New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), which runs 11 hospitals in four of the five boroughs of New York, is negotiating a new deal with the union representing some 3,300 salaried physicians. The corporation wants to base MD pay raises on 13 quality indicators.
The New York Times article that broke the story does not list all of the indicators but mentioned the following: how well patients ...
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As a second year medical student in 1971, I still remember an article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, describing a new phenomenon, The Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome. It was based upon the famous Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson’s fairly tale from the 1800’s.
A vain emperor, who cares for nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from ...
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After reading Dr. Mona Kotech’s article titled “Is the era of patient centered care decidedly anti-physician?” I immediately thought of several instances when knowing my health history and current lab readings were vital for providing me with safe care.
I was born with VACTERL Association, a birth disorder that impacts a variety of systems in the body. I have had more than twelve surgeries and a variety of medical ...
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I am old enough to remember when physicians did not advertise. It was considered a professional ethical issue. Hospital advertising consisted of institutional “We’re here” ads. Anything aggressive by docs or hospitals was considered bad taste… but that was before health care became as competitive as any other type of business.
I have been barraged, as have many of you, by a wave of hospital advertisements as our health care marketplaces ...
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Ensuring that Americans who live in rural areas have access to healthcare has always been a policy priority. In healthcare, where nearly every policy decision seems contentious and partisan, there has been widespread, bipartisan support for helping providers who work in rural areas. The hallmark of the policy effort has been the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) program– and new evidence from our latest paper in the Journal of the ...
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Hospitals can save you, but they can also harm you. So how can you stay safe in hospitals? Follow these 12 life-saving tips:
1. Never go alone. Always bring someone else—a trusted family member or friend—with you. That person will be your primary advocate, and can serve as an extra set of eyes and ears to help make sure you are safe. (This tip applies to routine doctors’ appointments too; always ...
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My son has been accepted into medical school, we learned last week, and I must say I’m about as happy a mother and a physician as you could find anywhere. For everything that’s wrong with the American healthcare system today, medicine is a wonderful profession and it’s still the greatest honor in the world for a patient to have faith in your skills and care.
It will be interesting to see ...
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In 2010, a surgical scrub technician named Kristen Parker was sentenced to thirty years in federal prison after allegedly diverting fentanyl from operating rooms, injecting herself with the powerful intravenous narcotic, refilling the contaminated syringes with saline, and replacing them to be used on patients. She was infected with hepatitis C, and her drug diversions infected over two dozen patients in the Denver area.
In 2012, David Kwiatkowski, also positive for ...
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As part of the health reform movement, hospitals that meet various quality measures, like reduced readmission rates or improved patient satisfaction measures, get financially rewarded. Those that don’t will be penalized.
How’s it going so far?
Well, it appears that safety net hospitals that can least afford a financial hit are getting dinged, while doctor-owned hospitals are getting rewarded.
Oops.
According to Kaiser Health ...
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First a disclaimer: People often receive compassionate, considerate and effective care at hospitals. They have countless interactions which impart the miracle of human caring and enrich their lives. It is also institutionally prevalent to have haphazard care with poor communication, near misses and avoidable misery.
I have been working at a university hospital emergency room as part of a mini-fellowship in bedside ultrasound. It is the first time I have spent ...
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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
What I’ve learned from saving physicians from suicide
Pamela Wible, MD | PhysicianDear lawmakers: This is what it’s like to be a doctor today
Matthew Moeller, MD | PhysicianIf I’m wrong about guns, can you please explain why?
Claire McCarthy, MD | PhysicianIs Chris Christie too obese to run for president?
Jeffrey Parks, MD | PhysicianPrimary care doctors may no longer be needed
Doug Olson, MD | PhysicianWalgreens moves into primary care, and it’s our own damn fault
Kevin Pho, MD | Kevin's Take