Cool Down the Health Train Express

How would you like to become a popsicle?

A cardiologist in Louisiana has developed a non invasive technique to cool down the body of patients with strokes, acute myocardial infarction, for any disease whose body temperature can rapidly be cooled (ie, within six to ten minutes) to produce hypothermia. 

It has long been recognized that hypothermia slows down the metabolic processes and improves the liklihood of healing without further damage to vital organs such as the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver.

This technique has been in use for decades for transporting donor organ tissues.

The device, is demonstrated by Paul McMullen M.D., cardiologist at the Ochsner Clinic, named "THERMOSUIT HYPOTHERMIA THERAPY.  It is currently undergoing clinical trials at a number of Universitys and Heart Centers.  

The therapeutic modality is already in use in Europe and approved by CE (Conformite Europeene). for use in hospitals

"Way cool"  Pick your flavor(s).

del.icio.us Tags: hypothermia,cardiac arrest,myocardial infarction,stroke,clinical trial

Throwing Money at the Health Train

As long as we are at it, how about throwing  50 or 100 billion toward those underpriveleged hospitals and doctors.  This is a national crisis which undermines  the health and welfare of all.   Get it while the spigot is flowing.  Do we want cars or health??

iHealthbeat reports: 

Lawmakers Consider Adding Health IT to Stimulus Package

Congressional health care leaders are considering adding health IT provisions to an economic stimulus package being developed by aides to President-elect Barack Obama and congressional staff, Government Health IT reports.

Congressional sources say that one strategy would be to attach the Wired for Health Care Quality Act to the economic stimulus legislation (McCloskey, Government Health IT, 12/4).

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced the bill (S 1693) to create a national electronic health record system more than a year ago, but privacy issues and funding concerns prevented the legislation from reaching the floor.

On Thursday, an aide to Enzi said the senator has not seen enough details of the economic proposal to know whether adding health IT to it would "blow the budget."

Blow the budget??  You mean if all this stimulus package fails it will be the providers and hospitals that caused it all.

Health Policy Experts Urge Caution

At this week's annual e-Health Initiative conference in Washington, D.C., health policy experts raised concerns about driving health IT adoption through a financial stimulus program.

Mark McClellan, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, said that efforts to finance health IT would be most effective if they are linked to specific standards or functional and performance requirements focused on health outcomes.

He said that although direct financing could increase health IT adoption, he is "not sure that by itself, it would lead to better care."

Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, a physician and former governor of Vermont, cautioned that standards and uses of systems underwritten by a stimulus would have to be widely tested and accepted prior to purchasing (Government Health IT,

Unlike the financial world and credit fiasco, as well as the impending demise of the big 3 (not so big anymore), throwing money at the healthcare system will not cure the problems..

Health Train Express Consensus

While most folks have been tuned to the recent financial crises, industry bailouts, mortgage melt downs, there have been significant proposals from the health insurance industry, set forth by the American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP),

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Ideas about how the U.S. can achieve universal health care are coming thick and fast. The insurance industry itself is stepping up to the nation’s suggestion box with another proposal.

The trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, called for universal coverage, a more centralized insurance market and cost-reduction that would slow the growth of the nation’s ballooning health-care spending by 30% in five years.

Consensus is emerging on universal healthcare, as reported in the New York Times

del.icio.us Tags: AHIP,universal health care,consensus,wall street journal,health savings

President Obama's Healthcare Transition Team

Every physician and almost every potential patient has dealt with the chaos and inequity of our current non-system. It takes an enormous effort to navigate to and from a medical clinic, hospital, navigate forms, bills, and payments, what is covered, and what is not covered.  What used to be  a rather simple transaction between doctor and patient has degenerated into a blizzard of paperwork, information technology and more. While HIT is promoted as a 'cure' it also raises many questions as to expense, privacy and converting healthcare providers into data entry clerks who will utilize more time entering data than caring for patients.

Healthcare transparency is upon us, and also health care policy planning.  Tom Daschle has the following to offer.  All of us should 'bury' him with our ideas.

Health Train Express applauds this relatively new approach

del.icio.us Tags: health transition team,Tom Daschle,you tube video

Arrogant,Abusive, and Disruptive on the Health Train Express

In today's email newsletters one from the New York Times caught my eye.

This is old, but still disturbing news. The article fails to mention what steps hospitals, medical staffs, and others have initiated to curb these episodes.  Human behavior is at times unpredictable. What is also not mentioned is the disciplinary process, nor the response of the attending surgeon in their example.

