Remember the old children’s game of sitting in a circle and passing secrets from person to person and finding out, once the secret had been passed around the circle, what the original statement actually was? This is sometimes called the Whisper Game. News reports on research studies are sort of like this. It’s interesting to…
When physicians apply to become a “provider” for insurances (that is, are accepted into the provider network, something required before receiving payments for services to patients), part of that contractual arrangement forces the physician to accept a deeply discounted price for the services provided. For example, Medicare will reimburse a physician $60 for an office…
The tension between the practice of science and art has been with us for a long time, but with every new technological advance, the tension ratchets tighter and anyone with an active imagination can see the piano wire is pulled so tight there is no longer any coil left. Art has simply been morphed into…
The media is full of Medicare fraud this and Medicare fraud that, but there is little attempt to put anything in context, creating an exceedingly poisonous atmosphere for physicians. I’ve posted before on the kinds of elements taken out of context that can easily be labeled as errors by the checklist mentality. To further complicate…
The disturbing tendency to try to blame all the problems in health care on physicians seems to be escalating, which shouldn’t be surprising considering the tenor of the recent elections. The sound-bite mentality supports little else but scapegoating. John Mandrola, MD, in “The Growing Culture of Hostile Dependency towards Doctors” does a good job of…
