Health Train Analytics

No degree of dullness can safeguard a work against the determination of critics to find it fascinating.   - Harold Rosenberg *************************************************** This is my preface for today's stories It's the end of 2008, and between nodding off and consuming egg nog there are some interesting blog writings, analyses, and reports emanating from various congressional reports, foundations, and health care think tanks. If you are a pessimist the tanks are half empty or even empty, if you are an optimist the tank is half full.  If you are like most people, the 'tank' is meaningless and does not apply to the real world. There is a certain amount of common sense that is lacking in many things we now have to deal with...

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Content for 2008 Health Train Express

The end of 2008 certainly has been remarkable. What unexpected cataclysmic events await us in 2009? Will what we have experienced in 2008 give us a better understanding of other impending chaos, without our taking serious proactive measures, rather than retroactive reflexes.??? Read more at Health Train Express Monthly Content for Health Train Express—December 2008 Primary Care Interruption Express 2008 Denoument Brain Train and Fitness Transitions Transparency Bailout Cooling Down Throwing Money Consensus Transition Team Arogant Physicians (Surgeons) Hypoprimarenia And have a safe and blessed Christmas....

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Primary Care needs to get on the Health Train Express

Richard Reece MD of Medinnovation Blog is the rare breed of specialist (in his case, pathology) who waves the flag and cheers on the family physician, and general practitioner in their battle to survive.  Even I as an ophthalmologist will join his efforts and realize if primary care can be picked off then all of us are very vulnerable.  No specialist should be excited about the impending doom of PCPs and the secondary loss of patient access to healthcare in America.  The American College of Physicians has sent a letter to President-elect Obama via HHS Secretary designate Tom Daschle requesting a ten percent bonus for primary care physicians alloted from the economic stimulus package. Tom Daschle has been handed to our physician group without our input and/or comments. He...

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Health Train Interruption

Sorry I have been away the past week, moving from California to Georgia.  I've been looking for a 'retirement phase out" and appear to have found one.  Once I settle in I will be able to alot scheduled time to my newly acquired fondness of blogging. Known for it's peanuts and peaches and pecans ...

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Health Train Express--2008

The end of 2008 seems a good time to review the state of health information technology and the progress of Electronic Medical Record implementation. Much has not occured since 2003 when GWB appointed David Brailer MD as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). Initially, like all new things, ONCHIT attracted a great deal of publicity.  It stimulated the organization of CCHIT, a national certifying authority for producing interoperable information systems, assuring the compatibilty of different vendor offerings to move toward a goal of the National Health Information Network. During the ensuing years, the most successful vendors became CCHIT certified, but now without annual costs paid for by the vendorss...

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Health Train Express--Denoument

Today we are changing from the train to an airliner. I do my best 'creative thinking', or perhaps I become a bit delusional at 40,000 feet. Perhaps it is the reduced atmospheric pressure or  decrease in oxygen.  No matter...it is the end result here that is important rather than the science. An economic survey, or just reading the news tells us that financial institutions have failed.  Our industrial production base has changed, and what was once the bastion of middle class attainment, the automobile companies in the United States have tanked. As I fly over the United States I see Wall Street in ruin, empty houses, unfinished home construction, and a hole in the ground where the world trade center used to stand, the midwest...

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Brain Train Express

For those of you who have not noticed videogaming is a 3 billion dollar industry, and is fluorishing during hard times.  For one thing it has a lot of 'bang for the buck',  compared to theme parks, movies, and does not use any fuel. It also turns out that 16% of the gaming market has to do with health and fitness.  Yes,that's correct, you couch potatoes can use brain power as well as fitness training with interactive Wii (Nintendo) games. Here are some examples: Flaghouse   PE & RECREATION SPECIAL POPULATIONS ACTIVITIES FOR LIFE SENSORY SOLUTIONS FITBRAINS PHYSICAL FITNESS VIDEO TRAINING POSIT SCIENCE BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM CLASSIC TRY AN INTERACTIVE DEMO HERE EXERCISE IN A BOX...

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Brain Train Express

For those of you who have not noticed videogaming is a 3 billion dollar industry, and is fluorishing during hard times.  For one thing it has a lot of 'bang for the buck',  compared to theme parks, movies, and does not use any fuel. It also turns out that 16% of the gaming market has to do with health and fitness.  Yes,that's correct, you couch potatoes can use brain power as well as fitness training with interactive Wii (Nintendo) games. Here are some examples: Flaghouse   PE & RECREATION SPECIAL POPULATIONS ACTIVITIES FOR LIFE SENSORY SOLUTIONS FITBRAINS PHYSICAL FITNESS VIDEO TRAINING POSIT SCIENCE BRAIN FITNESS PROGRAM CLASSIC TRY AN INTERACTIVE DEMO HERE EXERCISE IN A BOX...