It is also very interesting the article mentions (as an afterthought) that the incidence of these 'outbursts' have diminished recently. Could this be attributed to the mandate of decreased hours for residents in training.

It also does not attribute what the support staff did ,if anything, to enable this type of behavior.  Does the nursing supervisors, and hospital administration have an avenue and procedure when this occurs.

This article is entirely one sided. How about this picture?

We have surgeons in the operating room, who bear total responsibility morally, ethically, and legally who may have been up for 24 hours or more, may have had their office hours disrupted to be in the operating room, at times at night with unfamilar and at times untrained personnel doing a procedure.  Thrown into a life and death situation under these circumstances can tip an otherwise 'balanced surgeon' into 'anger'....Throwing a scalpel can be construed as assault with a  deadly weapon.  There are legal means of dealing with this situation, far beyond hospital discipline.

The New York Times lumps all episodes of surgeon unhappiness or anger into one category.  Do they include a loud admonition to nurses that are talking, or an anesthesiologist playing loud rap music or  even playing music without the consent of the operating surgeon?  Is blood squirting up to the ceiling because a nurse or assistant was not paying attention to the operation?  Did a critical piece of equipment fail causing irreparable damage?

None of these episodes can be lumped into one category, and each must be addressed individually.  All hospitals  now have procedures and mechanisms to avert this behavior. 

Compared to other issues in our health care system, the uninsured, the inaccesiblity and unfunded mandates, this is a miniscule problem for American Health Care.  There must be other issues the NY Times can print to fill up their space.

 

del.icio.us Tags: rage,nurse abuse,arrogance,disciplinary action,physician anger,healthcare,uninsured

Hypoprimarenia

Post  tryptophane tremors

Why are there  not enough

Primary Careologists?

This sounds very familiar. The problem with medical school begins in the first year. Most of the two preclinical years have little to do with practicing medicine. Those trained in some basic science in the last several years of college realize very quickly that medicine has little to do with science or curiosity about science and/or health. It is more like elementary school for doctors…just like you learned reading, writing and rythmatic to prepare you for middle school, and high school to learn trig, algebra and calculus. What you learn during those first two years is nomenclature, and linguisitics…much like any vocation which has specific terms. Lawyers learn how to speak ‘lawyerese’, computer scientists learn ‘geekology’. These first two years expand your vocabulary, which few other people can or will understand.

The second two years of medical school expose medical students to some clinical work, which they will perform only if the intern and resident are overwhelmed with their duties, don't want to be bothered, since they consider it 'scut work'. If the clinical material is scarce it will be monopolized by the intern/resident. Actually the medical student rotation may bear little resemblance to the actual clinical work that a mature physician will do in his practice. Ordinary medical stuff is usually lacking in a university or tertiary medical center where formal training takes place.

So what actually occurs is that each medical student must make a choice of what he will do with very little chance to experience a specialty or general practice prior to having to select a specialty or match for postgraduate training. In addition to this major shortcoming, the free standing postgraduate year of what used to be called internship is now called pgy 0, or 1, whatever the term is these days. This is also another reason why PCP, or primary care providers are so rare. (this used to be called general practice or family practice for you really young guys.) Many young doctors used to take an internship, then go out and practice general medicine for a few years to get a real taste of what they like or don’t like about each brand of medicine. Yes, Johnny it is possible to do this, and quite safely if apprenticed with an older physician. I did it in the U.S. Navy aboard a floating naval ship LPD-10  in the middle of a war.

Primary Care Can  Be Fun

LPD-10 U.S.S. JUNEAU

The Well  Deck (partially submerged) on LPD 10 

U.S.S. JUNEAU (L)    SUPPLY SHIP (R) underway refueling, and  transfer of doctor as well.  (not for the squeamish)..the cable goes up and down about 50 feet as the ships ride the waves.

 

I was able to do so because of my strong general medicine training in med school and INTERNSHIP. This is because the internship required and demanded competency in general medical,pediatric, surgical and OB/GYN.( I and my classmates delivered over 100 babies during our senior year of med school. Those who had OB in their third year also did the same.) After the navy experience I chose to do general medicine and even became medical director of an emergency department…. It was 6 years before I specialized, some by choice and others by necessity.

Early on I was not sure what I liked or disliked. The clinical part of medicine bears little if any relationship to the science of what you study in the first two years of medical school. You may love endocrinology, or cardiac physiology, but find the clinical aspects of gyn, proctology, or cardiac resuscitation, or surgery revolting. You may like ENT but the thought of treating nosebleeds at 2AM a turn off.

