A Case of Missing Teeth
​An older man presented to the emergency department for respiratory complaints, and a routine series of studies—blood work, ECG, and a chest x-ray—almost automatically appeared in the orders.​Haziness on the left side—left hilar fullness probably isn't good. A CT scan would likely confirm the fears of cancer.​The large mass wasn't unexpected, but did you see the metallic foreign body in the stomach? There was something on the left side under the diaphragm on the upright chest radiograph. The same thing appeared on the coronal CT image. Did he swallow something?Upon detailed questioning, the patient remembered t...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - October 2, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

Secondhand Trauma — Is It Real? The 2017 Hurricane Season Is Affecting Everyone
As we have all witnessed in the last few months, 2017 has produced an incredibly destructive hurricane season. For many of us not living in the affected areas, just watching the devastation on TV and hearing about it on the radio or social media can also cause a deep sense of fear and anxiety. It can even cause many to suffer secondhand trauma or more specifically, Secondary Trauma Stress (STS). STS is a psychiatric condition which mimics symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It affects individuals who did not witness the traumatic event firsthand but were still exposed to it in other ways. When we are faced ...
Source: World of Psychology - September 22, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John Tsilimparis, MFT Tags: Anxiety and Panic Inspiration & Hope Minding the Media PTSD Trauma Climate Change Destructive Hurricane Earthquakes fight or flight Natural Disasters Panic Attack Posttraumatic Stress Secondary Trauma Stress secondhand trauma T Source Type: blogs

Unpacking The Sanders Medicare-For-All Bill
On September 13, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—with 16 Democratic cosponsors—released the Medicare-For-All Act of 2017, intended to transition the American health care system to a single-payer system. In addition to the bill text, Senator Sanders released an executive summary, title summary, and white paper on financing options. The Act would establish the Universal Medicare Program (UMP) and, in doing so, make sweeping changes to the health care system. Once the UMP went into effect (for children, on January 1 of the first calendar year after the bill is enacted and three years later for adults), most benefits...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 14, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Katie Keith and Timothy Jost Tags: Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Bernie Sanders single payer Source Type: blogs

Is It time For Physicians to Unionize?
By NIRAN AL-AGBA, MD Since the birth of our nation, labor unions have existed in one form or another in the United States.  Unions are a force to protect the ‘working population’ from inequality, gaps in wages, and a political system failing to represent specific industry groups.  Historically, unions organize skilled workers in a specific corporation, such as a railroad or production plant, however unions can organize numerous workers within a particular industry.  Known as “industrial unionism”, the union gives a profession or trade a collective and representative voice.  The existence of unions has already ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

The Best Positioned Tech Giant in Healthcare Today? The Answer May Surprise You.
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD When you think about tech giants playing in healthcare, you think of Google and the work Verily is doing; you think of Apple and their HealthKit and ResearchKit applications, as well as their rumored plans to organize all your medical data on your iPhone; you may even think of Amazon and their potential entry into the pharmacy market. But the name you may hear about least–Facebook–may actually be the company influencing healthcare the most, and may also be the best positioned to support the patient-centered future that so many imagine and that Eric Topol described in The Patient Will ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 7, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Tech Uncategorized Facebook Health IT Organ Donor Zuckerberg Source Type: blogs

Opioids Aren ’t the Only Pain Drugs to Fear - The New York Times
Last month, a White House panel declared the nation's epidemic of opioid abuse and deaths"a national public health emergency," a designation usually assigned to natural disasters.A disaster is indeed what it is, with 142 Americans dying daily from drug overdoses, a fourfold increase since 1999, more than the number of people killed by gun homicides and vehicular crashes combined. A 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated that 3.8 million Americans use opioids for nonmedical reasons every month.Lest you think that people seeking chemically induced highs are solely responsible for the problem, phy...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 4, 2017 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs

Forgotten Heroes: Remembering Dr. Alvin Blount, Who Helped Integrate America ’s Hospitals
Mortar rounds shook the bunker. The 8225th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) was crammed with casualties—civilians, Americans, and KATUSAs (Korean Augmentation to US Army). The four surgical tables under the direction of its acting chief surgeon, Alvin G. Blount, often operated around the clock, doing as many as 90 surgeries during sleepless protracted engagements. Blount could shut out the mayhem and focus only on his patient’s needs, as if everything else in the world had stopped. His calm, gentle demeanor commanded respect. His was the first racially integrated MASH unit, and he was its first black chief surg...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 1, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: David Barton Smith Tags: Featured Health Equity Hospitals Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Alvin G. Blount George Simkins health disparity Health Reform hospital segregation Simkins v. Cone Source Type: blogs

