evidence-based guidelines to the frail elderly, to patients with many medical problems, to alcoholics, to…

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.

1. Manalive on quality measures:
It is almost always a leap of faith to apply evidence-based guidelines to the frail elderly, to patients with many medical problems, to alcoholics, to the poorly insured — in short, to a large percentage of my practice. Accordingly, I have been on the wrong end of too many …

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6 top medical comments, April 19th 2009

5 top medical comments, April 12th 2009

Kevin

April 12, 2009Apr 12, 2009

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.1. Dr. Gwenn on limited health literacy:For us to do a better job with patients and teach them to be better advocates for themselves, we need more time -…

Here are some of the more interesting comments readers have left recently.

1. Dr. Gwenn on limited health literacy:
For us to do a better job with patients and teach them to be better advocates for themselves, we need more time – plain and simple. At the same time, patients need more community supports to understand the complex health world and build the skills they need …

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5 top medical comments, April 12th 2009

Tom Daschle withdraws, and how that will impact health care reform

Kevin Pho, MD

February 4, 2009Feb 4, 2009

There's no shortage of informed opinions on the Tom Daschle debacle, and how this will affect the chances of successful health care reform.I don't pretend to be a political pundit, so instead, here is a collection of selected insights from…

There’s no shortage of informed opinions on the Tom Daschle debacle, and how this will affect the chances of successful health care reform.

I don’t pretend to be a political pundit, so instead, here is a collection of selected insights from news sites and health policy blogs that I regularly read.

First off, the NY Times says it will likely halt the momentum for health reform, and …

How many babies can one woman carry?

Kevin

January 30, 2009Jan 30, 2009

That's a question I was asked more than once, in light of this week's story about the birth of octuplets.For the answer, I'll refer to this article in Slate. The largest reported number of fetuses in a single womb is…

That’s a question I was asked more than once, in light of this week’s story about the birth of octuplets.

For the answer, I’ll refer to this article in Slate. The largest reported number of fetuses in a single womb is 15.

The limit is not so much the number of fetuses, but the combined size and weight. As Christopher Beam explains, “once the total …

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How many babies can one woman carry?

Her hands and feet amputated, a Brazilian model dies from Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis. What happened?

Kevin Pho, MD

January 25, 2009Jan 25, 2009

Mariana Bridi da Costa, a 20-year old Brazilian model, tragically died early Saturday morning from Pseudomonas aeruginosa urosepsis.How can this happen? Miss Bridi da Costa initially presented on December 30th, and was diagnosed with kidney stones. An ultrasound, plain film,…

Mariana Bridi da Costa, a 20-year old Brazilian model, tragically died early Saturday morning from Pseudomonas aeruginosa urosepsis.

How can this happen?

Miss Bridi da Costa initially presented on December 30th, and was diagnosed with kidney stones. An ultrasound, plain film, or CT scan likely would have been done to confirm the diagnosis. I assume that a urinalysis was also performed, and if …

Jett Travolta’s seizure and death, was Scientology a factor?

Kevin

January 3, 2009Jan 3, 2009

Jett Travolta tragically passed away yesterday, after being found unconscious in his hotel room by his caretaker. There is speculation that he had a seizure and hit his head on a bathtub.Travolta apparently had a long history of medical problems,…

Jett Travolta tragically passed away yesterday, after being found unconscious in his hotel room by his caretaker. There is speculation that he had a seizure and hit his head on a bathtub.

Travolta apparently had a long history of medical problems, including Kawasaki disease, which is a vasculitis that primarily affects children. It is one of the most common causes of acquired heart disease in children, and …