Unsolicited curbside consultations of medical professionals are quite common. As are self-referrals. Such scenarios can yield unfavorable results.
healthcare
The gloves are off in a battle to control the sector. Nearly 83% of hospitals are charging over twice the cost for medicines, with a majority of mark-ups between 200 and 400%. Will any fixes in store actually help patients?
A new review from regulatory experts at the National Health Service reveals a workforce shortage crisis. Officials paint a "bleak picture" about the state of the government-run health system.
It is officially July! In the medical world that means fresh graduates become interns or fellows or attendings. Along with such promotions comes high turnover departures and the refrain "don’t get sick in July." But, does this annual transition actually make patients more vulnerable to adverse events?
Google quietly advances its entry into the healthcare market by accurately automating data acquisition from hospital records, which is more reminiscent of Dr. Wellby than Dr. McCoy. It's a big leap forward for Big Data but its clinical value is yet to be achieved.
Humans suffer from "do something syndrome." New research shows that 51% of Americans want to be screened for cancer, even if explicitly told that the cancer screen is completely ineffective.
People want compassion. And unlike doctors – who are often in a hurry, seeing you in sterile and unwelcoming exam rooms – alternative medicine practitioners are masters at delivering compassion. And they genuinely seem to care about your well-being.
When lawyers and marketing firms can directly target patients via their mobile phones – while, yes, even in the ER – the time is yesterday to preserve the once-presumed protected health information.
With the proposed consumer privacy initiative in California a reaction to internet data abuse, it's time, long overdue, to discuss the murky territory once-presumed-protected health information has entered.
No, I'm not speaking of Jonathan Goldsmith, the guy who just pretended to be The Most Interesting Man in the World. I'm speaking of the real deal, my grandfather, Dimitri Berezow -- a man who survived Stalin and Hitler, cheated death on multiple occasions, and went on to live the American dream. His was an impossibly unique story – one that seems too extraordinary to be true (and yet is) – capped with a cautionary tale about modern healthcare.
Value-based healthcare: that's the goal. But like blind men touching an elephant, describing one part or another, what we mean by "value" depends on who we are.
What'cha gonna do when they come for you? If "they" are the officials at the Department of Justice – and you are a pharmaceutical or healthcare company or even a physician – you settle.