Senators launch fraud inquiry of Md. hospital - baltimoresun.com:
St. Joseph records sought; probe spurred by report of unneeded stents
"Federal lawmakers have asked St. Joseph Medical Center to turn over three years of billing records and other documents related to cardiac care, saying they are troubled by reports of unnecessary coronary stents implanted at the Towson hospital and want to investigate for signs of Medicare fraud."
"Montana Sen. Max Baucus and Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley - the top Democrat and senior Republican, respectively, on the Senate Finance Committee - also asked the hospital for records of its financial relationship with manufacturers of the medical devices. They set a March 12 deadline, saying their committee was launching an inquiry as part of its role 'to protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud and abuse...'"
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Monday, February 22, 2010
Senators launch fraud inquiry of Maryland Hospital
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
High-Tech Medicine Contributes To High-Cost Health Care - Kaiser Health News
High-Tech Medicine Contributes To High-Cost Health Care - Kaiser Health News:
"Even so, the tests have proliferated in the half decade since advanced CT scanning machines hit the market. Since 2001, the number of scanning machines in the U.S. has increased by over 20 percent, while the number of scans taken each year has gone from one for every seven persons to almost one for every four. Yet there’s no evidence that the additional invasive procedures that result from this large increase in screening are preventing serious heart disease."
Friday, February 12, 2010
Have You Had Medical Care You Thought Was Unnecessary? Share Your Story
cross-posted from Disruptive Women in Health Care
www.disruptivewomen.net
Have You Had Medical Care You Thought Was Unnecessary? Share Your Story
By Rosemary Gibson February 11th, 2010
One-third of Americans say they have received tests, treatment or medications they didn’t need, according to a survey conducted for the Commonwealth Fund of New York. Are you one of them?
Think about it. We live in a market-driven economy where businesses thrive on getting us to consume more than we need, whether it’s a house that’s too big, a mortgage that’s unaffordable, or an investment that promises more than it can deliver. Market-driven health care is motivated by the same imperative. In our highly-caffeinated health care system, the mantra is volume, volume, volume. That ‘volume’ is you and me, and the people we love.
Here’s a story about a colleague, a research scientist, who has a heart condition that she watches very carefully. She went for a nuclear stress test at a free-standing diagnostic testing center as part of her routine monitoring. After the test was complete, the cardiologist told her she had a very serious problem that required open-heart surgery. She was scared out of her wits and immediately thought of a family friend who had died recently during heart surgery. The cardiologist wanted to do a cardiac catheterization and prescribe medication. He also told her to stop jogging immediately.
My savvy friend knew she didn’t want to have more tests or treatment at that center. Here’s why. While on the treadmill, she overheard the doctor tell the nurse that the center had nine patients a day and needed to increase its census to fourteen a day to generate enough revenue to make it financially viable. It’s true. She walked out and never looked back. A second opinion from expert physicians recommended continued monitoring and she followed their advice.
About ten years ago, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences convened a group of experts who acknowledged a uniquely American phenomenon in health care: overuse. It occurs when the possibility of harm exceeds the possible benefit. Health care insiders say that overuse is an epidemic. Epidemics are not good for anyone.
To learn what you can do to avoid unnecessary medical treatment, check out my new book coming out next month, The Treatment Trap, which has twenty smart steps for consumers. Read the foreword by Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union.
In the meantime, share your story about medical overuse by emailing it to:
TreatmentTrap [at] gmail.org
Together we can learn from – and empower – each other.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Stop Running Red Lights AND Pay for Health Care Reform
Stop Running Red Lights AND Pay for Health Care Reform
by Rosemary Gibson
Cross posted from: Disruptive Women in Health Care
Sunday, February 1, 2010
"With all the hand wringing about health care costs, it is possible to cut costs without harming patients. Even better, costs can be reduced while making patients better off. Here’s how."
"An unspoken truth is that three kinds of medical treatment are provided in the U.S. The first is treatment whose benefit is unquestionable. Surgery to treat a ruptured appendix is an example. Without it, death from life-threatening infection is almost certain. The life-saving medical care being rendered to earthquake victims in Haiti is in this category."
"A second type of treatment is provided when uncertainty exists about benefits and risks. Doctors and their patients must balance the benefits and risks. The recent mammogram controversy fits into this gray zone."
"The third type of treatment is when the possibility of harm exceeds the possible benefit. A panel convened by the Institute of Medicine years ago called it “overuse”. This is the subject of my new book, The Treatment Trap."
"Health care tests and treatments today are like the colors of a traffic light. Life-saving treatments flash green. Where uncertainty exists, the light flashes yellow. With overuse, the light flashes red and tells us to stop..."
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