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What the media gets wrong when reporting on “ overprescribing ”
A recent article in the Macomb Daily reported that a “Shelby Township doctor was convicted last Thursday of all counts for conspiring to distribute more than 300,000 opioid prescription pills valued at over $6 million, following a trial in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor, according to federal authorities.” This sounds very serious on its Read more… What the media gets wrong when reporting on “overprescribing” originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 24, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Meds Pain Management Source Type: blogs

Experian Health Acquires Wave HDC, Immediately Enabling Real-Time, Single Inquiry Insurance Discovery/Verification at the Point of Patient Registration
The Companies’ Combined Capabilities will Deliver Previously Unattainable Efficiencies, Contributing to Increased Staff Productivity and much Faster Collection of Millions in Payer Reimbursements Experian, the global information services company, announces it has acquired Wave HDC, a healthcare technology leader that offers AI-enhanced data curation solutions to identify unknown insurance benefits coverage and critical patient demographics at the start of a patient’s healthcare journey. The acquisition bolsters the Experian Health business portfolio with more comprehensive and faster healthcare coverage identificatio...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - December 22, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Healthcare IT News Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Experian Experian Health Health IT Acquisitions Healthcare M&A Jordan Levitt Tom Cox Wave HDC Source Type: blogs

Is there OMI on this ECG?
This is a case I had quite a while back. The patient with no prior cardiac history presented in the middle of the night with acute chest pain, and had this ECG recorded during active pain: I did not see any ischemia on this electrocardiogram. It does not look entirely normal, since there are some nonspecific STT abnormalities, such as flattening of the T waves in aVL.  There is a normal amount of ST elevation in the precordial leads. There are no hyperacute T waves. There is no inappropriate ST depression.  But it certainly shows no sign of OMI.Or does it?Here is the Queen ' s interpretat...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 22, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs

Medical malpractice or miscarriage of justice? A doctor ’ s ordeal.
In 1999, Sally Clark was convicted of murder. Her son, Christopher, had been born in September of 1996 and by all accounts, had been a healthy baby. Just three months later, an ambulance was called to the home, and the baby was dead. The mother, Sally, said that she had just put him to bed Read more… Medical malpractice or miscarriage of justice? A doctor’s ordeal. originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 21, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Pain Management Source Type: blogs

Ginger Vieira – Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes
In conclusion, Ginger Vieira’s book, Exercise with Type 1 Diabetes (affiliate link), is a must-read for anyone with diabetes who wants to incorporate exercise into their daily routine. Ginger’s expertise and personal experiences make this book a valuable resource for understanding the impact of exercise on blood sugar levels and managing diabetes effectively. With practical tips and a supportive approach, Ginger empowers readers to take control of their health and enjoy the benefits of exercise. Don’t miss out on this concise and informative guide! ...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - December 20, 2023 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs

The DEA ’ s war on addiction doctors
Tennessee Dr. Ralph Thomas Reach is a vastly experienced addiction medicine physician. Continued application of his knowledge and pioneering experience could improve the opioid drug overdose death rate in his state. Unfortunately, the state government revoked his medical license, and Dr. Reach will soon begin serving six months in federal prison, followed by 18 months Read more… The DEA’s war on addiction doctors originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 19, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors:

What's new in midwifery - 19th December 2023
First of all, season ' s greetings and best wishes for a peaceful and happy 2024.Some new things you might find useful.Royal CollegesRoyal College of Nursing resource for nursing and midwifery practice about female genital mutilation (PDF).  There is alsothis supplement about sexual health care (also PDF)Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Good Practice Paper no. 17, Maternity triage (PDF)New publications from MBRRACEPerinatal confidential enquiry, A comparison of the care of Black and White women who have experienced a stillbirth or neonatal death, published December 2023 (PDF)Perina...
Source: Browsing - December 19, 2023 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: midwifery Source Type: blogs

Concerning EKG with a Non-obstructive angiogram. What happened?
CONCLUSION: Given resolution of severe CP in association with the above marked improvement of ST-T wave abnormalities in virtually all leads during the less than 1 hour between the recording of ECGs #1 and #2 — this strongly suggests reopening of a " culprit " vessel (whichever vessel this was)  — regardless of the fact that " no obstructive lesion was seen " at the time the cardiac catheterization happened to be done.The more than doubling of Troponin (even though " normal limits " for Troponin were not surpassed) — is consistent with a brief OMI, with only...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 19, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Willy Frick Source Type: blogs