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Health Train Express Transition

The gulf between the macrocosm of health policy planners and the microcosm of health care providers, ie physicians, grows wider day by day. Evidence of this abounds as other participants in the health process compete for a seat at the table of transition teams for the new Obama administration.   What does Tom Daschle really know about providing healthcare to that patient on the exam table? His choice was as an arbiter for political disagreements and an attempt to create the coalition to pass some type of health care legislation.  One cannot even begin to predict the outcome....whether it will call for a universal payor plan or another throwing of the dice in regard to reimbursement plans, or another game of insuring...

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Health Care Transparency and others

New buzz word "Transparency" is upon us all.  Wikipedia lists a number of industries, and uses for this term, however it does not list 'healthcare".  I am not sure what that means. Much of today's post will not relate to health train express, so I will link you to my posts over "there". ...

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Health Train Express Bailout 2018

Medpolitics has an  article written by  Paul Hseih MD regarding parallels between the home mortgage crisis created by 'universal home ownership' encouraged by not so wise financial market manipulations, and 'universal health care" as is being currently proposed by the Obama administration. Paul Hsieh, MD is the co-founder of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine. Are we at the beginning of a "Health Care Bubble"  destined to failure? More bubbles please!! del.icio.us Tags: health care bubble,obama health care,universal payer...

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Cool Down the Health Train Express

How would you like to become a popsicle? A cardiologist in Louisiana has developed a non invasive technique to cool down the body of patients with strokes, acute myocardial infarction, for any disease whose body temperature can rapidly be cooled (ie, within six to ten minutes) to produce hypothermia.  It has long been recognized that hypothermia slows down the metabolic processes and improves the liklihood of healing without further damage to vital organs such as the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver. This technique has been in use for decades for transporting donor organ tissues. The device, is demonstrated by Paul McMullen M.D., cardiologist at the Ochsner Clinic, named "THERMOSUIT HYPOTHERMIA THERAPY.  It is currently...

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Throwing Money at the Health Train

As long as we are at it, how about throwing  50 or 100 billion toward those underpriveleged hospitals and doctors.  This is a national crisis which undermines  the health and welfare of all.   Get it while the spigot is flowing.  Do we want cars or health?? iHealthbeat reports:  Lawmakers Consider Adding Health IT to Stimulus Package Congressional health care leaders are considering adding health IT provisions to an economic stimulus package being developed by aides to President-elect Barack Obama and congressional staff, Government Health IT reports. Congressional sources say that one strategy would be to attach the Wired for Health Care Quality Act to the economic stimulus legislation (McCloskey,...

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Health Train Express Consensus

While most folks have been tuned to the recent financial crises, industry bailouts, mortgage melt downs, there have been significant proposals from the health insurance industry, set forth by the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), The Wall Street Journal reports: Ideas about how the U.S. can achieve universal health care are coming thick and fast. The insurance industry itself is stepping up to the nation’s suggestion box with another proposal. The trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, called for universal coverage, a more centralized insurance market and cost-reduction that would slow the growth of the nation’s ballooning health-care spending by 30% in five years. Consensus is emerging on universal healthcare,...

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President Obama's Healthcare Transition Team

Every physician and almost every potential patient has dealt with the chaos and inequity of our current non-system. It takes an enormous effort to navigate to and from a medical clinic, hospital, navigate forms, bills, and payments, what is covered, and what is not covered.  What used to be  a rather simple transaction between doctor and patient has degenerated into a blizzard of paperwork, information technology and more. While HIT is promoted as a 'cure' it also raises many questions as to expense, privacy and converting healthcare providers into data entry clerks who will utilize more time entering data than caring for patients. Healthcare transparency is upon us, and also health care policy planning.  Tom Daschle has the following to offer.  All of us should 'bury'...

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Arrogant,Abusive, and Disruptive on the Health Train Express

In today's email newsletters one from the New York Times caught my eye. This is old, but still disturbing news. The article fails to mention what steps hospitals, medical staffs, and others have initiated to curb these episodes.  Human behavior is at times unpredictable. What is also not mentioned is the disciplinary process, nor the response of the attending surgeon in their example. It is also very interesting the article mentions (as an afterthought) that the incidence of these 'outbursts' have diminished recently. Could this be attributed to the mandate of decreased hours for residents in training. It also does not attribute what the support staff did ,if anything, to enable this type of behavior.  Does the nursing supervisors,...

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Hypoprimarenia

Post  tryptophane tremors Why are there  not enough Primary Careologists? This sounds very familiar. The problem with medical school begins in the first year. Most of the two preclinical years have little to do with practicing medicine. Those trained in some basic science in the last several years of college realize very quickly that medicine has little to do with science or curiosity about science and/or health. It is more like elementary school for doctors…just like you learned reading, writing and rythmatic to prepare you for middle school, and high school to learn trig, algebra and calculus. What you learn during those first two years is nomenclature, and linguisitics…much like any vocation which has specific terms. Lawyers...

