This is the second in a series of conversations I had with some open-minded colleagues who also deeply want to seen meaningful change in the U.S. healthcare system. The person I primarily responded to mentioned a chapter in Pursuing the Triple Aim. Here is what I wrote back to him: I...
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First, a history lesson. Back in the mid 2000 oughts, the AAFP launched a wholly owned subsidiary called TransforMed. It was originally started to help practices implement the “new model of care” from the Future of Family Medicine Report. Soon after it was launched, the joint principles of the patient-centered medical...
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From the mid- to late-2000s, lots of pundits got into the business of shoving electronic medial records (EMRs)down doctors’ throats. There were a few incentives from the Feds to help with the upfront costs, but it was a pittance of what it really costed hospitals and physician practices. And there was...
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Another recent study has exposed the limitations of the current quality indicators used by Medicare and many insurance companies. This time it’s for in-hospital patient deaths. Researchers looked at the mortality rate for patients admitted for pneumonia to 303 California hospitals. Hospitals were lumped into groups of performance using the standard quality measures....
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As much as I have given the ologists and other members of the dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system a hard time in previous posts, it’s only fair that I call out bad family medicine as well. I have a great example. I recently saw patient who is relatively new to the area...
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I took the longest time off from posting on this blog site that I ever have since I launched it in 2010. I had a good reason. I spent a week in England learning more about their National Health Service. I’ll share some of those experiences later. Plus, I’m working on...
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This post is the 3rd in a series discussing our findings in a recently published study on the ways family physicians deliver better care at a lower cost than a multi-ologist model. Family physicians told us they are more comfortable with uncertainty than the ologists. For a little history, the Future...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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