en-us jgoss@blern.com (Blern Admin) jgoss@blern.com (Blern Admin) Blern RSS Feed for "KevinMD.com - Medical Weblog" http://blern.com/ Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General, is he qualified? http://blern.com/5nj43 Is this a case of style over substance? Val Jones, who has interviewed three recent Surgeon Generals , calls it a "shock," and says, "I don’t think he has the gravitas or appropriate experience for the role of Surgeon General of the United Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:26:35 -0500 Treating chronic pain with narcotics and avoiding the risk of addiction http://blern.com/5nj38 Management of chronic pain and anxiety is a significant challenge in primary care. Rob Lamberts provides an excellent overview of how he manages pain requiring narcotic medications , and touches on other controlled substances like Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:25:53 -0500 Why health IT and electronic medical records are so misguided http://blern.com/5nLF7 Is it the technology or the people behind the computers? This piece from Health Care Renewal suggests it's the latter, or the so-called sociotechnical issues . In other words, the problem is not with the technology itself, but " inadequate Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:25:53 -0500 Are all for-profit health care companies evil? http://blern.com/5n8J9 For-profit health care organizations are vilified in the media and those wanting to reform health care But are the attacks justified or not? Val Jones points to several instances were non-profit academic institutions engaged in less than ethical Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:49:50 -0500 Apple's Steve Jobs, and how his hormonal imbalance and pancreas is making him sick http://blern.com/5n8J3 Endocrinologists are puzzled over the Apple chief executive's medical condition. Steve Jobs disclosed a cryptic letter today detailing his health condition. It reads, "As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:49:47 -0500 Prescribing insulin for diabetes, do endocrinologists have a financial incentive to do so? http://blern.com/5n8J0 Recent guidelines ignore newer oral diabetes agents like Avandia and Januvia. Matthew Mintz criticizes this move, saying that this will lower the threshold for diabetes to begin insulin therapy . He wonders if the endocrinologists, who Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:49:39 -0500 Tufts Medical Center plays the Partners HealthCare card and drops Blue Cross Blue Shield http://blern.com/5n8I8 The stakes cannot be higher for Boston's Tufts Medical Center . Over the past few weeks, we've been reading how rival Partners HealthCare, comprised of powerhouse hospitals Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals, have bullied Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:49:36 -0500 Should doctors form a union or join the SEIU? http://blern.com/5mZT7 There's no question that health reform needs to rebuild around primary care medicine. Doctors give their own suggestions, including aligning generalist salaries comparable to how the UK pays GPs in their nationalized health system, which is Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:34 -0500 Do electronic medical records really reduce malpractice risk? http://blern.com/5mZT6 News released last week suggests this is may be the case. The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, trumpeted that of the doctors who used electronic medical systems , "6.1 percent had a record of paid malpractice claims Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:30 -0500 Why doctors need to embrace retail clinics http://blern.com/5mZT5 A nice op-ed in Forbes.com outlines some basic strategies to revamp our generalist system. Two suggestions, increasing payment and addressing defensive medicine, are not new and I certainly agree they need to be part of the answer. They have been Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:27 -0500 Doctors are finding leprosy in the heartland http://blern.com/5mZT3 A man presents with a fever of 109 degrees, swollen lymph nodes, and hepatosplenomegaly. MedPage Today reports that many doctors are unaccustomed to diagnosing and treating leprosy. Approximately 150 cases are diagnosed annually, mainly in Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:25 -0500 How to convince doctors to accept health reform http://blern.com/5mZT1 Stuff their mouths with gold. Or so says Britain's health minister when asked how he got doctors to buy into the UK's National Health Service. One way to overcome dissent is to buy off the opposition, and this is what Jacob Hacker is alluding Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:45:19 -0500 Poll: Which events of 2008 most affected and will continue to affect practicing physicians? http://blern.com/5lqT9 Which events of 2008 most affected and will continue to affect practicing physicians ? Here are my top 3. First, is Medicare's institution of "never" events, where payment is denied for certain medical errors. In addition to Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:00:49 -0500 What should a doctor do when he discovers another doctor’s mistake? http://blern.com/5l501 Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:21:52 -0500 Jett Travolta's seizure and death, was Scientology a factor? http://blern.com/5l4z7 Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:21:48 -0500 Local television news may be using pre-packaged health stories http://blern.com/5kmU6 Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:48:51 -0500 The economy, plastic surgery, and how it's affecting cash only medicine http://blern.com/5kfw4 Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:53:24 -0500 How old is too old to continue breast feeding? http://blern.com/5kN22 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:03:27 -0500 What's good about our health care system? http://blern.com/5kFj4 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:30 -0500 How the general surgeon shortage affects patients http://blern.com/5kFj2 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:24 -0500 Health journalists need to be held to a higher standard http://blern.com/5kFi8 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:18 -0500 Are doctors finding the physical exam useless and obsolete? http://blern.com/5kFi5 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:10 -0500 Is health care prohibitation in our future? http://blern.com/5kFi0 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:06 -0500 Why doctors are reluctant to adopt electronic records http://blern.com/5ji22 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:25:48 -0500 Who loses the most with the drug company gift ban? http://blern.com/5jL24 Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:16:02 -0500