Regarding “WellPoint to pay $1.7 million HIPAA penalty”: WellPoint is just the tip of the iceberg. Since all of our personal phone messages, e-mails and Internet correspondence have been tapped into by the National Security Agency, why would we even be concerned about our medical information? FULL STORY »
Regarding “HHS signs off on IT patient-safety plan”: Perhaps the government should have figured out how to standardize reporting of IT and EHR safety issues before requiring and incentivizing us to use them. FULL STORY »
Regarding “New healthcare rights, thanks to DOMA ruling”: I'm very sure that this decision will ultimately benefit all of the healthcare community. It will lead to less confusion in the handling of same-sex spouses as next-of-kin in medical decisions. FULL STORY »
Regarding: “Study finds jump in ER-related admissions”: It would be very interesting to see how much of the increase came from patients covered by Medicare. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Study finds jump in ER-related admissions”:Just read your article about the jump in ER admissions. Actually, this could be a good sign, that the ER is being used more appropriately for things that need admission. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Leap to ICD-11 not recommended: AMA board”: Our government is systematically decimating the practice of medicine in the U.S. It is past time to acknowledge the real costs and challenges of electronic documentation and the financial and physical toll our government has placed on medical facilities and a demoralized healthcare workforce. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Democratic senator blocks vote on Tavenner nomination”: I would normally be pretty irritated to see a Democratic senator block a Democratic president's CMS nominee. FULL STORY »
By Modern Healthcare | March 30, 2013
| Print Magazine
It is outrageous for the National Institutes of Health to sponsor a $31 million study of chelation therapy (Modern Physician, March 27) that left some commenters questioning the integrity of the investigators. It makes me question if NIH's entire purpose was to make it fail, since EDTA treatment is vastly cheaper than the expensive and often dangerous drugs being peddled by the pharmaceutical industry, which has long had undue influence with its friends in the Food and Drug Administration and NIH. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Don't tie Medicaid to ER discharge diagnoses: researchers”: One thing about Medicaid costs: When I talk with state legislators, they very often forget that the dollars allotted for Medicaid in state budgets are exaggerated. FULL STORY »
Regarding “The next big app,” the patient needs access to everything that exists out there that pertains to them, the same way that the providers do. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Better data needed on preventive health spending: GAO”: Preventive care is a laudable goal but will never reduce healthcare costs. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Diagnostic errors common in primary care, study finds”: This article brings up several important issues. Time is of the essence in medical care today. Physicians have a limited period of time to collect the relevant information and the clock is always ticking. FULL STORY »
Regarding “WakeMed to seek judge's OK on deferred prosecution": Yes, why were no living, breathing “people” on trial here? There absolutely were human beings that directed this grand larceny and others who executed it. FULL STORY »
Regarding “ACP encourages mandatory immunizations for providers”: You are forgetting rabies, typhoid fever, typhus, yellow fever and bubonic plague. FULL STORY »
Regarding “White House calls for healthcare cuts, permanent SGR fix”: We can't keep cutting physician reimbursement as well as hospital reimbursement. Those that suffer will be those Medicare beneficiaries and others in need of care. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Consortium aims to speed device reviews”: The Dec. 3 article about the Medical Device Innovation Consortium covers the concerns of the very vocal, profitable medical-device industry. FULL STORY »
Regarding “HMA exec says physicians 'grossly mischaracterized' admissions management”: It wasn't just physicians who were interviewed and who had identified this “problem”: fraud. FULL STORY »
Regarding “HMA execs defend ER admissions rates”: It is extremely disingenuous to say that administrators have no say in how admission decisions are made. FULL STORY »
Regarding “Include Medicare, Medicaid cuts in deficit deal: Durbin”: Were American policymakers to have the benefit of transparent financial statements prepared the way the public companies must report their liabilities, they would see clearly the magnitude of the future borrowing that these liabilities imply. FULL STORY »
Eric Semelroth's cartoon in the Nov. 5 issue of Modern Healthcare was the most succinct description of the presidential election I have seen. FULL STORY »
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