Friday, May 30, 2008

E-Life

Will the Last Physician in America Please Turn off the Lights.   E-life is the title of a book written by the late Tom Ferguson M.D regarding the use of the internet by patients. Dr. Ferguson virtually led the movement to advocate informed self-care as the starting point for good health, and to promote a new kind of relationship between knowledgeable medical consumers and medical professionals. His goal was to encourage medical professionals to treat clients as equal partners in achieving better outcomes and change the entrenched practices of the traditional top-down hierarchy of the doctor-patient relationship. With the advent of broad access to the internet, Dr. Ferguson's long history of advocacy of information-empowered medical...

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day

Quote of the day: Men live in a fantasy world. I know this because I am one, and I actually receive my mail there. - Scott Adams   The above quote has nothing to do with my post today. Today is a bittersweet day for many Americans. We celebrate today in a variety of ways, picnics, trips to the river,  barbecues with friends, and relatives. Many Americans bear fresh grief from the loss  of a loved one, a husband,  a mother or a father, sister or brother, uncles, (aunts).   We live near a national cemetery and today there will be a procession of automobiles, motorcycles, and families.  There  will be flowers and mementos left at gravesides. For me this particular national cemetery is personal and special. We tend to forget that not all who...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Clarence This is Stupid Stuff

Today I am reading Leavitt's Blog. As most MDs will recognize this name as gentleman who is the Head of HHS. I am not sure, but I believe this is a Cabinet Level Position, or at least on a level commensurate with the Head of a Major Federal Agency. I made a comment on his blog, and lo and behold it appeared. (moderated, too). In a land where "titles" and certificates, outcomes and credentials outweigh all other measures of intelligence, competence, and malpractice coverage I come to the table with merely an MD and Board Certification in a surgical specialty. It took me 15 years post high school graduation (including involuntary military service in the Navy during Vietnam), which by the way turned out to be one of the most interesting and rewarding periods of my life, to get to a point...

More Mike Leavitt

Quote of the day: The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. - G. K. Chesterton Mike Leavitt Interview with Modern Healthcare Mike Leavitt's Blog Mr. Leavitt pre-supposes that our health care system is not an "economic system", and that much of what ails our healthcare system can be "cured" by satisfying the hypothesis that there are" Four Cornerstones "to a health economy. He elaborates further,    Leavitt: History will determine whether in fact I had the impact I aspired to. I can tell you my vision of healthcare. I can report to you the progress, and I can also acknowledge that nothing happens in a system as large as healthcare in a short period of time. I came to this role with a clear vision that the primary challenge was to take...

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mother's Day Blog

Thought I would take the day off from blogging to wish all the Mom's a Happy Day, without whom there would be no blogge...

Thursday, May 8, 2008

UNTANGLING THE MESS

Quote of the day: The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal. - H. L. Mencken If you are a provider, patient, insurance company, hospital or some other health care provider, few have the luxury or liberty to stand back and analyze what would work to improve healthcare in America.  Since Medicare's inception there have been uncounted mid course corrections to make the system work, contain costs, improve quality and affordabilty for patents.All of this has produced the "Gordian Knot"  Each time the knot grows larger and tighter, now threatening it's very existence. The question is , do we unravel the knot, and how?  Or do we throw it out (with the baby) and start over? We have failed to do the appropriate...

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