Does it matter what a doctor wears? A simple search on ‘doctors attire’ yields many studies and words of opinion but yet no consensus. As background, electrophysiologists seem most comfortable in those ubiquitous blue or green hospital issue scrubs, most commonly accompanied by tennis shoes. Maybe this is a right given the long hours of […]
The phone conversations are overheard. The other doctor is new to the game of private practice and she meticulously explains the illness to a daughter. This persists for about twenty minutes and at the end of the phone call the daughter suggests the doctor needs to talk with the son who is a surgeon […]
The WSJ recently reported the American Heart Association’s earth shattering proclamation urging people to focus on the prevention of heart disease. The AHA provides the seven steps to wellness, like a map to the grail. Does the AHA have a surprise or something novel to share with us? No, just the usual recommendations to not smoke, […]
First there is increasingly less reimbursement for the non-procedural aspects of medicine, then more paperwork and now a requirement from the California Department of Managed Care that doctors see patients within 10-15 days. Yes, the word require was used. Every spring when we venture to southern California to ride bikes it is impossible not to […]
Here are two vignettes illustrating the failure of doctors to master the obvious and maybe a window onto the future struggles to control medical costs. A 90 year old is referred for care due to “end stage dementia.” End-stage dementia is medical speak and as such does not really convey the appropriate imagery. It means […]
There are many highlights of this outstanding meeting but the live cases are always a standout. Today there were 2 from Rochester, MN and one from Boston. Live ablation procedures on real life patients are beamed into the lecture hall via some mysterious satellite through a maze of cables. The operators, with their NFL-coach […]
Sometimes I wonder about putting mind-numbing, boring and trivial words out into the internet world. It must be a very slow news day in New York, or the reporter must have friends in high places to get a story published in the Times on how vehicle exhaust may be linked to respiratory illness or heart […]
Taking care of heart attacks is about speed, the “door to balloon time” is the primary metric used to determine a hospital’s worthiness. So congratulations to the Santa Rosa Memorial’s staff for being the fastest in the country, but they should not delude themselves with the notion that high quality care is all that is […]
The new MacBook was scrolling fast but this headline grabbed the eyes… “Self-discipline, perseverance needed for successful cardiac rehabilitation, cardiologist says.” The story of cardiac rehab acts as a metaphor for the entire cardiac health quagmire. Cardiac rehab following a stent, coronary bypass, or heart attack is indeed scientifically proven to improve outcomes. Problematically though, […]
One of my new tasks in joining a new practice is learning CPT codes for what I do. Said differently, I am learning how to bill for services rendered. Never needed to this in the past as my large group had an army of business folks (coders) who did this for me. They of course […]
Being married to a palliative care doctor is enlightening in so many ways. As has been noted previously, CMS (government) decided that commonly ordered stress scans and ultrasounds of the heart are much less valuable. Undoubtedly, there are many reasons for this, but at least one is likely the notion that there are too many […]