Doctoring Between The Lines
I don ' t know about anyone else but I have a primary care and then an oncologist, breast surgeon, endocrinologist, rheumatologist, pain management, orthopedic surgeon, meds therapist, social worker therapist, dentist, and periodontist. They all have their own specialties and focuses on specific portions of my body. But I swear they like to color outside the lines.Last week my rheumatologist started commenting on my regimen to control my acid reflux from my hiatal hernia. How does heart burn relate to my rheumatoid? And why did I need to explain it to her?In the past six months my pain management doctor has been messing wi...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 27, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient doctors Source Type: blogs

Three Structures in a Child ’s Mouth That Can Cause Picky Eating
Babies, toddlers, and older children can develop feeding difficulties—ranging from general picky eating to severe feeding disorders—for a variety of reasons. As a speech-language pathologist who specializes in feeding challenges in children, I peer into a lot of little mouths. In my professional experience, these three “mouth offenders” can shape a child’s willingness to try new foods. Misaligned teeth: Crowded, missing or blocked teeth that haven’t erupted properly can impact a child’s ability to adequately chew food. The way the teeth contact each other might also indicate misalignment of the jaw. As a chil...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - August 22, 2017 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Melanie Potock MA Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Early Intervention Feeding Disorders Swallowing Disorders Source Type: blogs

Building Unity Farm Sanctuary - August 2017
I ’ve put down the pitchfork and shovel, returning to the keyboard to update everyone about our Sanctuary progress.  Here ’s what’s happened over the past few weeks.As Kathy wrote on Facebook on July 25, Pippin, our 30 year old Welsh Pony passed away from cancer.  His last few months included daily play with three other ponies, walks in the woods, and generous servings of grain/treats.  He was the centerpiece of our horse work at the sanctuary and we miss him every day.  He ’s buried on a hill covered with oaks overlooking the barnyard marked by a large flat stone.The sanctuary volunte...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - August 17, 2017 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs

Sunshine Act Takes Effect in South Korea
In early 2017, South Korea joined the global transparency movement and enacted a “Sunshine Act” similar to others found around the world. The law requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies operating in South Korea to prepare an aggregated expenditure report if they have provided economic benefits to healthcare professionals and others employed at medical institutions during a fiscal year. Interestingly, while the scope of the Korean Sunshine Act is broader than the United States law, it does not require companies to submit the aggregated report and any supporting documents to the government unless it is dete...
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 14, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Patients Want Customizations – Just Not Too Much!
The following is a guest blog post by Cristina Dafonte, Marketing Associate of Stericycle Communication Solutions as part of the Communication Solutions Series of blog posts. Follow and engage with them on Twitter:@StericycleComms Everything around us is customizable: your laptop background, the layout of applications on your phone, any product dashboard you have access to. Customization sells, and consumers crave it. Consumers love to think that something is unique or special for just them, even if they know in their hearts that isn’t the case. Patient engagement, especially appointment reminders, shouldn’t be the ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - August 10, 2017 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Blogger Tags: Digital Health Healthcare HealthCare IT Patients Communication Solutions Series Health Care Communications Patient Appointment Reminders Patient Experience Stericycle Stericycle Communication Solutions Source Type: blogs

How Regulations Impede Economic Mobility
Why are Americans less likely to move to better opportunities than they used to be? TheWall Street Journal reports:When opportunity dwindles, a natural response —the traditional American instinct—is to strike out for greener pastures. Migrations of the young, ambitious and able-bodied prompted the Dust Bowl exodus to California in the 1930s and the reverse migration of blacks from Northern cities to the South starting in the 1980s.Yet the overall mobility of the U.S. population is at its lowest level since measurements were first taken at the end of World War II, falling by almost half since its most recent peak in 198...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 4, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs

Fresh Thinking on Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing started with the idea that jobs with serious consequences – doctors being the prototypical example – require some sort of government certification and oversight. But that rather innocuous motivation has ballooned into a harmful and unsustainable state of affairs.From laws requiring licenses tobraid hair to ones requiring licenses forfloral design andcasket manufacturing, occupational licensure has put barriers in the way of people who wish to do non-dangerous jobs and has done little to protect consumers. Instead, it ’s frequently used as a way for politically well-connected people and state li...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 3, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro Source Type: blogs