Tag Archives: healthcare

Fee for Service works for car repairs- not people’s health

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Yes, America has passed health care insurance reform. But (maybe in 2014), we have not addressed the 900 pound gorilla in the room- our overall health care, itself. Here’s an example of the problem- childhood asthma. Of all emergency visits for children (think for a second of how many broken limbs), about 15 to 20% are due to this disease (and much, much higher in cities, where there are less broken limbs from playing in fields).

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Dialysis Glimpses from the 60’s and 70’s

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Imagine this scenario.  Dialysis as a therapy is just starting to ‘click’.  Treatments are available in one of two modalities- coil or flat plate.  The coil system (shown below) reminds one of a  giant washing machine, with a bathing solution of warm salt water, bubbled carbon dioxide, and a plastic device (looking like a car “air filter”) inserted inside this mess, through which passes your blood.  The “air filter” is a membrane that separates the solution from your blood; the impurities from your blood are whisked away by the solution.

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Telemedicine is no longer the future for CHF patients

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Telemedicine has been a ‘whiz-bang’ concept for some time. I remember working with AT&T right after their breakup from the baby bells (almost 20 years ago). We were working on the initial stages of a telemedicine system they would market.  (The real issue was there were insufficient/inaccurate devices upon which we would initially rely.)

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Let’s re-evaluate our basis for healthcare!

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Many of you know that I have been writing (and some of you may have termed it ‘ranting’) about health care reform in America for several years. But, that’s because we have allowed ourselves to develop a system of reimbursement that is biased for testing and against outcomes. We also have a system that (in my humble opinion) provides an incentive to those lacking insurance to employ the services of a hospital emergency room.

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