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Health and Human Services

Quackbooster nominated for HHS Secretary. Cabinet Secretarys seem to play musical chairs and/or musical titles.  HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt was formerly head of the EPA. from  Quackwatch: Tom Daschle, who is President-Elect Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, provided strong support to unscientific practitioners while serving in the U.S. Congress from 1979-2003. Daschle has not made intentions clear as to whether or not he will run again for office; however, he  signed on as a Senior Policy Advisor with the K Street law firm Alston & Bird.[15][16] Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth,...

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World AIDs Day

December 1st next week marks another annual event. HIV/AIDS awareness day, presents an opportunity to educate, promote testing,and obtain posters, marketing materials and plan an event for your area. The web site asks bloggers to participate in a  number of ways. Participate!!! There are many ways. Take Action There are many ways you can take action in response to HIV/AIDS: get tested for HIV practice safe methods to prevent HIV decide not to engage in high risk behaviors talk about HIV prevention with family, friends, and colleagues provide support to people living with HIV/AIDS get involved with or host an event for World AIDS Day in your community del.icio.us Tags: HIV,AIDS,WORLD AIDS DAY...

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Engage with Grace

  Again, re-posted from November 2008   This weekend there is a 'BLOG RALLY' taking place. Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog promoting  Engage with Grace. The blog link contains video and text regarding this worthwhile viral marketing message regarding end of life care. One of the issues regarding the escalation of health care costs is the magnitude of expenses during the last one or two years of life. Engage with Grace addresses this issue and calls  for promoting the message. HealthCare in America, written by Kenneth Fisher,   M.D.  also the author of  " In Defiance of Death" (available at Amazon) closely mirrors what Engage with Grace is all about. Dr. Fisher is featured on "Monday Night Live"...

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Cyberchondria

Quote of the day: I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened. - Mark Twain *************************************************** Are you examining and possibly treating  a cyberchondriac?  Perhaps our review of symptoms should now include a new category under mental health. An important question may be 'how many hours a week do you spend searching the internet?' As reported in the New York Times, "If that headache plaguing you this morning led you first to a Web search and then to the conclusion that you must have a brain tumor, you may instead be suffering from cyberchondria A recent research report completed by Microsoft (those folks who now bring us "Health Vault" reveals...

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Erratum

Whoops! In the last post I credited Dr Rowsey as the 'inventor of lasik'.  I was mistaken.  However, he is a certified VIS-X instructor. A change has been made in the original aticle....

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Health Train at The Mission Inn

I spent the afternoon yesterday with my former classmate who has had an illustrious career in Ophthalmology. John James Rowsey MD, a corneal specialist, and former Chairman of the Department f Ophthalmology at University of South Florida  travelled to California from Florida to ask how to get  physicians involved and become stakeholders in health care reform.   Idea Man   I am not sure I gave him an adequate answer while we were enjoying a fabulous brunch at a National Historic Landmark, The Mission Inn in Riverside, CA.   I could not immediately crystallize my thoughts , but this morning I have a long laundry list of ideas. Jim works for and with Senator Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) travelling each month to a...

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Health Train Daschle

What's your take on this new announcement today regarding Tom Daschle's most likely nomination to replace Mike Leavitt as head of HHS.? What is the connection here? What does Tom Daschle really know about health care? We could at least say that Mike is a physician, MD. Mr Daschle recently published a book " Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis   Since 2007, Daschle has been an advisor to the law firm of Alston & Bird LLP. Although Daschle is not a registered lobbyist, his firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60% of that money coming from the health industry.  I didn't see any physician representation...

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Health Train Next Stop Bagdad

Panel Confirms Gulf War Syndrome Is Real and Causes Are Definable WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 -- The Gulf War illness was caused by pyridostigmine bromide pills taken by U.S. troops to neutralize the effects of nerve gas attacks and by exposure to neurotoxic insecticides, according to a VA advisory panel. These two factors amounted to a definable scientifically valid illness with significant nervous system symptoms often still affecting veterans of the 1991 conflict in Kuwait and Iraq, said the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses At the same time, the report exonerated a number of other suspects in symptoms reported by returning veterans of Operation Desert Storm, including depleted uranium, anthrax vaccine, infectious diseases, and stress. Much of the report echoed a meta-analysis...

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Health Train Survey

The results of my survey on Sermo have just been released. I am posting the question and the results here QUESTION: IF OBAMA WINS THE ELECTION WHAT WILL BE THE RESULTS IN TERMS OF HEALTH CARE CHANGES??   ANSWERS" If Obama wins Tuesday, I think Wednesday I'll get up, take my kids to school, go to work, come home, have a beer with my wife and soak in the hot tub. Get over yourselves, people, you sound like a bunch of Nostradamus wannabees. 8%   (3/36) No 6%   (2/36) Be afraid, be very afraid. 6%   (2/36) All those anti-Obama doctors will be investigated by Medicare and the IRS. BestGuess will be Secretary of Health and Human Services. 3%   (1/36) I will be very sad. ...

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