For the past couple years, our country has done a lot of talking about health care reform. Much of that centered on providing universal access to health care services. After that comes ways to reduce costs; pivotal to providing health care for everyone. Missing are serious discussions about Defensive Medicine and Tort Reform. It’s as though these items are off the table, presumably because reforming these elements would cut into the legislature’s fellow attorneys’ profits. Thin excuses are provided; such as statements claiming that unfettered civil suits are necessary to ensure that a patient is not violated — even when proposed reforms would not affect patients’ right to direct compensation for actual costs incurred. We at Medical Justice aren’t looking for immunity from civil recourse. We’re simply after reasonable limits, to eliminate the temptation to sue in hopes of receiving a jackpot award. When 3/4 of all medical malpractice suits are found to be baseless, it’s only right that doctors be relieved of the drains on time, energy and finances that defending against such frivolous cases require. But perhaps we’ve been using the wrong term. Rather than calling it Tort Reform, perhaps we should start asking for Health Justice.
Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD
C-Sections & Obesity Blamed For Rise In Maternal Mortality
If C-sections are more dangerous, and since multiple C-sections are an even higher risk, why would hospital policies require that a woman who has had a C-section before deliver by C-section again?
The SGR Band-aid & Why We All Should Care
The real problem is with the SGR itself. Medicare’s reimbursement for treatment needs to be addressed, revised so that it compensates fairly and equitably. Once the matter has been dispensed of, doctors can return their full attention to treating patients instead of worrying about how to keep the doors open for those patients…
Pardon me, Mr. President, but could you tell your stage dressers that it takes more than a garment to make a doctor, and more than those props to get the American people to believe that physicians are actually endorsing such a pathetic and woefully inept excuse for Health Care Reform?
From The Trenches (Healthcare Reform for the Real World) #4: Support Innovation
From The Trenches
(Healthcare Reform for the Real World)
#4: Support Innovation
This is the fourth in a series examining the problems in our health care system from the real world where patients get sick and injured, and doctors and other health care providers work to heal them. In the series, we’ll identify the actual non-political problems, and offer sound, sensible solutions that we can enact ourselves to reduce risk and increase patient safety.
Today’s medical industry is full of amazing technologies, things we never dreamt of 50 years ago; X-rays no longer need to be “processed,” oxygen levels are found with a meter, temperature with an instant temp gun. Computers keep track of inventory, monitor patients’ vitals, and we’re about on the verge of standardized, digital medical records. But much of this technology is obscenely profitable for the few, at the cost of many. Certainly that’s the way Capitalism works. It provides incentive to develop new technologies and abilities. But can be a double-edged sword. Consider this:
A diabetic’s test strips are his/her miner’s canary, the way s/he can tell if blood glucose levels are safe or if they’re causing damage to the body. With Type-2 diabetics, it’s not quite as crucial as with Type-1 patients (who administer insulin by injection) The industry developed complex and capable pumps, but those little devices cost about $6K each, and require maintenance supplies that are also very expensive. Those without pumps still have to do things the old-fashioned way, with syringes. (Granted, the needles have become much finer — so small that they’re often entirely painless.) So long as there’s money to be made, especially on a recurring basis, companies will be there, funding new developments. But what happens when a technology stands to eliminate a profitable item? Then our Capitalist system can suppress the innovation. Consider this:
Dr. Ren of the University of Florida developed a sensor chip capable of accurately detecting blood glucose levels (amongst things) from one’s breath. That may just seem clever to some, but for the millions of diabetics in this world, people who must stick themselves in their fingers every day, it’s a minor godsend. Great idea! No more sticking oneself, and no more test strips. HURRAY! But it may never see the market.
Obama & Dems To Push Half-Baked HCR Through Via Tactic Misnamed As “Reconciliation”
Surely President Obama has to realize that Reconciliation would be a huge mark against his presidency. So why continue to push for the unpopular Reconciliation tactic? A clue may come from what he said while speaking against postponing. President Obama retorted …
Podcast on Defensive Medicine
Great podcast from MDWhistleblower on defensive medicine [audio:http://www.interactmd.com/sites/default/files/Defensive%20Medicine%20and%20Gallup%20Poll.mp3] click to play :: Defensive Medicine
House Giveth, Senator Bunning Taketh Away; 21% SGR Cut Ahead!
Meanwhile, doctors would end up doing without 100% of their payments for Medicare patients unless and until the Senate acts.
President’s Plan: Backdoor Health Care Bill Thru Budget Reconciliation
What makes the maneuver itself objectionable is the method that would be used. A backdoor tactic, called a budget reconciliation bill, would allow the changes to be enacted without opening the subject to a filibuster on the floor… Passing action via budget reconciliation commits this nation’s government to addressing the matter… while allowing for amendment in times to come…. Nine hundred billion dollars divided by thirty million people is $30,000 per person. That’s a lot of health care insurance premiums!
From The Trenches (Healthcare Reform for the Real World) #3: Pre-Existing Conditions
From The Trenches
(Healthcare Reform for the Real World)
#3: Pre-Existing Conditions
This is the third in a series examining the problems in our health care system from the real world where patients get sick and injured, and doctors and other health care providers work to heal them. In the series, we’ll identify the actual non-political problems, and offer sound, sensible solutions that we can enact to reduce risk and increase patient safety.
Pre-existing conditions are a nightmare of the health care insurance. The specter of pre-existing conditions affects not only the cost of healthcare, but also the very health of patients. Patients who are concerned that they will be diagnosed with something (pre-existing) that prevents them from getting health care insurance in the future may give inaccurate information to their doctors in attempts to avoid that diagnosis. Some avoid treatment altogether, allowing the disease / condition to progress further than necessary, before they’re finally forced to seek help.
In a significant way, we all have pre-existing conditions, in that we are born with genetic propensities to develop certain diseases.
Drug Makers Playing the Numbers Game
With healthcare reform legislation pending, and the government indicating that they’ll be shaving money off the prices they’ll pay for all things Healthcare, it shouldn’t really have been much of a surprise to see drug manufacturers raising the prices. After all, if they raise them now, they won’t be amongst those to suffer or have to tighten their belts to help make healthcare affordable. The tactic makes one mindful of “Value Added” pricing on cars. They add a few thousand to the sticker price (based on some dubious excuse) and then give you a couple thousand dollars off — so you “save” and they still got more than sticker price for the car. Nothing new there.
But we’re not talking about a new car. We’re talking about the drugs that alleviate suffering and save lives. While everyone else is looking for ways to cut the fat and lower costs, they’re making certain that lower profits don’t happen in their back yards. How close is the analogy? Washington hopes new regulations will reduce the cost of drugs by about $8 billion. They’re adding $10 billion. So look! Net increase of $2 billion for the drug manufacturers. So much for the savings our legislators have spent all that time and effort wrangling into place.
