How To Make Inpatient Medical Practice Fun Again: Try Locum Tenens Work
It’s no secret that most physicians are unhappy with the way things are going in healthcare. Surveys report high levels of job dissatisfaction, “burn out” and even suicide. In fact, some believe that up to a third of the US physician work force is planning to leave the profession in the next 3 years – an alarming statistic.
Direct primary care practices are touted as the best way to restore patient and provider satisfaction. Those brave enough to cut out the “middle man” (i.e. health insurers, both public and private) find a remarkable reduction in billing paperwork, unrecovered fees, an...
Source: Better Health - May 5, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Expert Interviews Health Policy Opinion Anesthesiologists Freedom Hospitalists ICU Intensivists Job satisfaction Locum Tenens Physicians Temp Work Source Type: blogs
The Medical Chart: Ground Zero For The Deterioration Of Patient Care
For the past couple of years I’ve been working as a traveling physician in 13 states across the U.S. I chose to adopt the “locum tenens lifestyle” because I enjoy the challenge of working with diverse teams of peers and patient populations. I believe that this kind of work makes me a better doctor, as I am exposed to the widest possible array of technology, specialist experience, and diagnostic (and logistical) conundrums. During my down times I like to think about what I’ve learned so that I can try to make things better for my next group of patients.
This week I’ve been considering how in-pa...
Source: Better Health - April 21, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: Opinion True Stories Communication Data EHR Electronic Hospital Records Electronic Medical Records EMR Errors Medical Errors Near Misses Patient Care Source Type: blogs
Scribes Help to Ameliorate EHRs Deficiencies But Add to Costs
Medical scribes are physician extenders employed frequently in hospital Emergency Departments and other units (see: Shift of Hospital EMR Data Entry Tasks from MDs to Scribes; The Emergence of EMR Scribes as a New Category of Hospital Employees; Greater Adoption of the Scribe Model for EMR Data Input). these personnel transcribe dictated notes the busy physicians into the EHR. A recent article in the New York Times discussed this new category of hospital employees (see: A Busy Doctor’s Right Hand, Ever Ready to Type). Below is an excerpt from the article:
For decades, physicians pinned their hope...
Source: Lab Soft News - February 13, 2014 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Medical Education Medical Research Source Type: blogs
Avoidable emergency department visits: Lessons from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (transcript)
This is the transcript of my recent podcast interview with Susan Mende of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
David E. Williams: This is David Williams from the Health Business Group. I’m speaking today with Susan Mende, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Susan, thanks for joining me today.
Susan Mende: My pleasure.
Williams: Susan, let’s talk about avoidable emergency department visits. I know that the Foundation has been funding work on that topic. So, first question: how big of a problem is avoidable emergency department visits?
Mende: It’s a pretty big p...
Source: Health Business Blog - December 13, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Hospitals Physicians Podcast Research Source Type: blogs
Avoidable emergency department visits: Lessons from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (podcast)
Download: mende2013.mp3
Susan Mende, Sr. Program Officer
Only about 30 percent of patients treated in hospital emergency departments need to be there. The other 70 percent might be better off in primary care, where care could be better coordinated and costs are about one-quarter, according to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). In recognition of this issue, RWJF has been funding programs to tackle the problem of avoidable emergency department visits.
In this podcast interview, RWJF Senior Program Officer Susan Mende discusses the work of Aligning Force for Quality grantee communities in identifying the root cau...
Source: Health Business Blog - December 9, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Hospitals Physicians Podcast hospital emergency departments primary care Robert Wood Johnson Foundation RWJF Susan Mende Source Type: blogs
Patient Advocacy Conference videos are now online !
PATIENT ADVOCACY - GIVING VOICE TO PATIENTS16 NOVEMBER, 2013MUMBAI Dr Aniruddha Malpani Book Launch - Patient Advocacyby HELPTALKS Health Education Library for People (HELP) organized its 4th Annual Conference on Putting Patients First. The theme this year was Patient Advocacy - Giving Voice to Patients. On this occasion Dr.Aniruddha Malpani launched his latest book on the same subject. A "patient advocate" is a critical component in the healthcare delivery chain and a caregiver is in the best position to know and understand the needs of a loved one. For more information and to read the book...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - November 30, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs
Focus on ambulatory care on WIHI
Madge Kaplan writes:The next WIHI broadcast — Improving Safety and Satisfaction in Ambulatory Care — will take place on Thursday, November 7, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and I hope you'll tune in.Our guests will include:Gordon Schiff, MD, Associate Director, Brigham Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, Brigham and Women's Hospital Nicholas Leydon, MPH, Director, PROMISES Project, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Frank Federico, RPh, Executive Director, Strategic Partners, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Damian Folch, MD, Family Practice and Lifestyle Medicine (Chelmsford, MA) ...
Source: Running a hospital - November 7, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Healthcare can still divide the United States
by Kent Bottles
The shutdown of the government over the Affordable Care Act made me wonder why Medicaid remains such a divisive issue in American politics. Ever since the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games I have been pondering why the healthcare system unites the United Kingdom and divides the United States.
The Olympics media guide in explaining why the British honored the National Health System stated: "The NHS is the institution which more than any other unites our nation. It was founded after World War II on Aneurin Bevan's famous principle, 'No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a s...
Source: hospital impact - October 18, 2013 Category: Health Managers Authors: Wendy Johnson Source Type: blogs
Where you stand depends on where you sit
I know from personal interactions that the CEO of Steward Health Care System has an excellent sense of humor. But he certainly cannot have meant to be funny when he appeared at the state health cost trends hearings hosted last week by the state Health Policy Commission and appealed to the state to enact more health cost containment legislation that would further limit prices for higher-cost doctors and hospitals. Julie Donnelly at the Boston Business Journal summarized:The demand for additional regulation is somewhat unusual given that de la Torre is the CEO of one of the few for-profit health systems in t...
Source: Running a hospital - October 6, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Staffing Models for Primary Care on WIHI
Madge Kaplan writes:The next WIHI broadcast — New Staffing Models for Primary Care — will take place on Thursday, October 10, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and I hope you'll tune in.Our guests will include:Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, MACP, Director Emeritus, MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation, Group Health Research Institute Trissa Torres, MD, MSPH, FACPM, Senior Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Kirsten Meisinger, MD, Medical Director, Union Square Family Health Center, Cambridge Health Alliance Thad Schilling, MD, Medical Director, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Harvard Vanguard M...
Source: Running a hospital - October 3, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Need Help For Depression? Try Acupuncture Instead of Counseling
A study recently published in PLoS Medicine suggests a surprising new treatment for even severe depression — acupuncture. Yes, acupuncture.
In this randomized U.K. clinical trial, primary care subjects who received a protocol of acupuncture did even better than those who received a form of humanistic counseling for the treatment of depression.
So if all else has failed for depression, should you give acupuncture a go?
The new study (MacPherson et al. 2013) examined 755 depressed patients in the U.K. who visited their primary care physician and scored high on a depression measure. They were then divided into three t...
Source: World of Psychology - October 2, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: Alternative and Nutritional Supplements Depression Disorders General Mental Health and Wellness Psychotherapy Treatment Acupuncture Carl Rogers Clinical Depression Cognitive Behavioral Therapy MacPherson Major Depressive Disorder Source Type: blogs
On the Brink of Hospice
What else do I need to know that I don’t know I need to know about involving hospice at this stage?
By Pamela R Kelley
+Alzheimer's Reading Room
At our last appointment, Audrey’s doctor told me she would like to certify her to hospice care. That it was time. In the doctor’s opinion, she would be enrolled.
“What that means is we’ve concluded your mother is nearing her end within six months.”
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As a longtime caregiver, I’ve learned these things. I know about the six-months measure, important to certify for Medicare’s coverage of hospice c...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - September 29, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs
Should Psychiatrists See Patients?
Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on a
new model of psychiatric care: the psychiatrist serves as a consultant
to the primary care doctors and the psychotherapist. The psychiatrist
hears about the patient, but if my read is right, the psychiatrist has a
large caseload and never actually sees the patients.
In Getting Mental-Health Care at the Doctor's Office: Providers Take Integrated Approach, With Patient Numbers Set to Jump Under New Law and Psychiatrists in Short Supply,
Melinda Beck writes:
As the consulting psychiatrist for four primary-care practices, Dr.
Ratzliff confers weekly wit...
Source: Shrink Rap - September 24, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Dinah Source Type: blogs
This is the grim reality of starting a private primary care practice
She was the first Michigan Wolverine I met who taught me their college fight song “Hail to the Victors,”and demonstrated their rabid pride anytime football or basketball season rolled around. (If you know people from the University of Michigan, you know what I mean). She was also one of the smartest and hardest working doctors in our family medicine residency program and one of our two chief residents.
So this past hot Labor Day weekend in Los Angeles, I was thrilled to catch up with my former chief resident. We hadn’t seen much of each other since completing our residency many years ago. She dropped by with her 3-ye...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 20, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Not On the Affordable Care Act FAQ
I’ve written the first two parts of a three-part column about unintended consequences. Part one described why discounts demanded from insurers for front-line services (e.g. office visits) create challenges for independent primary care practices that don’t have other sources of revenue, particularly revenue from procedures. Part two explained why physicians employed by health systems are […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - September 16, 2013 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Methadone Public policy Suboxone addiction treatment affordable care act Medicaid medicaid coverage of buprenorphine obamacare Source Type: blogs