The bread and butter of medicine has little to do with what you see or do at University Tertiary Medical School.

And you are being trained by a guy with one more year of training than you have experienced. Not only that, but he or she will be ranking you, in many cases. Those ‘professors’ who run the department are off giving lectures, writing speeches, or patting some other professor from eithr your institution or another one, on the back.

Being on call every other night, or dealing with very sick patients has little resemblance in internship to practicing general medicine, pediatrics, or other specialties. The journey through med school and internship may be more a journey of avoidance rather than seeking fulfillment.

Sometimes doctors near or at the end of their formal training are uncomfortable entering the ‘real world’. Some chose to go on because of this and subspecialize, some even do multiple fellowships, in neurology, ophthalmology, oculoplastic surgery or other areas.

Some even decide to avoid ‘real medicine’ by becoming academicians. (which is another whole story on dysfunctional adult behavior)

When you reach the pinnacle of success in your own practice and look outward at your colleagues you will find clusters of physicians in a group who trained at one particular institution or another…the Harvard guys, the Yale guys, the UCLA guys…

all self selected into their own tier. My experience is that they are neither smarter or dumber that the rest. Only some patients think that is really important. I often times would have to ‘bail them out or show them some ‘ordinary thing’ that they never saw at the IVORY tower university. Perhaps they saw 100 cases of Sarcoid or Wegener’s granulomatosis, but never managed an Alzheimer patient, or chronic congestive heart failure,nor managed a new diabetic that was not in severe ketoacidosis

And finally our realm of medicine has been invaded by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, retail health clinics, and more.........Why go to school to study over 15 years to do a job that a nurse can be trained to do.  No, the won't have the depth of knowledge or experience....but the insurers, and payors could care less.  The only ones hassled for credentials are the MDs and specialists.....

Most young doctors don't realize that 90% of what they will  do is in an outpatient setting, so who really needs a hospital unless your insurer requires it, and then you can find either a hospitalist or specialist to do all the hospital or paperwork...

Health and Human Services

Quackbooster nominated for HHS Secretary.

Cabinet Secretarys seem to play musical chairs and/or musical titles.  HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt was formerly head of the EPA.

from  Quackwatch:

Tom Daschle, who is President-Elect Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, provided strong support to unscientific practitioners while serving in the U.S. Congress from 1979-2003.

Daschle has not made intentions clear as to whether or not he will run again for office; however, he  signed on as a Senior Policy Advisor with the K Street law firm Alston & Bird.^[15][16] Health care interests, including CVS Caremark, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, Abbott Laboratories and HealthSouth, are among the firm's lobbying clients.^[4] The firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September 2008 to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60 percent of that money coming from the health industry 

from Wikipedia:

Daschle was first author on a book concerning health care coverage which was published on February 19, 2008, titled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis". One review stated "Daschle's book delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage, outlines the complex economic factors and medical issues affecting coverage and sets forth plans for change."^[22]

You may recall that Daschle failed to be re-elected to his senate seat. He also, in June 2008 lost the democratic primary in South Dakota. 

From Quackwatch, a web site dedicated to exposing Medical Quackery,

During several sessions, he was a prime supporter of "access to treatment" legislation intended to weaken state licensing boards. A 1997 version, for example, would have given individuals the right to have nearly any desired treatment and permitted practitioners to provide any treatment that would not pose an "unreasonable risk." 

Although couched as efforts to preserve patient freedom, such bills would thwart regulation of physicians who engage in quack practices such as chelation therapy.

Tom Daschle has been a fervent supporter of Barak Obama during his presidential campaign.  It is not his commitment toward improving health care in America, but a 'political appointment as payback for supporting newly elected Barak Obama.

I hope that the AMA and all specialty societies have pounced on their lobbyists, congressional committees and sends out an email to all members to write their congressman to oppose this nomination and not confirm  his nomination. 

del.icio.us Tags: hhs,epa,daschle,leavitt,quacks,south dakota,quackwatch,cvs,Alston&Bird,Healthsouth

World AIDs Day

December 1st next week marks another annual event.

HIV/AIDS awareness day, presents an opportunity to educate, promote testing,and obtain posters, marketing materials and plan an event for your area.

The web site asks bloggers to participate in a  number of ways.

Participate!!!

There are many ways.

