Return to McAllen: A Father-Son Interview
By IAN ROBERTSON KIBBE
You are going to hear a little more about McAllen, TX on THCB Shortly. And before we dive into what’s happened there lately, I thought those of you who weren’t here back in the day might want to read an article on THCB from July 2009. Where then THCB editor Ian Kibbe interviewed his dad David Kibbe about what he was doing as a primary care doc in McAllen–Matthew Holt
By now, Dr. Atul Gawande’s article on McAllen’s high cost of health care has been widely read. The article spawned a number of responses and catalyzed a national discussion on cost controls and t...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 27, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Uncategorized David Kibbe Ian Robertson Kibbe McAllen Physicians TX Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 113, Thursday January 26 1pm PT 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday January 19 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are futurist Jeff Goldsmith; THCB regular writer and ponderer of odd juxtapositions Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 26, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Jeff Goldsmith Kim Bellard Matthew Holt rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
Cardiology update: Should mRNA vaccine myocarditis be a contraindication to future COVID-19 vaccinations ?
BY ANISH KOKA
Myopericarditis is a now a well reported complication associated with Sars-Cov-2 (COVID-19) vaccinations. This has been particularly common with the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines (BNT162b2 and mrna-1273), with a particular predilection for young males.
Current guidance by the Australian government “technical advisory groups” as well as the Australian Cardiology Society suggest patients who have experienced myocarditis after an mRNA vaccine may consider a non-mRNA vaccine once “symptom free for at least 6 weeks”.
A just published report of 2 cases from Australia that document myopericarditi...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 26, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Anish Koka mRNA vaccine myocarditis Source Type: blogs
Ultrasound is Ultra-Cool
This study is also a major step forward for the exciting possibility of combining focused ultrasound with targeted delivery of medications or antibodies that normally have limited capability to cross the blood brain barrier from the blood to the brain.”
Similarly, researchers at Yonsei University College of Medicine (South Korea) found that focused ultrasound improved the delivery of Alzheimer’s drugs by over eight times. “While there is no complete cure for dementia, we hope that open BBB [blood brain barrier] surgery using FUS surgery can help give hope to dementia patients,” the lead researcher said.
...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech 3D printing ChatGPT DSP Kim Bellard Ultrasound Source Type: blogs
Matthew ’s health care tidbits: My retina & what it tells us about primary care
Each time I send out the THCB Reader, our newsletter that summarizes the best of THCB (Sign up here!) I include a brief tidbits section. Then I had the brainwave to add them to the blog. They’re short and usually not too sweet! –Matthew Holt
I had a little scare the other night. I was driving home from a weekend in the mountains and I asked my wife if she saw that flashing light. No it wasn’t the cops, and no she hadn’t seen it. Turns out that I had a bright flash if I moved my eye a certain way. Oh, well I assumed I was tired and a good night’s sleep would fix it.
Next morning the flash was sti...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Matthew Holt The Business of Health Care Included Health Navigators primary care Retina Sarah McDonald The Cancer Channel transcarent Source Type: blogs
Can Missouri Pass The Muster
BY MIKE MAGEE
A case has been made that a logical approach to reforming America’s violent and racist leanings would be to adopt the values and practices of Health Care for All. These include a commitment to compassion, understanding, and partnership; extending the linkages between individual, family, community and society; addressing fear and worry for individuals and populations; and promoting an optimistic and equitable future for all Americans.
Nurses and doctors and pharmacists and other health professionals pledge oaths and spend years training to exhibit and practice these values in the course of providing ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 24, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Ann Kelley Ashley une Dobbs HB 1462 Healthcare for All Missouri State Legislature Rachel Proud Source Type: blogs
Medicare Advantage UpCoding Has Been Eliminated by CMS Effective 2022
By GEORGE HALVORSON
Medicare Advantage now enrolls almost exactly half the people enrolled in Medicare — and has both significant fans and hardline opponents in the health care policy circles who disagree about its performance.
The biggest attack point that comes from the critics deals with the issues of coding accuracy by the plans. The payment model for the program is capitation — and that capitation is based on the average cost of fee-for-service Medicare in every county. The people who designed the model believed that the country should use the average cost of fee-for-service Medicare in every county as the b...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 23, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy CMS George Halvorson Medicare Advantage Source Type: blogs
Fighting the Wrong (Culture) War
By KIM BELLARD
News flash from the culture wars: they’re coming to take our gas stoves!
