Monday, October 19, 2009
QD: News Every Day--the H1N1 fist bump
ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events continues with ways to avoid spreading the flu (and how it's making us rude), Michigan's proposed doctor tax, and a review of evidence-based medicine.
H1N1 influenza
A feature story profiles how ways to avoid spreading disease are making society less civil (fist bumps instead of handshakes) Thomas Fekete, FACP, says that it's only reducing risk by 1%-2%.
Primary care shortage
Michigan is considering taxing physicians. They propose a 3% physician tax to offset Medicaid cuts to hospitals. The measure could generate $300 million, which would recoup another $525 million in matching federal money. Michigan's hospitals, nursing homes and health plans already pay a physician tax, as do 44 other states. The Michigan State Medical Society Michigan Osteopathic Association oppose it, saying it will exacerbate the primary care shortage and shortchange specialists, but the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians supports it, saying the tax would fund increased reimbursement for Medicaid, which in turn would encourage more primary care doctors to accept those patients.
On the plus side of the balance sheet, Pikeville College will expand its School of Osteopathic Medicine to reduce the primary care shortage in eastern Kentucky. The $4.5 million expansion may eventually increase each year's class from 75 to 125 students. Of course, once they're students, they're overwhelmed by the pace and the scope of school loans, as profiles in northwest Indiana relate.
Evidence-based medicine
One doctor relates the dangers of trying to apply rigorous reviews to individual patients, in this case, his own mother. Another caveat to evidence-based medicine is who's providing the evidence base. Online health sites that allow patients to directly compare (sometimes unapproved) treatments and outcomes are cropping up more rapidly--nearly 500 by now. These sites combine social media with aspects of wiki-style medical references and evidence-based medicine. Patients are turning to them for H1N1, for example. ACP Internist profiled one such site and the controversy it generated a year ago.
Labels: evidence-based medicine, flu, H1N1, primary care shortage, QD
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
12:56 PM
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- Medical News of the Obvious
- QD: News Every Day--One stolen laptop threatens al...
- Patient uses Twitter as he undergoes appendectomy
- Rheumatology: Ill-advised session titles
- QD: News Every Day--legislative tricks, treat the ...
- I feel your difficulty being empathetic.
- Jargon of the day
- Out of the mouths of executives
- QD: News Every Day--The disconnect of health refor...
- The annual point when the biz of medicine gets me ...
Blog log
American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home