When we characterize ED visits as "inappropriate," we are essentially faulting patients for making the decision to go to the ED; however there is a lot more behind that decision than simply a patient's choice. More
A 2019 study of more than 2,100 U.S. mothers found that 1 in 6 reported “mistreatment” during childbirth, including being ignored, threatened or berated, or losing their autonomy. Women of color were even more likely to report such experiences. It can be hard for parents to speak up after a difficult childbirth. But a small number of health care providers and others are beginning to encourage them to speak up — and to provide feedback about their experiences. In some cases, the process is helping give parents closure, and may even bring about change. In other cases, looking forward may prove better than looking back. More
As deductibles and co-pays grow, insured patients owe a larger share of their medical bills. More and more are being taken to court. More
A recent study shows the impact of asking "Do you want everything done?" for critically ill patients and their family members. More
If we discuss race, without focusing on social conditions, we are supporting a historical narrative that blames, specifically black and women of color, for health complications during pregnancy. More
Despite the claim that "CDC does not accept commercial support," this agency does indeed have financial ties to industry organizations. A petition from watchdog groups is demanding transparency. More
Laboratory benefits managers have emerged to help insurers and others manage the expanding worl of diagnostic testing. Oversight is needed. More
Some 20 years ago, pulmonologist Marc Moss was working in the intensive care unit when a patient went into cardiac arrest. Moss and others tried to revive the man, but he did not survive. As doctors often are, Moss was pressed for time and he asked several medical students to stay with the deceased patient and fill out the necessary paperwork so that Moss could return to another patient he’d been seeing. Not long after, he noticed one of the students crying. More
A radical fix for the U.S. health-care crisis. More
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is over for another year. But it’s not too late to reflect on, and learn from, one of the most troublesome breast center marketing ideas in recent memory. More
In the 40 years since the world’s first “test tube baby,” fertility clinics have cooked up nearly three dozen such “add-ons,” or supplementary procedures. Like immune therapy for supposed genetic incompatibility, they’re not essential to IVF. Instead, clinics offer procedures such as “assisted hatching” and “embryo glue” and “uterine artery vasodilation” as purportedly science-based options that increase the chance of having a baby. Except there is little to no evidence that the vast majority of IVF add-ons do any such thing, conclude four papers published on Tuesday in Fertility and Sterility, the journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. More
In a national survey, seriously ill Medicare beneficiaries described financial hardships resulting from their illness—despite high beneficiary satisfaction with Medicare overall and the fact that many have supplemental insurance. About half reported a serious problem paying medical bills, with prescription drugs proving most onerous. More
Dignity Health said its employee, an ER nurse, failed to meet the deadline to add her premature newborn to its health plan, so she was responsible for the medical bills. It rejected her appeals for a year until ProPublica called. More
On "The People's Pharmacy" on NPR, Shannon Brownlee and Cynthia Boyd discuss drivers of and solutions for medication overload. More
It’s not so much whether one EMR is better than another — they all have their breathtaking assets and their snarling annoyances. What is really becoming clear to me is the uncomfortable realization that there are actually three of us in the room now: the patient, me, and Epic. What started out as a tool — a database to store information more efficiently than the paper chart — has inserted itself as a member of the medical team. What used to be a tango between the doctor and patient is now a troika. More
Many microaggressions are gaffes where the perpetrator is making a misguided attempt at humor. I vividly recall the time I was in training many years ago, and I told my supervising physician about my pregnancy. He responded good-naturedly: “Pregnant? How did you even find the time? We must not be working you hard enough!” I remember mustering a feeble smile, not quite knowing how to respond to his misplaced humor. More
Privacy isn't the only thing we should be worried about with Facebook's new preventive health tool More
Is sunshine really the best disinfectant? Or do we need much more than transparency when it comes to financial conflicts of interest? More
U.S. racial and ethnic diversity is ever increasing, but the medical representation of minority groups is not. A recent review of government-funded cancer research studies found that participants were disproportionately white, and fewer than 2 percent of these clinical trials focused on minorities specifically. More
Americans are rightly furious about the high and unsustainable price of cancer drugs, which now routinely cost more than $100,000 per year of therapy. Those prices are made worse by the fact that most cancer drugs offer only modest benefits — one study put the median benefit at 2.1 extra months of life — along with the fact that expert physicians frequently recommend these drugs for off-label uses, meaning using a drug for a purpose it was not initially approved for. More