We’ve long highlighted the risks of getting too much medical treatment, and now a national survey of physicians finds that they, too, believe their colleagues order unnecessary tests and provide unnecessary care. As summarized by KaiserHealthNews.org (KHN), 3 in 4 physicians believe that fellow doctors prescribe an unnecessary test or procedure at least once a….
Continue ReadingArchives for May 2014
Striking Number of Deaths from Common Causes Are Preventable, and Here’s How
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 4 in 10 deaths from the five leading causes are preventable. Each year, says a new CDC report, nearly 900,000 Americans die prematurely from heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke and unintentional injuries. Together, these causes represented more than 6….
Continue ReadingDisabled People Get Inferior Care
The report covered only one state, but its conclusion is disturbing: People with disabilities “fare worse” than other people in terms of physical and mental health and in their access to high-quality medical care from providers who are sensitive to their needs. The report, “Health Needs Assessment of People With Disabilities in Massachusetts, 2013,” pretty….
Continue ReadingWhy Free Drug Samples Lead to Higher Drug Costs
A new study published in JAMA Dermatology gives yet more evidence that theres no free lunch in the medical industry. This study found that when doctors receive free samples from pharmaceutical companies, they’re more likely to prescribe the expensive, brand-name medicine even if other drugs, including generics, are available and equally effective. As analyzed by….
Continue ReadingDo People Die from Lack of Access to Regular Health Care?
The reflexive answer is, “Of course they do,” but proving it with hard numbers is another thing. And acting on it as national policy is yet another step. Now there’s an important study that puts hard numbers into the national debate about access to health care. When Massachusetts in 2006 became the first state to….
Continue ReadingHealth-Care Workers Should Undergo Drug Testing
Why aren’t doctors — and other health-care workers — drug tested? It’s a good question, and the title of a recent commentary published in the New York Times. The authors, Daniel R. Levinson and Erika T. Broadhurst, inspector general and special agent, respectively, for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), argue for….
Continue ReadingStemming the Tide of Misdiagnosis in Doctors’ Offices
We know a lot more than we used to about diagnosis mistakes in hospitals, but a new study says that every year, at least 1 in 20 adults gets the wrong diagnosis in a doctor’s office. For more than 6 million U.S. patients a year, according to the authors of the study published in the….
Continue ReadingUCLA Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit Over Conflict of Interest
Later this year, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act takes full effect. It’s part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), and requires public disclosure of financial relationships between health-care companies and physicians. (See our blog, “Which Doctors Line Their Pockets with Big Pharma Money?.”) Clearly, it’s overdue. One example why is last week’s settlement….
Continue Reading