Impending Spending Disaster – A Warning From Japanese Nursing Homes

Impending Spending Disaster – A Warning From Japanese Nursing Homes

Populations across many wealthy countries are aging. That means a huge swath of people will soon find themselves needing some kind of long-term care. Here is a quick look at what the aging of a population means for how much a country spends on long-term care. The data, published in the journal Health Affairs, come…

This Is What Happens When Medicare Minions Micromanage Microorganisms
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This Is What Happens When Medicare Minions Micromanage Microorganisms

Sepsis is a brutal killer. It often starts after a microorganism gets loose in your bloodstream, spreading to organs far and wide, releasing deadly toxins along the way. In response, your body releases toxins of its own, chemicals designed to kill the invading organism but that, all too often, damage your body, too, leaving you…

Breast Cancer Chemotherapy – Here Is What Happened When Outrageous Prices Met The Free Market

Breast Cancer Chemotherapy – Here Is What Happened When Outrageous Prices Met The Free Market

Nine to twelve years. That’s about how long most drug companies have to make serious money on new products before their patent protection ends. Then, generic companies enter the fray and prices, typically, plummet. Yet, two decades after coming to market, Herceptin (a drug used to treat breast and stomach cancer) was still priced at…

Two And A Half Decades Later, OxyContin Marketing Is Still Deadly

Two And A Half Decades Later, OxyContin Marketing Is Still Deadly

Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin in 1996, and soon began an aggressive marketing campaign for this powerful and addictive drug. The campaign is over, but its effects are still deadly. How do we know this? Because Purdue’s marketing wasn’t sprinkled evenly around the country. Instead, Purdue rolled out its campaign in different markets at different times…

The Verdict Is In—Price Gouging Harms People With Gout
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The Verdict Is In—Price Gouging Harms People With Gout

The patient arrived in my clinic, their right big toe the color of a spring strawberry. The lightest touch caused exquisite pain. Fortunately, I was able to prescribe a pill (an ancient medicine, actually) and the patient was better by the next day.

Too bad that simple treatment is becoming unaffordable, through a maddening combination of greed and regulatory failure.

The Crushing Cost Of Tracking Healthcare Quality—One Hospital’s Story

The Crushing Cost Of Tracking Healthcare Quality—One Hospital’s Story

A whole industry is devoted to measuring, tracking and even incentivizing the quality of American hospital care. Unfortunately, that industry is horribly inefficient, costing us billions of dollars.

Quality measurement is inefficient in large part because there is no single source that hospitals (and provider systems, more generally) can use to track the quality of their care.

Preventing Diabetes – What Medicare Administrators Could Learn From Shark Tank

Preventing Diabetes – What Medicare Administrators Could Learn From Shark Tank

The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program is a lifesaver. Consisting of of at least 16 class sessions that provide practical training about healthy eating, physical activity, and other strategies for weight control, the Program reduces the chance that people at high risk for diabetes actually develop that life-threatening condition.

However, the Program is floundering, with distressingly few people having access to or enrolling in the program. Could it be because Medicare administrators haven’t watched enough episodes of Shark Tank?

Getting What You Want At The End Of Life – Lessons From A Dying Man
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Getting What You Want At The End Of Life – Lessons From A Dying Man

Many people die in ways, and even in locations, that go against their preferences. They don’t want to be put on ventilators and, yet, spend their last days in intensive care units tethered to breathing machines. They don’t want cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and, yet, receive full-on “codes” when their hearts stop.

Much of this unwanted care could be avoided if patients (aka: “people”) discussed their treatment preferences with their clinicians.