What ’s the role of telemedicine in primary care?
As part of trying to figure out where telehealth and video visits fit into the primary care setting, this week I got an amazing tour from the director of our emergency department, during which he showed me the program they’ve developed over the past year.
An incredible system, they take patients from triage who report to the emergency department with nonemergent issues, and move them to a consultation room off to the side of their urgent care space. There they are linked via video to an emergency provider who is located elsewhere in the hospital, who can go over their (hopefully) nonemergent issue and come to a quick...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 1, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/fred-n-pelzman" rel="tag" > Fred N. Pelzman, MD < /a > Tags: Tech Mobile health Primary care Source Type: blogs
Paying Doctors For Outcomes Makes Sense in Theory. So Why Doesn ’ t it Work in the Real World?
By STEPHEN SOUMERAI and ROSS KOPPEL
For decades, the costs of health care in America have escalated without comparable improvements in quality. This is the central paradox of the American system, in which costs outstrip those everywhere else in the developed world, even though health outcomes are rarely better, and often worse.
In an effort to introduce more powerful incentives for improving care, recent federal and private policies have turned to a “pay-for-performance” model: Physicians get bonuses for meeting certain “quality of care standards.” These can range from demonstrating that they have done procedures t...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 1, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Repeal Replace Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
We must remember to humanize our patients
I’m probably crazy. I ride my motor scooter to and from work at the hospital. Some consider it unsafe. Perhaps it is, but feeling the wind and rain, those unfiltered elements. And after 12 hours inside a controlled environment, it’s too refreshing to pass up. So at 2 a.m. Friday night, I’m zooming (you always “zoom” on a scooter) through the industrial district after a tiring admitting shift. I see some people messing around on bicycles, one pulling a trailer, all laughing and yelling. The road is deserted. “Joyriders,” I think, “out for fun on Friday night.”
I passed them by and was soon ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 1, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/kjell-benson" rel="tag" > Kjell Benson, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Emergency Source Type: blogs
Outdated Privacy Law Limits Effective Substance Use Disorder Treatment: The Case Against 42 CFR Part 2
On November 17, 2016, Surgeon General Vivek Murphy released the first report on substance use disorder (SUD) in the U.S. This landmark document described the tremendous toll of alcohol and drug use on the health and well-being of our nation. With the report, the Surgeon General issued a call to action, stating “how we respond to this crisis is a test for America.” Highlighted in the recommendations was the need to address the segregation of SUD treatment outside of medical care and the need to fight persistent stigma. However, full implementation of these recommendations remains nearly impossible so long as the...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 1, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Sarah Wakeman and Peter Friedmann Tags: Featured Health Professionals Population Health Public Health Quality 42 CFR Part 2 ADA addiction HIPAA opioid epidemic patient privacy Substance Use Disorders Source Type: blogs
What this physician learned from a dying patient
Propelled in part by the unalloyed hopes I cultivated in medical school, I got through my internal medicine residency training largely free of questions about medicine’s limitations. Ailing strangers entered my life in the hospital and I helped them leave nearly restored to health. This was exactly the kind of physician I expected to be.
That changed when I met Janice Wilson during my current fellowship in cancer (hematology and oncology).
Janice (not her real name) became pregnant with her first child near the end of 2014. A few months before her baby’s due date, her right breast began to feel different and she detect...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 1, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jalal-baig" rel="tag" > Jalal Baig, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Palliative care Source Type: blogs
Drug Price Debate Could Stall, Unless Consumers Get Engaged
By STEVEN FINDLAY
It’s still unclear whether Congress or the Trump administration will try to tackle the prescription drug price/cost issue this year. Amid ACA repeal and replace, and possible Medicaid and Medicare reform fights, it seems a stretch.
In recent weeks, Trump has also changed his tune on the subject. Soaring prescription prices were a populist rallying cry at his campaign stops pre-election and then pre-inauguration. (“They’re getting away with murder,” he bellowed, referring to drug companies.)
But, fitting a post-inauguration pattern, Trump softened his message after a get-together with p...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The unintended consequences of bundled payments
Knee replacements are booming. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of knee replacement procedures in the United States doubled, to more than one million. Experts think the figure might rise sixfold more in the next couple decades, because of our aging population. Since many people receiving knee replacements are elderly, Medicare picks up most of the cost of such procedures. In response to this huge rise in expenditures, Medicare is experimenting with ways to reduce the cost of procedures. But that raises a disturbing possibility. If orthopedic surgeons make less money on each knee replacement they perform, they might start ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 28, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/peter-ubel" rel="tag" > Peter Ubel, MD < /a > Tags: Policy Orthopedics Source Type: blogs
Calling all NYC Startups! Digital Health Marketplace is back!
