Naming conventions highlight underlying disease-centered philosophical approach to healthcare I remember a character created by comedian Bill Saluga back in the late 70s named Raymond J. Johnson Jr. When the character would be addressed as “Mr. Johnson,” he would go into a loud shrieking voice saying, “My name is Raymond J. Johnson Jr. Now you can call me… Read More »
I spent the first thirty years of my life in preparation of serving others as a physician. Now, I often ask myself why. The answer is easy: I wanted to help others. I wish it was that simple. In order to feel fulfilled, I deemed success as helping others. But for years I defined helping others as curing… Read More »
Inpatient palliative care is costly and removes patients from their home A simple, straight-forward definition of palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach working with those that have serious illnesses. It focuses on improving the quality of life of people by not only focusing on symptom relief, but also the psychosocial issues that are present in those with such… Read More »
Unfortunately, many of us remember the late 1990s and early 2000s when we used the term “narrow” networks, which were designed to be very narrow to decrease cost by decreasing utilization and trading volume for pricing. They worked. We saw a reduction in spend, but many argued this model withheld needed services. Those of us in these narrow… Read More »
Medical homes have made great progress over the years. The idea of creating a patient-centric model focused on the whole person within the four walls of a medical practice is wonderful and greatly needed. But thanks to an ever-changing world, we’re now at a point where we need to think about redefining what the medical home should look… Read More »
Value-based care must meet both consumer and provider needs As we move to value-based care, we need to think differently around our “workforce.” Consumers do not look at their need for care as a weekday, 9 to 5 service. They view their needs as 24/7, and thus want access in that same fashion. Illness does not take a… Read More »
Drastically changing healthcare landscape turns payment wargames into reality As a kid, I remember watching a movie about how a computer that was simulating a war game went hay wire and almost started World War III. When I attended business school, part of our initial class was a healthcare simulation game where we all represented a different part… Read More »
Western medicine is focused on diagnosing and treating illnesses. We have been taught that way, trained that way, and act that way. Diagnosing accurately and treating appropriately are done in an attempt to prevent early death. But, if we are successful in preventing untimely death, what have we created? If asked what the opposite of death is, most… Read More »
Healthcare today has become disease-centric. We not only focus heavily on the biomedical needs of our patients, but we do it from a disease-defining perspective. We have pathways and guidelines that are disease specific, we have specialty clinics that are disease specific, and our treatments are very focused on treating a disease. Working from this disease-based paradigm has… Read More »
Primary care provider incentives improved access and care under a monthly management payment model As we move to value-based models of care, the role of the primary care physician will play a greater role in managing the overall care of their patients instead of just getting paid to see them. Incentives have always been a positive way to… Read More »