Tara Parker-Pope recently had an article on how fewer and fewer patients trust their doctors. About one in four patients feel that their physicians sometimes expose them to unnecessary risk, according to data from a Johns Hopkins study published this year in the journal Medicine. And two recent studies show that whether patients trust a….
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More on Medicare and Testing
In our previous post, we discussed Dr. Peter Bach’s comments on Medicare funding for unnecessary (in his opinion) testing. In response to Bach’s article on the subject, the NY Times published readers’ letters, most of which were highly critical of Bach’s proposals about Medicare and testing. The first letter, from Dr. Brant S. Miller, is….
Continue ReadingMedicare, Tests and Time
Peter Bach, former adviser to the Medicare and Medicaid administrator, wrote a NY Times op-ed arguing that the Medicare system pays doctors for how many tests they run with a given piece of equipment but not for how much time they spend with patients. Readers responded with letters on the subject. From the op-ed: Medicare….
Continue ReadingDo You Really Need That CT Scan?
The NY Times has a long and informative article on the pressures physicians face to give patients with heart problems unnecessary CT angiogram scans, which are very expensive and not demonstrably more effective than cheaper tests. Aside from the expense, the scans come with radiation exposure equal to as much as 1,000 chest X-rays. Further,….
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