Take Action

There are many ways you can take action in response to HIV/AIDS:

• get tested for HIV
• practice safe methods to prevent HIV
• decide not to engage in high risk behaviors
• talk about HIV prevention with family, friends, and colleagues
• provide support to people living with HIV/AIDS
• get involved with or host an event for World AIDS Day in your community

del.icio.us Tags: HIV,AIDS,WORLD AIDS DAY

Engage with Grace

 

Again, re-posted from November 2008

 

This weekend there is a 'BLOG RALLY' taking place. Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog promoting  Engage with Grace.

The blog link contains video and text regarding this worthwhile viral marketing message regarding end of life care.

One of the issues regarding the escalation of health care costs is the magnitude of expenses during the last one or two years of life.

Engage with Grace addresses this issue and calls  for promoting the message.

HealthCare in America, written by Kenneth Fisher,   M.D.  also the author of  " In Defiance of Death" (available at Amazon) closely mirrors what Engage with Grace is all about.

Dr. Fisher is featured on "Monday Night Live" sponsored by Kalamazoo Community Access TV.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/rWIA

Cyberchondria

Quote of the day:

I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened. - Mark Twain

***************************************************

Are you examining and possibly treating  a cyberchondriac? 

Perhaps our review of symptoms should now include a new category under mental health. An important question may be 'how many hours a week do you spend searching the internet?'

As reported in the New York Times,

"If that headache plaguing you this morning led you first to a Web search and then to the conclusion that you must have a brain tumor, you may instead be suffering from cyberchondria

A recent research report completed by Microsoft (those folks who now bring us "Health Vault" reveals the nature of web searches in the are of health and medicine.  The article written by Ryen White and Eric Horvitz .

The authors posit,   "This information can assist people who are not healthcare professionals to better understand health and disease, and to provide them with feasible explanations for symptoms. However, the Web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when Web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure. . . . Our results show that Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns. . . . We also demonstrate the persistence of post-session anxiety following escalations.....Our findings underscore the potential costs and challenges of cyberchondria."

The search cohort was highly biased because the participants all worked for Microsoft, a group most likely more knowledgable and with access to internet search engines on a daily basis.

And so my fellow bloggers, Val Jones, Edwin Leap, Emergiblog, Rural Doctoring, Suture for a Living, and the Happy Hospitalist, add this to your diagnostic acumen.

The question for us, is 'does this drive up the cost of healthcare?"

Wait one,  I am going to run a "google' on that....

 

 

del.icio.us Tags: Information Storage and Retrieval,Information Search and Retrieval,Search process,Query formulation,Medical search,Cyberchondria

Erratum

Whoops! In the last post I credited Dr Rowsey as the 'inventor of lasik'.  I was mistaken.  However, he is a certified VIS-X instructor. A change has been made in the original aticle.

Health Train at The Mission Inn

I spent the afternoon yesterday with my former classmate who has had an illustrious career in Ophthalmology.

John James Rowsey MD, a corneal specialist, and former Chairman of the Department f Ophthalmology at University of South Florida  travelled to California from Florida to ask how to get  physicians involved and become stakeholders in health care reform.

  Idea Man

  I am not sure I gave him an adequate answer while we were enjoying a fabulous brunch at a National Historic Landmark,

The Mission Inn in Riverside, CA.

 

I could not immediately crystallize my thoughts , but this morning I have a long laundry list of ideas.

Jim works for and with Senator Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) travelling each month to a different state to present details of bills pending in congress regarding health care reform.  On this trip he spoke to the Los Angeles County Medical Association and the Orange County Medical Association.

How to become a stakeholder in healthcare reform?

1. Contrary to popular opinion and recomendations by our illustrious professional societies, group lobbying is now stigmatized by 'earmarks'  and 'buying votes'. The addition of individualized advising is even more effective.  If you want to slow down or defeat a purpose, give it to a committee and medical organizations who will surely discuss it to death, and by the time it is presented the advice will be moderated, fuzzy, and  not have it's original message or intent.  A LONE VOICE IS EASILY HEARD IN THE WILDERNESS OF CHAOS AND CONFUSION

2. Knowledge is Power

a.You would not attempt to do a new procedure without careful study and skills.  So too is advising congressional, and state elected officials. 

b. Develop a solid knowledge base about issues, and background history.  There are many sources on the internet by experts in health care policy reform.

