HCPLive , an online, medical news site tweeted this question: If you had the president’s ear for fifteen minutes, what would you say to him about the current state of our health care system? Ok then. This is a good one. You can just type it out free lance–for fun and all, snark-free, with a […]
Category: Health Care Reform
Largesse: (Form thefreedictionary.com): 1. a. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. b. Money or gifts bestowed. 2. Generosity of spirit or attitude. Two days into last week’s Heart Rhythm Society meeting, Propublica, an independent online investigative journalism-in-the-public-interest endeavor published a series of high profile articles as part of their Dollars […]
Wait… Before reading any further, I would like to issue a warning. If your ideas about healthcare delivery are of an older ilk; if you cling white-knuckled to past dogma, please stop reading now. What follows may cause your atria to fibrillate. Last month I wrote that the best tool for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) […]
There are few other medical specialties that boast more guidelines than Cardiology. We don’t say a specific treatment plan was good or bad; we say it was “I, IIa, IIb, or III” Today, a well publicized health story (WSJ, and NY Times) from the Archives of Internal Medicine reported that more than 50 percent of […]
Whenever someone asks about the cost of an ICD (Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator), an image pops into my brain. The image that I see is how the ICD gets handed to me during the implant surgery. Imagine: Careful. Cautious. Consider how you would pass your new brand new iPad 2 to a friend, then multiply that […]
It’s heart-wrenching when young athletes die of sudden cardiac death (SCD). This week, the death of Wes Leonard, a Michigan high school star athlete, was especially poignant since he collapsed right after hitting the game-winning shot. This sort of tragedy occurs about one hundred times each year in America. That’s a lot of sadness. The […]
This week, another of my EP colleagues, Dr Rich is hosting the weekly medical blog carnival, Grand Rounds. A reader gets to enjoy, not only the many great entries, but also the distinctive, unique and entertaining writing style of Dr Rich. While you are visiting his site, I’d suggest poking around and reading Rich’s views on […]
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What would you say?
What if you were about to have dinner with the most powerful Republican in the United States of America? How would you answer if, knowing you were a doctor, he asked… “Hey Doc, how is it out there, really?” You stammer for a minute, perhaps because you are uncomfortable wearing that newly purchased suit. The […]
The experiment took thirty-three minutes and forty-one seconds.  That’s about the time it takes to see a new heart-rhythm patient or implant a defibrillator. I was just curious. I wanted to dip my toes into the icy waters which so many primary care doctors have already acclimated to. A denial? Are they kidding, that medicine […]
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Seriously?
There used to be only single society guidelines: AHA Guidelines. Or, ADA Guidelines. Then we progressed to two organizations:Â AHA/ACC Guidelines. Soon the heart rhythm boys wanted in:Â AHA/ACC/HRS Guidelines. But last night, I saw the this: ASA/ACCF/AHA/AANN/AANS/ACR/ASNR/CNS/SAIP/SCAI/SIR/SNIS/SVM/SVS Guidelines. (For the treatment of blood vessels in the neck.) Geez. JMM
My colleague, Dr Wes penned a provocative piece this weekend about the role of physician-extenders in the future of health care reform. It was a great piece about a timely topic–a definite glimpse into the future. My introduction to physician-extenders started more than a decade ago when my second child had an ear infection. He […]