Brought to you by MedPage Today.
1. 5 Ways Obama's Budget Would Change Medicare. President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget includes a variety of what he says are "manageable" changes for Medicare's 54 million beneficiaries as well as for the hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers that serve them.
2. Boston Bombing: Finding Evidence in the ER. In the aftermath of Monday's ...
Read more...
“Physicians care more about their pocketbooks than taking care of patients. They are self-interested and overpaid. They want to control everything. They don’t know what life is like in the real world of patients.”
By now, I am sure that physician readers of this blog can feel their blood boiling, for good reason. Why would I, as the principal staff advocate for internal medicine physicians, put such pernicious, unfair, inaccurate quotes ...
Read more...
We all know about Medicare, the federal government health insurance program for Americans who are over the age of 65 and/or disabled. We know that as we have begun to live longer, the Medicare population has ballooned and the costs of the program are, by most estimates, “unsustainable.”
We also know that Medicare, despite being a government program, is beloved by America’s seniors. If it was an unpopular program, Congress would ...
Read more...
An elderly doctor passes away, and he find himself standing before the Pearly Gates. The Almighty greets him and says, “In recognition of your stellar life of service to your patients, family and community, I welcome you to paradise. And because I know that doctors have a great sense of curiosity about all things, you can now ask me any question—any—and I will answer it.” The doctor ponders for a ...
Read more...
It can be difficult to keep up with the jargon, countless proposals and complicated policies that surround the debate over Medicare reform. Whether you are discussing premium support, changing the eligibility age or Medicare for All, there is one relatively simple concept that patients should make a point to pay attention to – one that directly impacts them – and is the ...
Read more...
From 1974 to 1982, a group of researchers conducted the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. In lay terms, what they did was assign people to different levels of insurance coverage, with a particular focus on the amount of co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles that people had to pay, and then they observed their use of the health care system. As you might expect, those who had to pay more out of their ...
Read more...
Over the past several months, the state of Oregon has been pursuing an aggressive approach to solving the healthcare crisis that many states are dealing with.
A couple of years ago Oregon was facing a $2 billion deficit in their Medicaid program, with few solutions to repair the situation. The governor was reluctant to take the obvious step of cutting doctors' pay for ...
Read more...
On January 7, 2013, a federal appeals court rejected six Georgia primary care physicians’ (PCPs) challenge to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 20-year, sole-source relationship with the secretive, specialist-dominated federal advisory committee that determines the relative value of medical services. The American Medical Association’s (AMA) Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) is, in the court’s view, not subject to ...
Read more...
This week, hundreds of our fellow physicians and medical students gathered in Washington, D.C., for the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference, which is held in the capital city each February. Attendees heard from members of Congress, top administration officials including HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, journalists and other experts about the health policy issues ...
Read more...
I know. I know. Medicare is the insurance that all of us love to hate. But being both an internist and geriatrician, I have learned to see the good side of the sometimes annoying government program for several reasons:
1. Medicare’s fee schedule. It’s bad, but not that bad. Sure, Medicare’s fee schedule has only increased 3.1% over the past 12 years, while ...
Read more...
"A comprehensive and extremely useful roadmap for doctors."
-Eric Topol, MD, author of The Creative Destruction of Medicine
Learn More...
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