Medical leaders and politicians carp endlessly about medical malpractice suits, but when an emergency medical specialist diagnosed staffing shortfalls that threatened patient safety, guess what legal mechanism became crucial to his corrective crusade? Why, yes, of course, it was a lawsuit. A big one over wrongful termination. Let’s not over-focus on the irony of a….
Continue ReadingHealth Care Reform
Califf confirmed to head FDA as Biden picks interim science advisors
The Biden Administration finally has a Senate-confirmed head of the federal Food and Drug Administration, as well as two new interim Cabinet-level appointees to advise the president on scientific matters. Still, the struggles to fill top health policy posts shows that leadership in the field is tough to find and keep. And it is harder….
Continue ReadingIn U.S. health care, the relentless pursuit of sky-high profits goes on
While the folks who toil in the front lines of U.S. health care deserve the highest praise and support in the continuing battle against the coronavirus pandemic, those who run care systems deserve a Bronx cheer and worse for their rapacious pursuit of profits — at the expense of patients: Just consider how health systems….
Continue ReadingAs Omicron rips through hospitals, new governor lifts Virginia pandemic measures
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has thrust Virginia into the ferocious battles over evidence-based efforts to quell the coronavirus pandemic, with the newly installed Republican issuing executive orders to bar schools from requiring face coverings and forbidding state employers from having vaccine requirements. His decisions, in keeping with what has become a GOP policy orthodoxy and reversing….
Continue ReadingPoor FDA communication harms patients, taxpayers, other agencies
Critics are slamming the federal Food and Drug Administration for dropping the ball in informing the U.S. officials who run the Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ health programs about crucial regulatory decisions, leading the federal government apparently to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for patients to get a defective heart device and potentially to pay….
Continue ReadingHospices a hot investment as profiteers seek a buck to life’s very end
Profit-raking private investors, aka hedge funders, have taken aim at operations intended to help the elderly, desperately ill, and grievously injured experience a dignified death. The rapacious takeover of the hospice industry nationwide ought to be setting off political and regulatory alarms in a rapidly graying nation. As is typically the case when MBA-driven interests….
Continue ReadingWomen MDs face lifetime pay gap of $2 million less than male colleagues, and patient care suffers as a result
They excel through four years of rigorous undergraduate study, then battle their way through four more years of tough, tough medical school. They cram to pass their medical boards and grind through exhausting internships. They also pursue years more of exacting, sleep-deprived training in residencies and fellowships. But, wait a minute: Women doctors earn over….
Continue ReadingIn year-end crunch, Senate weighs Biden plan for health care boost
Leave it to lawmakers on Capitol Hill to wait until the year’s end to take up a major package pushed by congressional Democrats and the Biden Administration and that could potentially improve Americans’ health — big time. The machinations by which the proponents hope to pass the “Build Back Better” program have, sadly and significantly,….
Continue ReadingU.S. invests $1.5 billion to boost health staffing in underserved areas
For anyone who believes that health care, in the wealthiest nation in the world, is a right and not a privilege, the Biden Administration provided some cause for optimism. It came in the form of an announcement by Vice President Kamala Harris that the nation will invest $1.5 billion to help reduce the shortage of….
Continue ReadingWhen big money is on the line, hospitals can lose their moral compass
If corporatists are correct and big, wealthy enterprises legally get rights akin to what real folks have, can it also be true that institutions, like people, sometimes just lose their way? This argument may be evidenced by the tight-fistedness — eased under adverse publicity — of a legendary children’s charitable hospital and the profit-hungry financial….
Continue Reading