I got caught in a very common healthcare trap, and it could have cost me over $200.
I went in for my “free” annual exam that health insurance plans must cover as part of Obamacare’s preventive health benefits.
Typically, these exams—also known as Adult Wellness Visits (AWV)—are opportunities for the physician to tick a lot of boxes about your health habits (smoking, drinking, sex, etc.) and schedule you for a … read on
Polypharmacy is the rather uniquely Western medicine epidemic of popping too many prescription drugs.
There’s an old healthcare joke with the punchline “There’s a drug for that!” Sadly, that’s true.
It’s ironic, but too much health care is killing us, especially our seniors. A recent report by the Lown Institute shows the scope of the problem:
I love reading about medical history and even minored in it when I was in nursing school.
Our current healthcare system may be a broken mess, but at least physicians and quasi-physicians aren’t still bloodletting and applying leeches (wait, haha yes we actually still use medical-grade leeches for a few things!).
Last week Cambridge University posted 500 fascinating excerpts from its “Casebook Project,” which is the transcription of over 80,000 … read on
Getting to know each otherI went to see my new primary care physician last week.
She’s my fifth PCP in eight years because of ever-changing provider networks, or doctors leaving primary care.
I asked friends for recommendations, read online bios and Yelp reviews, and looked for any history of malpractice suits.
Related post: Need a new doctor?
I went to the visit prepared with a short, organized list of … read on
Teladoc worked for meI’ve posted before about Teladoc and the other telemedicine providers. In our highly-technical age, telemedicine, I think, fills a useful niche for providing quick, inexpensive care for minor ailments.
Last weekend I finally got a chance to use it myself to see how it worked.
On Friday I suspected I might be coming down with a UTI (bladder infection). I decided to drink a lot … read on
Hospital safety and medical mistakesIt’s been a while since I posted about staying safe in the hospital, so it’s time for an updated post.
Because the problem really isn’t getting any better.
Although there’s been much effort over the last decade to increase patient safety and reduce medication errors, medical mistakes still contribute to approximately 250,000 deaths every year.
Different sources rate medical error as the second or third … read on
Lifestyle mattersI remember a family practice doctor once telling me “Most of my patients aren’t sick. They’re lonely, unhappy, stressed or bored.”
His observation resonated with me.
So many somatic complaints, like headaches, back pain and digestive problems, stem from emotional upset.
Being isolated or bored or just unhappy with life leads to eating poorly and sitting too much, which in turn leads to heart disease, diabetes and depression.… read on
Fear sells healthcareIn our predominately for-profit healthcare system, fear sells products.
Every day I read an article or listen to a news story about cancer. Breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, skin cancer, liver cancer, mouth cancer, ovarian cancer…I often feel like a ticking time bomb!
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the grim statistics being tossed around by marketers. Then we live in fear, become anxious and … read on
Too many specialistsOur healthcare system is like an inverted pyramid.
Rather than having a strong base of primary care doctors—family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics—and a decreasing number of specialists, we have more and more specialists and a dwindling number of primary care docs.
Roughly two thirds of our doctors are specialists. And subspecialists. And sub-subspecialists.
Why is that a problem?
One, because specialists cost more money, which adds … read on
Overdiagnosis of melanomaI learned two things from a recent journey into the healthcare system:
I’ll explain.
Earlier this summer I shared that I had a small mole removed from my leg. I didn’t like the look of it, so I thought it prudent to have it checked out.
I had to wait almost a month for an answer, because … read on