Tag: health-reform

Can More Care Actually Result in Lower Costs for All?

January 31st, 2011
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I read an article recently by Dr. Atul Gawande in the New Yorker that comes as close to anything regarding making an argument that more care to the right subset of patients (Hot Spotters) may actually result in overall lower system costs.  There are some mind-boggling statistics in the article including the highest 1% of patients […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare

Do the Right Thing – Hold the Inappropriate Antibiotics

January 26th, 2011
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Recently I saw an 18 month old girl on her second course of antibiotics for an “infection”, according to the mother. The child initially had symptoms of fever associated with nasal congestion and cough and sore throat. How she or the treating physician determined she had a sore throat will always be an enigma for […]

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Posted in Quality Efficiency Utilization

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along (and Share Data)

December 14th, 2010
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Sometimes it is the simple things in life that may make all the difference. How about the ability of doctors and hospitals to actually access current information on patients so we do not duplicate testing and procedures? This interesting study from the Kaiser Foundation found that patients who visited multiple emergency departments racked up three […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare

What is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician?

November 22nd, 2010
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For years, I have contended that all doctors and more so all specialists are not cut from the same cloth. I believe it’s more than simply how one practices; it is about ones’ motivations and convictions. To better understand the working relationship we have with our colleagues, we need to better understand how they think, […]

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Posted in Life in the ER