Tag: "doctors"

A Warning about Warnings

David Henderson had a perceptive post the other day about California’s Proposition 65, which requires a warning label on any product that contains carcinogens, no matter how small the risk. David’s point: if every product contains a warning label, warnings become irrelevant.

A similar problem occurs in medicine, where doctors and other health professionals are developing “alarm fatigue,” causing them to become desensitized and immune to alarm sounds set off by medical devices used for monitoring and treating patients:

According to the commission, between 85 percent and 99 percent of alarm signals do not require clinical intervention. As a consequence, hospital workers may respond by turning the alarms off, reducing their volume or even changing their settings to a level deemed unsafe for patients. Thus, those suffering from alarm fatigue may potentially ignore real emergencies — a circumstance that could have very real implications for patients.

Source: Kaiser Health News.

Apr 19, 2013 | 10 comments | by

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Sen. Max Baucus: fears President Barack Obama’s health care law is headed for a “huge train wreck.”

Veterinarian punished for engaging in Internet consultations.

The $35 billion initiative to promote the use of electronic health records is actually raising costs; and that’s only one of the problems.

Doctors lobby to reduce health care labor shortage, leaving out nurses, others.

Apr 18, 2013 | 11 comments | by

Fattest Regions in the U.S., and Other Links

Where do the fattest people in the U.S. live? Hint: it’s not the South.

Do apple-shaped people get more kidney disease?

People are less likely to trust and follow the advice of a fat doctor.

Why you can’t eat only one potato chip.

Apr 15, 2013 | 11 comments | by

Concierge Medicine is the New Trend, and Other Links

The economics of concierge medicine.

Doctor owned hospitals outperform others on quality measures.

What if we all died at forty?

How American parents are different: we’re obsessed with cognitive skills.

Apr 15, 2013 | 13 comments | by

Performance Variation on ED Measures, and Other Links

For-profit hospitals are outperforming nonprofit and public hospitals in treating emergency department patients for stroke, heart attack and pneumonia.

How doctors die: they don’t die like the rest of us. HT: Jason Shafrin.

America has the most progressive tax system in the world.

Krugman wrong again: This time about Herbert Hoover.

Apr 08, 2013 | 8 comments | by

A Market for Chronic Care?

It’s not just sore throats and flu shots anymore. Walgreens today became the first retail store chain to expand its health care services to include diagnosing and treating patients for chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and high cholesterol…

Retail clinics generally appeal to consumers looking for convenience and cost savings. Costs are roughly 30 percent to 40 percent less than similar care at doctor’s offices and 80 percent cheaper than at an emergency room, according to a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

This is from Kaiser Health News.

Apr 04, 2013 | 10 comments | by

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Only 2 percent of E-prescribing alerts prompted any action from physicians during patient visits. Most alerts were “too much, too late.”

The marriage tax: Overturning DOMA could increase federal tax revenues by $1 billion a year.

Kaiser Health News tells you everything that can go wrong with a Health Savings Account.

Apr 03, 2013 | 7 comments | by

The Market for Second Opinions

ConsultingMD, a new second-opinion firm, offers access to otherwise unreachable, top-class doctors. It signs up medical luminaries by invitation only, making them remotely available to individuals and corporate clients. “Now, a doctor at home on a weekend,” Dr. Hofmann says, “can lend his expertise and be a ‘hero’ to a patient in San Diego, with a nearly real-time turnaround.” Say 72 hours, not two months…

In an estimated 60% of cases, an alternate treatment is recommended — often one that’s more conservative and cheaper. At ConsultingMD, 6 out of 10 cases reviewed by doctors had been misdiagnosed or mistreated. At the Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic in New York State, second opinions led to the cancellation of 73% of 1,053 surgeries in favor of less-invasive options.

The Wall Street Journal. HT: Jason Shafrin.

Apr 01, 2013 | 11 comments | by

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Doctors don’t want patients to see their electronic medical records.

38% of hospital readmissions are avoidable.

Fast food companies: ObamaCare may not be so bad if the employees don’t sign up for insurance.

HHS: On using Medicaid money to buy private insurance: “Yes” to Arkansas. “No” to Tennessee.

Or did it? Gov. Haslam: “Of our request to Medicaid, we got one or two yes’s, one or two no’s, and a whole lot of I don’t knows.“

Mar 28, 2013 | 12 comments | by

You Can Get Prices for Hip Replacements After All

Design: We randomly selected 2 hospitals from each state (plus Washington, DC) that perform THA, as well as the 20 top-ranked orthopedic hospitals according to U.S. News and World Report rankings. We contacted each hospital by telephone between May 2011 and July 2012. Using a standardized script, we requested from each hospital the lowest complete “bundled price” (hospital plus physician fees) for an elective THA that was required by one of the author’s 62-year-old grandmother.

Results: Nine top-ranked hospitals (45%) and 10 non-top-ranked hospitals (10%) were able to provide a complete bundled price (P < .001). We were able to obtain a complete price estimate from an additional 3 top-ranked hospitals (15%) and 54 non–top-ranked hospitals (53%) (P = .002) by contacting the hospital and physician separately. The range of complete prices was wide for both top-ranked ($12,500 -$105,000) and non-top-ranked hospitals ($11,100 – $125,798).

This is from JAMA Internal Medicine.

Mar 26, 2013 | 14 comments | by
« Previous Page — Next Page »