Overpriced back braces and knee braces. $800 arthritis creams which are no better than placebo. Marginal Quality Medicare Advantage HMO’s with tiny doctor networks.Poor quality diabetic testing supplies.Expensive Diabetic Shoes. Junk mail. Phone calls. Emails. Text messages. Even door-to-door salespeople! Once you hit Medicare, you become a target for marketing.Much of this nonsense eventually comes…
Can we live too long? How is that possible? A recent editorial in the Washington Post hinted at the problem:https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-need-a-major-redesign-of-life/2019/11/29/a63daab2-1086-11ea-9cd7-a1becbc82f5e_story.html “Wait,” you may say. “I thought life expectancy was decreasing.”There are two trends happening in the US. Yes, life expectancy is getting shorter overall. But, this is also a classic case of the “haves and…
A couple of times a year, I’ll go to prescribe a medication and the patient will remind me: “Don’t give me anything with Red Dye Number 6.” That’s when I try to find a reason to not prescribe anything. Sometimes, however, you’re stuck. You write the prescription. No one has any idea what dye is…
I recently encountered a primary care concierge doctor, with otherwise excellent credentials, who claims he limits his total patient panel to 250 patients. He spends two to three hours or more on the first patient visit and at least an hour or two on subsequent visits. These are all people under age 65, so I doubt…
The “ARB drugs contaminated with carcinogens” debacle has totally undermined all faith in the safety of our drug supply. It is a nightmare for our patients, physicians, and pharmacists as we grapple for replacement drugs. The problem is the ARB drug class is a fantastic drug category, offering efficacy and risk reduction with minimal side effects. Meanwhile,…
It appears there is a shortage of the high dose influenza vaccine for those over 65. Hmmm… Could this be part of a plot to bump off Medicare recipients to save money? Get our awesome newsletter by signing up here. We don’t give your email out and we don’t spam you. Tweet
Good surgeons versus good bedside manner.More than two decades ago, our regional hospital started an open heart surgery program. The new heart surgeon had a stellar record and we all met with him as the program readied for its launch. A common statement was circulated among the doctors: “He’s a really nice guy. I hope that means he’s…
This is not too far fetched. Tweet
For many years, hospital systems in our area did not like owning medical practices. Now, a huge acquisition binge is taking place. Groups, both big and small, are getting bought by hospitals. To increase their sale value, the groups try to stay together. Restrictive covenants are the big tool. The hospital will take over the job of enforcer…
Using our office computer, I logged onto the website of our town’s surgical group. I got what I thought was a weird dialog about running cookies and I clicked out of it. Suddenly the browser started acting odd and then normalized. In a few minutes, the problem became clear. Malware was on my machine. This one was…