References:

Power Players  Senator Henry Waxman, Tom Daschle,

SematorsTed Kennedy and Hillary Clinton 

Senator Tom Coburn,  Max Baucus

 

Experts: Stuart M. Butler, PhD     Edmund F.Haisimair,

Robert E. Moffit Ph.D.,   Dennis G. Smith,  

Nina Owcharenko,  Joseph Antos,  Scott Gottlieb, M.D.,  Aparna Mathur, Brian Klepper, David Kibbe,  Sarah Arnquist, 

Resources:  The Heritage Foundation,

Center for Healthcare Transformation,  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Books:  Google Books, 

Blogs:  The Baucus Plan,  Health Care & Communications Blog,  Health Train Express, 

Wall Street Journal HealthBlog,  The HealthCare Blog, Richard Reece MD at Medinnovation (he has written ten books on health care reform, the latest ones, being:  Voices of Health Reform, Naviagating the Maze of Health Coverage and Accessm, and Innovation Driven Health Care.

In the interest of limited space I have had to leave out many other experts.

3. Avoid being driven by financial concerns.

The financial concerns should be addressed  in the context of patient care, patient access, outcomes, and quality of health care.

4. Patient (Consumer) Involvement 

Print and place in your waiting areas one page 'shout out' topics on healthcare reform. Place a highly visible poster alerting your patients to this information. Have a topic of the month.  If your clinic or office has a monthly newsletter, devote a section to health care reform issues.

TOWN HALL MEETINGS

This approach worked very well from the 'come from behind' politicians who wound up being the front runners in the final election. (McCain and Obama)

It also may serve healthcare reform issues as well.  Sponsors can include  chambers of commerce, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, Public Libraries,  and other community service organizations, as well as senior service centers.

Seizing on the momentum of the presidential election and the promise of change on a historic scale, a grassroots "conversation" about health care reform under the Obama administration began Thursday with town hall meetings around the nation, including several in the Bay Area.

Participate in SERMO and/or iMedexchange, both social media networking sites. SERMO has a section on politics and health reform.

1. There is more, much more, however this will give you a starting point.

Health Train Daschle

What's your take on this new announcement today regarding Tom Daschle's most likely nomination to replace Mike Leavitt as head of HHS.?

What is the connection here? What does Tom Daschle really know about health care? We could at least say that Mike is a physician, MD.

Mr Daschle recently published a book "

Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis

 

Since 2007, Daschle has been an advisor to the law firm of Alston & Bird LLP. Although Daschle is not a registered lobbyist, his firm was paid $5.8 million between January and September to represent companies and associations before Congress and the executive branch, with 60% of that money coming from the health industry.  I didn't see any physician representation in the list of associations he represented in D.C.

Another familiar name that signed on with Alston & Bird after he left Bush's administration is Tom Scully, aslo a former head of CMS.

 

Health IT insiders say they support President-elect Barack Obama's reported pick of former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to be the next HHS secretary, Healthcare IT News reports.

The Obama transition team has not yet formally announced the nomination, but sources are confirming that Daschle has accepted the position.

Sources also report that Daschle will serve as the top health care adviser, or health care czar, to the Obama White House, Healthcare IT News reports.

John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston,

said Daschle has "a deep understanding of the need to increase the value of health care in this country by reducing costs and enhancing quality."

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said, "Sen. Daschle has long been committed to reforming health care so that all Americans get quality, effective care," adding, "Daschle promotes greater transparency, paying for quality care and a fully electronic health system."

DOES THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION GET TO VOTE ON THIS APPOINTMENT? 

You can check in on this issue with your representatives in D.C. Let them know if this is a thumbs up appointment or thumbs down.

What are the issues Daschle is focusing upon?

Daschle says Medicare should pay more for care that leads to good outcomes, and should stop paying for unnecessary or harmful treatments .    He also argues that all Americans should be required to buy health insurance — a key difference from Obama, 

Perhaps the most striking part of Daschle’s plan is his call to create a Federal Health Board, modeled on the Federal Reserve Board that manages monetary policy. The basic idea is to create an institution, run by experts, that answers to the government but is “largely insulated from the politics and passions of the moment,” he writes.  Perhaps most importantly, the Board would assess the effectiveness and costs of various treatments.

“Like monetary policy, health-care policy shouldn’t be subject to the whims of subcommittee chairmen and special interests,” Daschle continues. 

According to what I read this promises to be a battle of the titans, Kennedy,Clinton, Henry Waxman,

del.icio.us Tags: healthcare czar,daschle,kennedy,waxman,clinton,federal health board