Well, actually, “they” are not, but the kind of people who got alarmed about it are a threat to our health, and to theirs.
The gas stove furor started with a Bloomberg News interview that Richard Trumka, Jr, a Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner. “This is a hidden hazard,” he said. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
He was referring to the well known but little acknowledged fact that gas stoves emit various pollutants, especially nitrogen dioxide. Last ye...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Culture Wars Gas Stoves Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 112, Thursday January 19 1pm PT 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday January 19 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are medical historian Mike Magee (@drmikemagee); fierce patient activist Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey); and Suntra Modern Recovery CEO JL Neptune (@JeanLucNeptune).
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Casey Quinlan JLNeptune Matthew Holt Mike Magee Source Type: blogs
The Open Data Movement Runs Aground on FOURIER
BY ANISH KOKA
Reanalysis of a trial used to approve a commonly used injectable cholesterol-lowering drug confirms the original analysis by accident.
The open-data movement seeks to liberate the massive amount of data generated in running clinical trials from the grasp of the academic medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex that mostly runs the most important trials responsible for bringing novel therapeutics to market.
There are only a few elite academic trialist groups capable of running large trials and there’s ample reason to be suspicious about the nexus that has developed between academia and the pharmace...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Practice Anish Koka FDA regulations Fourier open data Source Type: blogs
The “open data” movement runs aground on FOURIER
BY ANISH KOKA
Reanalysis of a trial used to approve a commonly used injectable cholesterol-lowering drug confirms the original analysis by accident.
The open-data movement seeks to liberate the massive amount of data generated in running clinical trials from the grasp of the academic medical-pharmaceutical industrial complex that mostly runs the most important trials responsible for bringing novel therapeutics to market.
There are only a few elite academic trialist groups capable of running large trials and there’s ample reason to be suspicious about the nexus that has developed between academia and the pharmace...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 112, Thursday January 19 1pm PT 4pm ET
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday January 19 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are medical historian Mike Magee (@drmikemagee); fierce patient activist Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey); and Suntra Modern Recovery CEO JL Neptune (@JeanLucNeptune).
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Casey Quinlan JLNeptune Matthew Holt Mike Magee Source Type: blogs
At CES, A Tractor And A Patient Stethoscope Point To Digital Health Future
By MICHAEL MILLENSON
A Deere tractor developed in Moline, Illinois and a stethoscope-for-patients from Singapore pointed to the future of digital health at CES 2023, the Consumer Technology Association gathering that’s become a global innovation hub.
The tractor appeared on a large video screen during the opening keynote by Deere & Company chief executive officer John May. The industrial company exec clearly relished the chance to trumpet the way Deere had turned tractors into high-tech tools to optimize farmers’ outcomes – an accomplishment inspiring envy among medical information mav...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech CES Michael Millenson Wearable stethoscope Source Type: blogs
The Danger of Stroking a Tiger
By MIKE MAGEE
On the evening of December 29, 1940, with election to his 3rd term as President secured, FDR delivered these words as part of his sixteenth “Fireside Chat”: “There can no appeasement with ruthlessness…No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.”
Millions of Americans, and millions of Britons were tuned in that evening, as President Roosevelt made clear where he stood while carefully avoiding over-stepping his authority in a nation still in the grips of a combative and isolationist opposition party.
The Germans were listening as well and sent a different type of message as the Luft...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 17, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Churchill Fascism Franklin Roosevelt Hitler Mike Magee Trump Source Type: blogs
We ’ re Disrupting Disruption
By KIM BELLARD
The Sunday Times featured an op-ed by Mark Britnell, a professor at the UCL Global Business School for Health, with the headline Our creaking NHS can’t beat its admin chaos without a tech revolution. Substitute “U.S. healthcare system” for “NHS” and the headline still would work, as would most of the content.
I wouldn’t hold my breath about that tech revolution. In fact, if you’re waiting for disruptive innovation in healthcare, or more generally, you may be in for a long wait.
A new study in Nature argues that science is becoming less disruptive. That seems counterintuitive; it ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 16, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech disruptive innovation Kim Bellard Science Source Type: blogs
