NPR’s Julie Rovner profiles Cathy Crute, a doctor who’s bucking the trend and sticking with her small, private practice in Portland, Maine.
A “medical home” aims to be a practice where the doctor doesn’t keep you waiting, does keep you healthy, and works with a team to deliver better care cheaper.
Titles: When are we going to cure cancer? Cancer Chemotherapies and the Health of Your Bones. Late Effects After Cancer Therapy
Medicaid expansion to cover more working poor. Funding to boost community health clinics. Incentives to encourage more to pursue primary care careers.
Despite the clear benefits of health IT, only two in ten doctors and one in ten hospitals use even a basic electronic record system.
More of Washington teens are up-to-date on their shots, but the state still has a way to go before it achieves recommended 90 percent target immunization rate.
Starting next year, doctors who refer Medicare and Medicaid patients to in-house imaging machines must disclose in writing that they own the equipment.
If you have diabetes, your lifetime risk of developing a foot ulcer is 15% or more, and about a quarter of diabetic foot ulcers fail to heal and eventually require amputation.
The new arrangement will go into effect September 1st, when the Stevens will officially be renamed Swedish/Edmonds.
Participating hospitals voluntarily report their progress towards implementing these practices. Your hospital’s report is available online.
Experts caution that most doctor-rating systems are still rudimentary, and a four-star rating or other high-performance designation may not reliably reflect a doctor’s abilities.
Despite the anecdotal evidence, substantial data has yet to emerge showing that the medical home model saves money or lives.
University of Washington ranked 6th in the U.S. News & World Report survey but still managed to rank in the top 20 for producing primary care doctors.
Anesthesiologist, ophthalmologist, gynecologist, orthopedic surgeon, and hospitalists among the new hires.
A funny thing happens when a computer challenges orders for medical scans that aren’t likely to help: Doctors often drop the test requests.
Doctors who “get on board” will be paid more by Medicare and Medicaid, beginning in 2011. But in 2016 the subsidies disappear and those still using paper risk sanctions, including reduced Medicare fees.
As doctors leave the system to join “concierge” practices, patients scramble to find care
“Direct care practices’” in which patients pay a monthly fee for primary care services may help cut health costs and attract more providers to primary care.
Doctors in training have long been insulated from information about the cost of the treatments and tests. Schools are now teaching them what care costs.
Doctors who accept speaking fees and other compensation from pharmaceutical or medical device companies will soon see their names and the value of the gifts on the Web.
Surprise charges, inadequate training and even blocked access to patient files–a massive headache.
Less than half of graduating medical students say they have a good sense of how to navigate health care systems or the economics of practicing medicine.
Allow Seattle Children’s to expand, says Seattle Times
The Seattle City Council should reverse ruling of a hearing examiner who has rejected Seattle Children’s expansion plans, says Seattle Times argues in an editorial today’s paper.
The hearing examiner found that hospital’s planned expansion, which would add 1.5 million square feet of space on its Lauralhurst campus, was inappropriate [...]
The White House has released a transcript of President Barack Obama’s “Health Insurance Reform Town Hall” meeting held yesterday, August 11 at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
To read it click on “Read more…”.
Transcript released by the White House:
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Portsmouth! Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everybody have a seat. [...]
By Phil Galewitz
August 11, 2009
When Congress and the White House began talking about a health care overhaul, the industries that profit from the $2.5 trillion system were understandably nervous.
But as the legislation takes shape, it appears much of the anxiety was misplaced. Most of the major health care players, including hospitals, health insurers and pharmaceutical [...]
OPINION:
Joseph Califano, Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University
As President Obama and Congress struggle to bend the rising cost curve in order to make health care available to all Americans, the history of the first great expansion of health care coverage when Lyndon Johnson drove Medicare and Medicaid through [...]
Continuous chemotherapy for some cancers?
New York Times reporter Andrew Pollack writes that some doctors and pharmaceutical companies are advocating treating patients with cancer continuously.
“That would be a departure from the common practice of stopping treatment when the cancer is under control and resuming it only if the cancer worsens,” Pollack writes.
Some doctors say such ”maintenance [...]
Health Effects Of Comparing Care: No Easy Answers
By Joanne Silberner, NPR News
JUL 21, 2009
This story comes from NPR, a Kaiser Health News partner.
The Obama administration and Congress are moving forward with plans to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the various medical treatments for common health conditions, despite concerns of some lawmakers and the [...]
To reduce medical errors, hospitals are forming advisory councils where patients and health care professionals work together to improve safety.
In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, explains how these advisory councils work.
Hospital Advisory Councils Get Patients’ View on Safer Health Care
By Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.
July [...]
Howard Gleckman, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute
July 20, 2009
Advocates of including long-term care services in health reform usually focus on two issues: How many Medicaid dollars should be spent on home care and whether to create a national long-term care insurance program, such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has proposed in his CLASS [...]
Invisible Families: The homeless you don't see
They squeeze in with relatives, couch surf with friends or camp out in cars. More families are quietly becoming homeless, driven to the edge by a lack of jobs and affordable housing. The Seattle Times and its local news partners tackle the topic together. Project home
E-Health Records: Seattle is ahead of the curve
Health News from the Seattle Times
