Delays in the emergency room cause some patients to forgo treatment, according to a study by the University of South Florida. The study found that when ER patients have to wait to be admitted to hospital, the waiting time for other ER patients becomes longer, and the more likely it is that some of them….
Continue ReadingAccessibility of Healthcare
Why Is U.S. Health Care So Expensive?
A new report comparing the United States to other industrialized countries has a depressing list of all the ways that America outstrips other countries in money spent but lags behind in health quality results. For example: * Per person, the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as on food, and much more than….
Continue ReadingHealth Care’s Ever-Expanding Share of the Pie
These sobering numbers show the urgency of “bending the cost curve down,” as the pundits like to say. Unfortunately the urgency of reforming the safety and quality of health care has taken a far back seat to the money discussion. They actually are compatible goals.
Continue ReadingWhy Are the Babies Dying?
Far more infants die in their first year of life in the United States than in most of the developed world, and new data from the Centers for Disease Control suggests one of the main reasons is premature births, and that could be helped by better access to prenatal care for mothers. Infant mortality is….
Continue ReadingA Small Step Forward in Curbing Drug Industry Influence on Doctor Education
Most doctors have to take regular continuing education courses to maintain their medical licenses. But what if the courses have a hidden agenda — promoting the drugs of a sponsoring manufacturer? That hidden influence has occurred far too often for the comfort of patient safety advocates, who want prescribing doctors to receive fair, balanced and….
Continue ReadingPreventive Health Care: U.S. Is Dead Last Among Industrialized Nations
“Amenable mortality” is a body count of unnecessary deaths due to lack of preventive health care. The latest measure is not flattering to the American health care system. Researchers count these deaths by looking at premature deaths in areas like these: * Adults who die from breast or colon cancer before age 75, indicating lack….
Continue ReadingA Safe — and Gentle — Approach to End-of-Life Decisions
Many elderly patients suffer protracted, and expensive, deaths as health care providers pummel them with technological fixes for bodies that have already worn out. The dilemma is that while no doctor wants to give futile care that tortures more than it heals, no one also wants to be guilty of euthanasia or abandoning their patient…..
Continue ReadingThe Patient Advocate: Your Guide to the Health Care Maze
Having an ally to help you negotiate the health care maze can be absolutely critical to obtaining the best medical care, especially if you are sick enough that you’re not thinking as clearly as usual. A patient advocate does not need any special training in medicine or nursing — just an inquisitive mind and persistence….
Continue ReadingMelding Safety with Affordability in American Health Care
More and more doctors and patients are recognizing the link between affordability of medical care and safety. One problem that plagues fee-for-service medicine is that doctors are rewarded financially for ordering excessive tests and treatments, which are both dangerous and wasteful. Geoff Berg, an internist in Rhode Island, put it this way in a letter….
Continue ReadingToo Much Medical Care Is Dangerous and Expensive
A New Yorker article by Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon, focused on why McAllen, Texas has higher medical costs than just about anywhere in the country. Dr. Gawande concluded that much of the problem could be traced to the very aggressive, intervention-oriented style of medicine practiced there — all stemming from the fee-for-service payment system….
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