The Wisconsin Medical Society is leading a statewide initiative to dramatically improve the rate at which patients complete advance care planning by training nonphysician health professionals to facilitate discussions with patients and encouraging community discussions of an often taboo subject.
My latest. Read the whole shebang.
It looks as though I am no longer golden. I did manage to again land a journalism award from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors, but this time around it is a mere bronze — and a tie, at that.
The recognition comes in the best how-to article category, for a story I wrote on how physicians can help ease the strain experienced by family members called upon to make end-of-life care decisions for their loved ones. While the story is obviously geared toward doctors, it may be helpful as a primer on the topic for nonphysicians. Check it out.
Daily remote monitoring of patients with chronic conditions appears to be ineffective in reducing rehospitalizations and emergency department visits, according to the most recent randomized controlled trial of the technology.
My latest. Read the whole shebang.
Nearly 80% of physicians at an academic medical center said they experienced a personal crisis within the past year, yet most said they would not seek support from physician-health services or employee-assistance programs.
The 108 surgeons, anesthesiologists and emergency physicians surveyed said they experienced a wide range of stressful events, such as serious illnesses or deaths in their families and severe adverse events in their patients. But most they said they were unlikely to turn to institutional sources of support, with 40% saying they would be willing to consult physician-health services and 29% open to using employee-assistance programs. About a third of the doctors had never even heard of these services, said an Archives of Surgery study published in March.
My latest. Read the whole shebang.
On a mild, gray day in February, fatigue lined the face of Anthony Parish, a slight, 39-year-old man who has been through a lot. He had a cancerous portion of his lung removed and struggled with postoperative pain. Chemotherapy treatments caused abscesses in his mouth that ruined his teeth and repeatedly sent him to the emergency department for relief, delivered in the form of painkillers and antibiotics.
Despite his health problems, Parish voiced hope on that midwinter morning. His medical team had developed a plan to help alleviate his dental pain. By the end of the month, his infected teeth would be removed and replaced with dentures. He still has intermittent chest pain, but he is learning to cope with it.
Parish is one of about 950 patients identified by Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, Mich., as having used their hospital EDs 10 times or more during the previous year. These patients accounted for more than 20,000 total visits and at least $40 million in costs during that period. In November 2011, Spectrum launched the Center for Integrative Medicine, a $1 million multispecialty clinic modeled on a pilot program that slashed ED use by nearly 90%, to help patients like Parish address the source of the problems that keep bringing them back to the ED.
My latest feature article. Read the whole shebang. And check out the slide show.
A big-wig briefs his company’s employees on the upcoming move to a new office building.
Big-wig: And, as previously announced, there will be free coffee available in the kitchen pantries on every floor.
Assembled workers: Yay!
Questioner: What kind of coffee?
That’s how we got pyramids and rocket ships, folks. Can’t be satisfied.
The National Quality Forum in April added four “efficiency” measures that could be combined with quality metrics as part of the Medicare value-based purchasing plan set to start in 2015.
These metrics join four measures previously endorsed in January and represent the multistakeholder group’s first efforts to measure the intensity of medical services that the health system provides, as well as the total costs. The work is being done under contract with the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
My latest. Read the whole shebang.