By ALYX STERNLICHT
The fourth iteration of Digital Health Marketplace, sponsored by The New York City Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with Health 2.0, is underway! The Digital Health Marketplace connects health technology Buyers and Sellers through curated matchmaking, assistance to facilitate rapid technology adoption, and competitive commercialization awards to encourage piloting and procurement of new digital health technology in NYC.
The past three classes of Digital Health Marketplace has provided over $2M in commercialization awards to innovative NYC health tech startups and their self-chosen health...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Holt Tags: Catalyst @ Health 2.0 Source Type: blogs
Performance tracker: spring 2017
This report is the first in a series of data-driven analyses on the performance of government. The report uses government data to examine five key public services: hospitals, adult social care, police, prisons and schools. It finds that until recently the government managed to maintain the quality of public services while controlling spending however it warns that now the UK faces a combination of failing public services and breached spending controls unless urgent action is taken.ReportIoG publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - February 27, 2017 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: NHS finances and productivity Source Type: blogs
Against the odds: experiences from the NHS front line
This report brings together the experiences of doctors working in NHS hospitals between December 2016 and January 2017. In the report, they explain in their own words what an overstretched NHS looks like in practice.ReportPress release (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - February 27, 2017 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: NHS measurement and performance Patient safety Quality of care and clinical outcomes Workforce and employment Source Type: blogs
Patients first: improving patients' food and drink experience through a better understanding of their priorities
This report covers a large-scale, independent survey of patients ’ preferences and experiences of hospital meals. The aim was to conduct face to face interviews with patients in hospital wards to give useful insight into their requirements and views, providing both robust numbers and a good qualitative understanding. By establishing patients’ preferences and priorities and linking this to their satisfaction with what is currently offered, it will be possible to give guidance to providers of food and meal service to develop and improve their offer.ReportSummary (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - February 27, 2017 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: Patient involvement, experience and feedback Source Type: blogs
Reducing hospital admissions by improving continuity of care in general practice
The Health Foundation - This briefing summarises research that analysed data from over 230,000 anonymised patient records for older people aged 62 - 82 years. The research found that there were fewer hospital admissions for certain conditions when the patient saw the same GP more consistently. Patients who saw their usual GP two or more times out of every ten were associated with six per cent fewer avoidable hospital admissions.BriefingHealth Foundation publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - February 27, 2017 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: Developments in primary and community care Patient involvement, experience and feedback Quality of care and clinical outcomes Source Type: blogs
Wellbeing: The Interdependencies of the Body, Mind & Spirit
By JIM PURCELL
In 1891, Dr. Luther Gulick proposed a red triangle as the YMCA symbol. In his words, the equal sides of the triangle stood for “man’s essential unity– body, mind and spirit– each being a necessary and eternal part of man, being neither one alone but all three.” True then, and equally true today, it highlights what is missing from most traditional approaches to wellness–the mental, emotional, and spiritual components. Hardly surprising given the remarkable resistance mental illness treatments encounter.
The term “mental illness” usually refers to recognized mental illnesses in acco...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 27, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
From Machine-Readable Provider Directories, A Preview Of A Revolution
In this study, we define an integrated health plan as a network of providers that care for a particular patient population. Our definition focuses on health systems that also offer their own health plan, as opposed to systems that are integrated but are not also functioning as payers.
Medicaid: Insurers offering qualified health plans in the exchange whose primary or original line of business was Medicaid managed care.
Nationally, 93.4 percent of adult primary care physicians participating in exchange plans in states where the federal government administers the exchange reported via the plan’s directory that they are acc...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 27, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Mike Adelberg and Michelle Strollo Tags: Featured Insurance and Coverage Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Quality health insurance exchanges machine-readable provider directories provider networks Source Type: blogs
What To Ask Your Doctor (and Why) When You ’ ve Been Diagnosed With Lung Cancer
Heather Mannuel, MD, MBA is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a Medical Oncologist at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. Below are a few questions she says to ask your doctor when you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, and why they’re important to ask.
What kind of lung cancer is this? Lung cancers are divided into small cell and non-small cell types, and the treatment is very different for each of these.
What is my stage? The stage helps to give information on whether the cancer is only in the lung or whether it has sprea...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - February 27, 2017 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Chris Lindsley Tags: Cancer Source Type: blogs
