Although Republicans have ripped at the health insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act, a less known but also important aspect of Obamacare may soon benefit Californians. This West Coast ACA-related move also may be worth watching by patients and medical safety advocates, as well as employers and insurers. The Golden State, the San Francisco….
Continue ReadingQuality outcome measures
It’s clear to see: Cataract surgery can extend and improve women’s lives (and men’s too)
Cataract operations, performed on more than 3 million Americans each year, not only may be the most common surgeries in the nation—they also may be life prolonging, especially for older women. A 20-year study—published in JAMA Ophthalmology— of more than 74,000 women who were 65 and older and who had the all too common clouding….
Continue ReadingUnited Medical Center’s woes deepen as ratings group rips DC-area hospitals
Even as District of Columbia officials struggle with deepening woes at the United Medical Center (UMC), advocates from a national, independent, and nonprofit group have offered a dim review of hospitals in the DC area. The bad news keeps piling on at UMC, a leading provider of medical care for communities of color in the….
Continue ReadingA new tool for finding how your hospital rates
Patrick Malone & Associates has a new tool for patients to easily check out how their hospital stacks up on quality and safety measures. The tool is on our website here, and covers all hospitals in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, including northern Virginia, the Maryland suburbs of DC and the District of Columbia itself…..
Continue ReadingAs Trumpcare founders, GOP offers harsh paths for government on health
The Republicans haven’t waved a white flag—yet. They may never formally surrender. But the GOP’s seven-year, take-no-prisoners campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has foundered. For good? Political prediction is a knucklehead’s sport. It’s never safe to predict what’s going to happen, especially when unpredictable tragedies rear up like Sen. John….
Continue Reading3 DC-area teaching hospitals rate poorly on preventing central line infections
Three Washington, D.C.-area teaching hospitals have ranked in the lowest-scoring group nationally on preventing infections when their patients are hooked up to central lines, intravenous tubes that supply fluids, medications, and nutrients to those in dire need. Two institutions in the region rated highly. Consumer Reports deserves credit for its continuing reporting on hospital acquired….
Continue ReadingBe wary of counterfactual assertions about Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid
As speculation explodes about what the GOP and the president-elect will or won’t do with the Affordable Health Care Act (aka Obamacare), Medicare, and Medicaid, skeptical citizens would be well-served to learn as much as they can about critical policy concerns. Ask tough questions and be wary of counterfactual contentions. Here are a few prime….
Continue ReadingFederal auditors assail $359 million in Medicare costs for chiropractic care
Federal auditors have found that 80 percent of Medicare spending in a recent year on chiropractic care−some $359 million−was medically unnecessary. The federal insurance program for senior citizens should not have thrown taxpayer dollars at chiropractors to treat strains, sprains, or joint conditions, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General says. Its….
Continue ReadingCould a two-mile drive to a better hospital save your life?
Health care economists have a simple prescription for patients wanting better care: Drive a little farther to a better hospital. As Austin Frakt writes in the Upshot column for the New York Times, there were measurable and significant survival gains in heart attack patients who chose superior care at hospitals a mile or two farther….
Continue Reading‘Number Needed to Treat:’ a clear way to figure whether care’s effective
Modern medicine can get mired in a lot of mumbo jumbo, so much so that it gets daunting for patients and consumers to try to understand something simple but critical: How effective is a therapy that my doctor wants me to have? Because I’ve written before about the virtue in a clear and decisive figure,….
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