http://covertrationingblog.com Healthcare rationing: Where even angels fear to tread Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:53:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Cochrane Collaboration has created something of a stir with its latest review on the advisability of doing breast self-examinations, which concluded, in essence, that they're not advisable. Specifically, they found that women who perform breast self-examinations end up producing more harm than good, so women should be discouraged from ... http://covertrationingblog.com/general-rationing-issues/fun-with-randomized-trials-and-breasts Robert Pear reported this week in the New York Times that, in narrowly averting the scheduled 10.6% pay cut for doctors (and in the process taking the popular Medicare Advantage program away from seniors), congresspersons of both parties have come to recognize that "the formula for paying doctors is broken." ... http://covertrationingblog.com/healthcare-economics/throwing-it-to-the-dogs Last month, DrRich wrote about how “doctor-nurses” are fixing to displace primary care doctors, and how the noble American Medical Association – champion, as always, of the American PCP – is mobilizing with decisive action to prevent this tragedy from taking place.* One of the more remarkable responses to this article ... http://covertrationingblog.com/primary-care-in-america/getting-square-with-the-nurses (Don't forget to check out the Independence Day version of Medical Grand Rounds.) Depending on which news source you read, physicians either are or are not about to get hit with a 10.6% pay cut from Medicare. (The actual outcome of the pay cut kerfuffle, some say, will depend on how ... http://covertrationingblog.com/general-rationing-issues/how-covert-rationing-precludes-efficiency Welcome to Medical Grand Rounds, Volume 4, Number 41, July 1, 2008. This week, bloggers from across the Internet have submitted articles that will help us celebrate the 232nd birthday of the United States of America. Their patriotic postings, organized according to their relationship to the Founding, follow: Lists ... http://covertrationingblog.com/uncategorized/medical-grand-rounds-vol-4-no-41 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, ... http://covertrationingblog.com/uncategorized/the-covert-rationing-blog-to-host-medical-grand-rounds 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 ... http://covertrationingblog.com/healthcare-economics/are-doctors-withholding-tax-payments-to-recover-funds-from-medicare "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 ... http://covertrationingblog.com/fixing-american-healthcare/more-kudos 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 ... http://covertrationingblog.com/primary-care-in-america/another-reason-to-let-the-doctor-nurses-take-the-whole-thing 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 ... http://covertrationingblog.com/primary-care-in-america/hey-pcps-here-they-come