Self monitoring – focusing on pain too much? or an essential part of living with pain?
I was just a tiny bit surprised when I looked at the results of my self-management strategy survey: self monitoring was smack bang in the middle of the list! Take a look yourself – Self monitoring is not something we discuss much in pain management circles. It’s like ‘Oooh if you keep noticing your pain you’re fixating on it and that’s bad!’ and yet I suspect it forms part of the background interoceptive awareness that most of us do whether we live with pain or not. Let’s take a deeper look at it. The ‘definition’ I used was ‘noticing your pain i...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - December 17, 2023 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Coping Skills Coping strategies biopsychosocial Chronic pain interoception pain management Research Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs

An ECG with only «marginal» change
DISCUSSION: This case nicely illustrates how subtle OMI changes really can be. The Queen of Hearts AI model did not identify OMI in the initial ECG.Below is the QoH explainability for the limb leads of the ECG #2 (left part of the image) and limb leads of ECG #3 (right side of the image). The sets of six limb leads are put next to each other for comparison. I ' ve excluded the precordial leads as they didn ' t add much information in this case. You can look at each leads and compare the two ECGs. You then can appreciate the dynamic change and see what parts of the waveform the QoH identifies as ischemic findings....
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 15, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Magnus Nossen Source Type: blogs

65 Daily Blessings to Help You Have a Great Day
Some days are tougher than others. Or you may have a bad morning that drags you down. In today's post I'd like to help with that by sharing 65 of the best and most powerful daily blessings. Timeless and uplifting thoughts and messages that you can use every morning, evening and day of the week. Or send to a loved one to help them turn a bad day around or make a good day even better, happier and more positive. And if you want more inspirational blessings then check out this post with good morning blessings and this one filled with blessed quotes. Daily Blessings for Your Morning “A positive thought in the morning can se...
Source: Practical Happiness and Awesomeness Advice That Works | The Positivity Blog - December 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Henrik Edberg Tags: Inspirational Quotes Personal Development Source Type: blogs

From advocacy to early cancer detection
I write widely as a patient advocate and subject matter expert on public policy for the regulation of prescription opioid analgesics in pain medicine. Like many people younger than myself, I also visit many social media platforms almost daily. I am active on these platforms to share recent health care news and to support hope Read more… From advocacy to early cancer detection originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 13, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs

Proportionality is a major element in the ECG Diagnosis of OMI.
 This middle aged patient presented with chest pain:What do you think?There is VERY low voltage.  There is some ST Elevation, but it is MINIMAL.  But look how small the QRS is!!Let ' s stretch out the QRS vertically so it is not so tiny:On upper left is the original.  On the right are the precordial leads stretched vertically, so that the QRS is not tiny.  Now you can see the STE and Hyperacute T-wave better.I published, and Emre Aslanger externally validated,the4-Variable formula for differentiating the ST Elevation of LAD OMI from Normal ST Elevation.  It is derived/validated/...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 13, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs

Why insurance prefers opioids over non-pharma options [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes! Join Amy Baxter, a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine. We’ll delve into the opioid crisis, the misconceptions surrounding pain management, and the barriers that hinder effective pain relief in health care. Amy will share her expertise and insights on these critical topics, shedding Read more… Why insurance prefers opioids over non-pharma options [PODCAST] originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 12, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Podcast Pain Management Source Type: blogs

The arrogance of expertise
Here is a thoughtful essay by NYT reporter Ed Yong. (Free Gift link! [as opposed to a not free gift]) It ' s long, but worth it. Yong was assigned the Long Covid beat and he found -- as I already knew -- that people who tell their doctors about long-term fatigue, pain, and cognitive difficulties, for which the physicians could find no specific biophysical explanation, commonly found their complaints dismissed or even ridiculed:Covering long Covid solidified my view that science is not the objective, neutral force it is often misconstrued as. It is instead a human endeavor, relentlessly buffeted by our culture, values an...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 11, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs