Archive for August, 2007

Another Reason Patients Should Review Their Health Records

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

In the Wall Street Journal today, Victoria E. Knight writes that smart patients will always review their medical records for accuracy.
“Not only can incorrect medical information lead to ineffective or harmful treatment — the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 98,000 patients die each year in hospitals from medical errors — it can […]

Posted in General Rationing Issues | 3 Comments »

Medical Home Invasion

Friday, August 24th, 2007

Last year, the American College of Physicians (ACP) published a “policy monograph” on the Advanced Medical Home, which urges a “new” model of medical practice. Under the “medical home” paradigm, patients would have a personal physician who partners with them over time, coordinating all their medical care and guiding them, whenever necessary, through the confusing […]

Posted in Gekkonian Rationing, Primary Care in America | 4 Comments »

Feds May Begin Physician Profiling in 2008

Friday, August 17th, 2007

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that Medicare is ready to begin physician profiling as early as next year.
Physician profiling, the actual (and refreshingly honest) term used by GAO, is also known as “resource use comparison.” Under this system the feds will compile statistics on the utilization of healthcare resources by individual doctors and […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | 1 Comment »

Medical Informatics Leadership - Why Doctors Need Not Apply

Friday, August 10th, 2007

In the Health Care Renewal blog (highly recommended by DrRich), contributor MedInformaticsMD wrote earlier this year that executives of large healthcare companies are strangely reluctant to consider physicians for leadership positions in healthcare IT. Instead, they are specifically seeking non-physicians (but non-physicians with clinical experience) to fill this role. This week, he added a second […]

Posted in General Rationing Issues | 2 Comments »

SiCKO and Covert Rationing

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

DrRich finally saw Michael Moore’s film SiCKO this week, and found it to be surprisingly affecting. DrRich is quite jaded about the injustices routinely and systematically performed by the American health insurance industry, and has written about them extensively. But even he was moved by the personal stories Moore presented of those who […]

Posted in Gekkonian Rationing, Wonkonian Rationing | No Comments »