The Medical Professionalism Blog
Tag Archives: communication
Doctor, How Much Does It Cost?
In January, I wrote about my surgical experience for a detached retina. Since then, I met Neel Shah and learned about his organization, Costs of Care. I also read the essays of his essay contest winners. Neel wants to bring awareness of the cost of specific tests and treatments to physicians and patients alike.
Questioning the Price
Costs of Care (Twitter: @CostsOfCare), where this post was originally published, is a Boston-based, non-profit organization that helps caregivers deflate medical bills and provide high value care. As part of the 2011 Costs of Care Essay Contest, more than 100 anecdotes were shared by patients and providers around the country that illustrate the role of cost-awareness [...]
Recommended Reading – February 6-10, 2012
As the ABIM Foundation embarks on its Choosing WiselyTM campaign, it hopes to stimulate conversations about the need to use resources wisely. This week’s JAMA Viewpoint, The Harms of Screening: New Attention to an Old Concern, discusses why limitations should be set on screenings—both to prevent harm to patients and manage resources. But how ready [...]
Healthy as a Horse No More: My Recent Patient Experience
I knew that I would come to rue the day I wrote my post on my EKG claiming I was a healthy individual with no apparent illnesses. On November 3, I had my first surgery in 40 years – a procedure for a detached retina (vitrectomy with a scleral buckle and pneumatic retinopexy; I read [...]
Compassionate Care Requires Compassionate Systems
In the article, “An Agenda For Improving Compassionate Care: A Survey Shows About Half of Patients Say Such Care Is Missing,” published in Health Affairs (September 2011, Vol. 30 No. 9), Beth Lowen et al. make a good case for the connection between compassionate care and quality outcomes and patient experiences. The authors also conclude [...]
You Say Consumer, I Say Patient: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
There has been a long debate among health care policy wonks, thought leaders, patient and consumer advocates, and the public about the use of the word “consumer” versus “patient.” Similar debates have ensued about the use of “provider” when referring to physicians, hospitals and other clinicians. I recently heard an interesting exchange between a physician [...]
Experience Trumps Policy in Changing Our Health Care Beliefs
Every day in the U.S. countless experts discuss plans and policies to contain the cost of health care using words and concepts that run counter to our (the public’s) experiences with finding and using care. Most of us ignore the steady stream of proposals until one political party or the other crafts an inflammatory meme [...]
Eyes on the (Professionalism Article) Prize
The ABIM Foundation recently awarded inaugural Professionalism Article Prizes to three journal articles in the categories of Commentary/Perspective, Medical Education and Training and Professionalism in Practice. Congratulations to our winners, who were chosen by an esteemed selection committee comprised of a consumer representative, medical student and several physicians.
“Nothing About Me Without Me” – What Patients and Students Have To Say
At the end of July, 150 national health leaders will assemble for the annual ABIM Foundation Forum to discuss the economic sustainability of the health care system, and the respective and joint responsibilities of physicians, patients and the health care community. I reflect with a deep sense of awe and gratitude on the important participants [...]
From Conversations on the Sustainability of Health Care to Bold Actions
“Transformation occurs when leaders focus on the structure of how we gather and the context in which gatherings take place. Each gathering needs to become an example of the future we want to create. The small group is the unit of transformation… Peer-to-peer interaction is where most learning takes place; it is the fertile earth [...]
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