The total number of hospital beds in the U.S. has been declining for decades. “Care is increasingly shifting from inpatient settings to outpatient settings,” says Marie Johnson of the American Hospital Association. The list of reasons is long, its ordering in the eye of the beholder: Cost pressures, mergers, surgical innovations that mean shorter stays, … Read more
The field of personalized medicine has made significant progress with key discoveries like single nucleotide polymorphism and microarray/biochips. These advances will benefit plans, patients, the pharmaceutical industry, and society. Introduction The notion of individualism is strong within Western societies. During recent decades the individual with his/her independence and uniqueness has been celebrated and recognized within … Read more
It is often an on-again, off-again disease, distressing partly because it is so unpredictable. It may defy the conventional wisdom about adherence and early treatment. And escalating prices have undercut cost-effectiveness arguments for the drugs that can keep it in check. Multiple sclerosis is a managed care nightmare. The disease doesn’t have a cure, the … Read more
Life just got tougher for the 3,000 physician members of the Permanente Medical Group of Northern California. Starting this month, those physicians will be paid based on a 44-hour work week rather than a 40-hour week.hour week. The group’s doctors are paid salary plus overtime figured in four-hour increments. Under the new system, a doctor … Read more
There was a time when commentators confidently predicted that Bill Clinton’s presidency would stand or fall according to the fate of his administration’s ambitious program for reforming health care to guarantee all Americans coverage. That’s coverage, remember, and not mere access, as I recall Hillary Clinton stressing in a November 1993 speech that drew sharp … Read more
“Look before you leap” might be the saddest phrase one can hear in free-fall, but it seems to be the advice given by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality regarding the patient-centered medical home. “Primary care clinicians, health care systems, insurers, state governments, families, and communities” see PCMHs as a solution to many of … Read more
Xiaflex may offer a better overall outcome and a much less invasive option than surgery for patients with Dupuytren’s disease Dupuytren’s disease, a fibroproliferative disease, affects the palmar fascia of the hand. It is thought to be of autosomal dominant genetic origin with variable penetrance (the frequency with which a heritable trait is manifested by … Read more
If clinicians could get a earlier warning, there often would be time to forestall a full-blown ‘brain attack’ A stroke is one of the most feared medical conditions a person can face. About 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates provided what is most likely the earliest description of what we now term a stroke: a sudden onset … Read more
Bosom disease is the most widely recognized female malignant growth. Around the world, in excess of 1,000,000 ladies are analyzed each year. Anyway in spite of this increment, the death rate is declining. This is because of blend of elements including early finding and successful treatment. This composition which is introduced in two areas diagrams … Read more
Bosom disease is the most widely recognized female malignant growth. Around the world, in excess of 1,000,000 ladies are analyzed each year. Anyway in spite of this increment, the death rate is declining. This is because of blend of elements including early finding and successful treatment. This composition which is introduced in two areas diagrams … Read more