Archive for June, 2008

The Covert Rationing Blog to Host Medical Grand Rounds

Friday, June 27th, 2008

The Covert Rationing Blog will be hosting Medical Grand Rounds on July 1. DrRich humbly asks his fellow medical bloggers who would like to be included to please make their submissions by 2 PM EST, Sunday, June 29.
In honor of the 232nd birthday of the United States of America, please try to relate your […]

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Are Doctors Garnishing Tax Payments to Recover Funds From Medicare?

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Congress is urging Medicare administrators to assist the IRS in garnishing payments to doctors (and other “contractors”) who owe federal taxes. The Government Accountability Office estimates that providers owe more than $2 billion in back taxes, and withholding Medicare payments to providers is seen as an expeditious […]

Posted in Healthcare economics | No Comments »

More Kudos

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

“I know that those of us with chronic diseases can get into our own little worlds of doctors, medications, and treatments specific to our own condition. That makes it harder to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. But I truly recommend that you do, and Fixing American Healthcare is a good […]

Posted in Fixing American Healthcare | 1 Comment »

Another Reason To Let the Doctor-Nurses Take the Whole Thing

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

According to NewScientist Magazine, David Fishbain, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami, says that up to 1 in 20 patients would like to kill their primary care physicians.*
He learned this interesting tidbit in a survey he conducted among 800 patients undergoing physical rehabilitation or suffering significant pain. He presented his […]

Posted in Primary Care in America | 7 Comments »

Hey PCPs - Here They Come!

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

The June 16 issue of AMANews reports that the National Board of Medical Examiners will begin offering a certification examination this fall for graduates of “doctor of nursing practice” programs. Revealingly, the test will be based on Step 3 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam.
Doctor-nurses will soon be Board Certified, just like, uh, doctor-doctors.
The […]

Posted in Primary Care in America | 14 Comments »

The Right Way to Think About Medical Ethics

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Wherein long-time readers of this blog (or anyone who has merely read the title of this post) will be reminded that DrRich, not unlike some more well-known figures, does not mind audacity.
Both Dr. Gault and Sandy Szwarc have recently revisited the current state of medical ethics, and once again, both have found modern medical ethics […]

Posted in Medical ethics | 4 Comments »

Why Backdating Stock Options Is Completely Understandable

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reported yesterday that Bill McGuire, the former CEO of UnitedHealth, did not know that backdating stock options was wrong. McGuire was eventually fired for his unfortunate backdating activities.
According to the WSJ, in the way of explaining how McGuire might be unaware that backdating stock options is frowned upon his […]

Posted in Gekkonian Rationing | 1 Comment »

Hope for the Medical Home?

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Last summer DrRich wrote a post that was pretty hard on the Medical Home, and since that time he has seen no good reason to reconsider his opinion. Rather (as usual after officially pontificating on some topic), DrRich has remained smugly satisfied that he nailed it.
But now something has happened to make DrRich wonder whether […]

Posted in New business models for healthcare, Primary Care in America | No Comments »