So what can we do about health care costs?
By MATTHEW HOLT
Last week Jeff Goldsmith wrote a great article in part explaining why health care costs in the US went up so much between 1965 and 2010. He also pointed out that health care has been the same portion of GDP for more than a decade (although we haven’t had a major recession in that time other than the Covid 2020 blip when it went up to 19%). However, it’s worth remembering that we are spending 17.3% of GDP while the other main OECD countries are spending 11-12%. Now it’s true that the US has lots of social problems that show up in heath spending and also that those other countries probably spend ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 20, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Matthew Holt Buzz Cooper Datmouth health spending Jeff Goldsmith John Wennberg Medicare Price controls Source Type: blogs
I Keep Hoping The Day Will Come As It Would Make Things So Much Easier!
This appeared
last week:
07 February
2024
To boldly diagnose: day of the tricorder is at hand
By Ivor Campbell
What used to
sound like science fiction is becoming technological reality, with implications
for general practice.
When
two or more people from the world of medical technology meet, talk inevitably
turns to the ongoing, yet elusive, search for an industry-standard, (Source: Australian Health Information Technology)
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - February 13, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
The 6 Most Exciting Medical Technology Breakthroughs Of Recent Years
Amidst the flurry of hyped technologies, it’s not easy to pinpoint which specific technological breakthroughs will have the most impact in the coming years.
Dr. Meskó, The Medical Futurist, reviews multiple reports, studies, and articles daily. Consequently, our days are filled with awe-inspiring developments. However, our aim here is to offer more than just a compilation of “wow, look how fascinating” stories.
To achieve this, we have selected technologies that:
Have undergone significant breakthroughs in recent years, be it in regulatory, technological, or scientific aspects
Are anticipate...
Source: The Medical Futurist - January 9, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andrea Koncz Tags: TMF artificial intelligence digital health future Healthcare Source Type: blogs
Addressing the enormous scale of work-related burnout and mental injury in doctors
When a 24-year-old laborer’s apprentice used a chainsaw without training, they sustained a jagged laceration through their left quadriceps. When I saw them 12 months later in my general practice, their laceration was well healed. However, they remained unemployed because their untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was aggravated on their return to work when their
Read more…
Addressing the enormous scale of work-related burnout and mental injury in doctors originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 23, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Leanne Rowe, MD Tags: Conditions Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
All by myself … don ’ t wanna be
Throughout my career, I’ve been interested in how and why people see clinicians about their pain. I’m intrigued by the journey before, during and afterwards.
I’m interested in the social factors influencing choices in healthcare. If I’ve been gardening over the weekend and I wake up Monday with a sore back it’s easy to see a physio here in NZ. That visit is likely paid for by our accident compensation system (24/7 no-fault scheme paid for by taxes and levies). And the jolly joy germ in me thinks “Well at least that means people don’t have to see a doctor first” – but...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - October 15, 2023 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Back pain Chronic pain Coping strategies Interdisciplinary teams Low back pain Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Psychology Research Science in practice Health pain management Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs
The Evolution Of Clinical Documentation: From Paper To AI
Documentation is an essential heartbeat of clinical care. Like an EKG tracing illustrating the rhythm and health of a heart, clinical documentation captures the intricate narrative of a patient’s health journey. However crucial, documenting clinical care is a cumbersome task, contributing significantly to the burnout of healthcare professionals.
As we are witnessing global shortages in the numbers of medical professionals, streamlining and/or automating unpopular documentation tasks seems a very logical next step. It doesn’t really require the qualification of a trained nurse or doctor, so it is a great wa...
