Over the last few years, medical specialty boards have begun to compel physicians to maintain board certification by a number of means. This is an extension of recertification requirements that have been in existence since the...
Read MoreA recent survey published in Health Affairs found that 20% of nearly 2,000 physician respondents said that “they had not fully disclosed mistakes to patients for fear of being sued” in the past year. When I first heard about...
Read MoreNot long ago, I blogged about a plastic surgeon who aggressively pursues patients who refuse to pay her bills. The state is suing her to make her stop and also considering lifting her medical license. You may want to take a look...
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A recent article in a major newspaper asked why physicians still wear white coats. The theme...
Read MoreI recently wrote about my plan to reduce hospital readmissions. Now I will discuss the problem of reducing length of stay. The recent hurricane in New York City and the closures of some hospitals requiring the transfer of a...
Read MoreYou may be surprised and dismayed when you find out. A study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine from a VA hospital affiliated with the University of Wisconsin reveals some startling facts. During a 14-hour call period...
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The Particulars: Research does not clearly indicate whether stroke risk is lower for patients who...
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The Particulars: Treatment options are limited for patients with refractory high blood pressure...
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The Particulars: Few studies have compared primary stenting approaches with balloon angioplasty in...
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The Particulars: Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and a P2Y12 platelet inhibitor has been...
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The Particulars: Treatment options are limited for men with suboptimal responses to drugs for...
Read MoreThe following are all actual journals that seem really interesting [with my comments in brackets]. If I only had more time … 1. Anadolu Kardiyoloji Dergisi – The Anatolian Journal of Cardiology 2. Antioxidants & Redox...
Read More“Variation and Imprecision of Clerkship Grading in US Medical Schools” is the understated title of the paper in the August 2012 issue of the journal Academic Medicine. The authors, from the department of medicine at Brigham and...
Read MoreTwo recent papers have prompted me to ask myself the question, “Why do malpractice suits take so long to be resolved?” One was by a group from Harvard, USC and the RAND Corporation. They looked at more than 10,000 closed...
Read MoreAs new Medicare rules kick in, some 2,200 hospitals nationwide are facing financial penalties for 30-day readmission rates for myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and pneumonia. Medicare payments will be lowered by...
Read MoreThe September 2012 issue of the AARP Bulletin has a story about a woman who sued an elder-law attorney for legal malpractice. Bear with me. It’s an interesting tale. In 2004, a man consulted an elder-law attorney to set up a...
Read MoreIf you pay attention at all to news about medicine, you must have heard about the tragic death of a 12-year-old boy who was seen and discharged from the emergency department of the prestigious New York University Medical Center....
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Doctors and nurses in the ICU at Long Island’s North Shore University Hospital are being watched...
Read MoreYou are probably familiar with the CMS “never events” initiative. CMS has decided it will not reimburse hospitals for treatment related to complications that it says should never occur. Here is the current list. Foreign object...
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There is much hand-wringing about the shortage of primary care physicians. But primary care is not...
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