Kathleen Sharp tells a good, if scary, story. In “Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever,” she describes how two Big Pharma companies conspired to develop and market an anti-anemia drug despite evidence of devastating side effects. In a recent op-ed in the New York Times,….
Continue ReadingAccessibility of Healthcare
Proof that Medical Innovations Can Save Lives at Low Cost
The scourge of cervical cancer — a leading cancer killer of women in the third world without access to Pap smears and HPV vaccinations — is being whipped with an unlikely low-tech, low-cost preventive treatment: Ordinary vinegar plus freezing of the cervical warts before they turn cancerous. The vinegar is brushed on the cervix by….
Continue ReadingHow States Rank for Long-Term Care
Like real estate, rating the quality of long-term care is about location, location, location. A new report from AARP, The Commonweath Fund and The Scan Foundation found a wide disparity of services and accessibility in the U.S. for the elderly and disabled and their caregivers on a state-by-state basis. As summarized by WebMD, the study….
Continue ReadingAn Honest Discussion of “Appropriate” Care
At a time when the cost of health care represents nearly one-fifth of the U.S. gross domestic product, it is reasonable and necessary to discuss the notion of “appropriate care.” But a fair and conscientious examination of what measures, personnel and technologies should be employed to diagnose and treat medical problems must get past such….
Continue ReadingFor Medicare Advantage Plans, an Over-Abundance of Choices
Another clarion call to simplify a program so critical to the welfare of so many Americans was sounded earlier this month in a report published online by Health Affairs. It concluded that when faced with numerous Medicare Advantage plans, older Americans were less likely to enroll than if their choice of plans was more limited…..
Continue ReadingMore Generous Insurance Coverage for Preventive Care for Women
The news that health insurers will be required to cover contraception and related counseling, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed last year, received a lot of media attention and political blowback. Because some people find that provision of preventive care for women objectionable, it overshadowed other elements of the new guidelines, which pertain….
Continue ReadingNew Law Requires Urgent Care Clinics to Post Prices
It’s impossible to be a conscientious consumer of medical services if you don’t know how much a procedure, an office visit or a lab test will cost. If you live in Florida, however, and are in need of urgent care, the mystery about costs is about to lift. As reported on the St. Petersburg Times’….
Continue ReadingGeorge Orwell Comes to Washington: The “Protect Patients Now” Lobbying Group
If you wanted to lobby for a law that wipes out the rights of patients to hold hospitals, drug manufacturers and doctors accountable when they hurt people by carelessness and wrongful conduct, what would you call your group? “Protect Patients Now!” It has a nice ring, doesn’t it? However, the people behind this campaign, which….
Continue ReadingNew “Physician Compare” Website Doesn’t Impress
Patient safety advocates like me have long dreamed of cracking open for the public the vast trove of data the government collects on doctors, so patients could figure out who gets the best outcomes and guide their doctor choices accordingly. Medicare was supposed to start down that path with its new “Physician Compare” website, but….
Continue Reading“30-minute promise” for emergency visits makes Texas hospital popular with patients
Quick triage of patients who arrive at the Emergency Department isn’t just important for patient safety. It makes hospitals a lot more popular with their consumers, as one hospital has found. The emergency department at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano launched a policy called the 30-Minute Promise in October 2009, pledging to treat patients….
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