I will now embark on a series of posts highlighting some of the key findings of our study on how family physicians report they deliver cost-effective care. One of our most basic findings was that family physicians felt that considering cost was one of the complexities that were just part of their medical decision...
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Something has just come up. I’ll get back to complaining about Dr. Oz in a few weeks. In the mean time: I just had a paper published in the journal Family Medicine that took a long time to get here, but the wait was worth it. It has great stories explaining why family physicians...
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Dr. Oz is back at it again, spreading ignorance across our fine land. But before I get to the most recent example …. A story about the good doctor that appeared earlier this year in the New Yorker included some fine quotes about his medical statements that have little to no evidence to back...
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A recent report from Reuters talked about the tactics of Cancer Treatment Centers of America. The piece started with a story of a woman who called for help, but was denied after the Center realized she had cancer spread throughout her body. I’m sure this for-profit company is not the only entity who advertises...
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Two weeks ago, I wrote about the actual lack of success Kaiser has had in reducing healthcare costs very much more than the rest of the U.S. healthcare system. This is a story about a group having a little more success. This is a post originally written by Brian Klepper, PhD on his Care...
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Larry Bauer, who is a leader in family medicine education in the northeast U.S., sent out a link to a piece written by teacher who complained about the over-emphasis on standardized tests in secondary education. He felt so bad about it, he quit teaching.  Here is the link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/06/teachers-resignation-letter-my-profession-no-longer-exists/ Larry asked a group of...
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Kaiser Permanente has been a leader in integrated healthcare for decades. It started as a plan to cover workers building the Hoover Dam, and has spread to become a dominant force primarily on the west coast. It has over six million members in California alone. Kaiser does a lot of things right. It has...
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I’ve written in the past about a few long-term studies of bariatric surgery outcomes as a treatment for morbid obesity. They found that the incidence of diabetes is reduced in morbidly obese patients who undergo this surgery, and even reverses diabetes and hypertension in some cases. From a cost perspective, what is the trade-off?...
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An article in Forbes recently questioned the value of patient satisfaction scores for both pay-for-performance schemes and as markers of quality and value in general. The article effectively exposed the inordinate sway Press Ganey has on the hearts and minds of hospital administrators. Press Ganey is an influential patient satisfaction survey company many hospitals...
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