Source: The Medical Futurist - October 12, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andrea Koncz Tags: TMF Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Healthcare Design clinical documentation AI in clinical documentation Source Type: blogs
Morphine + OMI is a bad combination
This is written by Magnus Nossen, with some edits by SmithThis ECG diagnosis will be obvious to the majority of the readers of this blog. It is not obvious for the majority of doctors or even cardiologists. A 50 something male was seen in the emergency room due to typical chest pain. The pain had started the same day about two hours prior to medical contact. Previous medical hx notable for type II DM. The first ECG is shown below.The medical care providers ascribed the patient ' s chest pain to new onset atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response after having viewed the ECG. Do you agree?The presentation ECG ...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - September 24, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Magnus Nossen Source Type: blogs
The persecution of pain management doctors
The call came in during a busy workday. My comprehensive primary care clinic had been built over a decade of hard work and had a general practice clinic staffed by a very capable former surgeon and several nurse practitioners, as well as a pain management program and an addiction treatment clinic. We also had several
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The persecution of pain management doctors originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 25, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: L. Joseph Parker, MD Tags: Physician Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs
What we can learn about rehab from my dog
Miss Molly May is my adorable, high energy, full-sized labradoodle. She’s five years old, and has just undergone a tibial plateau leveling osteotomy for her right rear knee. Essentially she damaged the dog equivalent of her cruciate ligament because she’s an idiot. Well, she’s a dog who adores chasing the B-A-L-L and the F-R-I-S-B-E-E and any random S-T-I-C-K at full speed, turning really fast to catch it before anyone else gets to it.
Five weeks ago she was seen by our local general practice vet, referred to animal physio (click) and comprehensively examined there, then referred to the Animal Orth...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - July 9, 2023 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Coping strategies biopsychosocial Clinical reasoning Health healthcare Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs
Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care
NHS England - This document sets out NHS England's and the Department of Health and Social Care's plan to improve access to primary care, better support patients to manage their own health, and to modernise general practice for future generations.PlanPress release (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - May 9, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Primary and community care Source Type: blogs
Fit for the future: GP pressures 2023
This report, based on a survey of general practice staff, highlights the current workload and workforce pressures facing GPs and their teams, and the impact these are having on patients. GPs and their staff carried out 4.6 million (9 per cent) more appointments in December 2022 and January 2023 than in December 2019 and January 2020; however, the number of fully qualified full-time-equivalent GPs has dropped by 843 in the same period. The report sets out the RCGP's recommendations for the government to tackle the workforce and workload crisis in general practice, and support GPs and their teams to meet the health care ...
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - March 14, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Primary and community care Workforce and employment Source Type: blogs
Role of general practice teams in supporting patient access to treatments for Covid-19
NHS England - To help GP teams and reception staff deal with queries from patients on treatments for Covid-19, this fact sheet explains the pathway. It can be shared and printed for reception staff and is designed to help ensure that potentially eligible patients receive an urgent triage call or review with the practice clinical team and, where appropriate, a referral to a Covid-19 Medicine Delivery Unit.Fact sheetMore detail (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - January 10, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: Covid-19 Primary and community care Source Type: blogs
Empathy and longevity in diabetes with BDI Briefs
Introducing BDI Briefs
I’m very excited to share the first episode of BDI Briefs! Together with Dr. Bill Polonsky and Dr. Susan Guzman from the Behavioral Diabetes Institute, our aim with BDI Briefs is to take a brief look at important issues about the emotional side of diabetes.In this short discussion, Scott, Bill, and Susan talk about an interesting study from 2019 that found an association between primary care practitioner empathy and longevity in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. There is a lot to unpack, and we only scratch the s...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - December 29, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
October 27, 2022 Edition-----In the UK we have a political farce running with only a day or so to run when you read this, with a new PM (Rishi Sunak) in place..In the US the mid-term elections are coming in a week or so, thus some concern as to where the US is going!In China Xi has his third 5 year term so we all wonder how that will turn out!In OZ we have has a Budget with floods, inflation, data leaks, the threat of recession, Medicare concerns and other issues just rolling on! At least the Budget does not seem to have broken anything!Overall an ‘omnishambles’ as they say!-----Major Issues.-----https://www.afr.com/wo...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - October 27, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
