The Medical Professionalism Blog
Tag Archives: physician leadership
Medical Educators Need to Take Charge and Help Deflate Medical Bills
At a time when one in three Americans report difficulty paying medical bills, up to $750 billion is being spent on care that does not help patients become healthier. Although physicians are routinely required to manage expensive resources, traditional medical training offers few opportunities to learn how to deliver the highest quality care at the [...]
Grants Take Choosing Wisely® from Grasstops to Grassroots
The Choosing Wisely® campaign has attracted a lot of attention from the so-called “grasstops” in the form of physician leaders, policy makers, researchers, delivery system leaders, journal authors and the media. This top-down strategy was necessary given a political environment that invoked terms such as “rationing” and “death panels.” Yet, the “grasstops” strategy of the [...]
Physicians and Residents Climbing the Mt. Everest of Medical Waste
The ABIM Foundation’s “Putting the Charter into Practice” grant program is focused on advancing stewardship in health care delivery systems. In 2011, we awarded five grants of $20,000 each, and we’ve been excited to see the tremendous return on this investment.
Recommended Reading: Reflecting on the Choosing Wisely Journal Articles of 2012
Since nine medical specialty societies announced their lists of “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question” in April, 55 published journal articles have referenced the Choosing Wisely® campaign. For the final Recommended Reading post of 2012, we’ve culled a selection of those articles, and will share more in the new year. In order of publication [...]
Five Reasons Choosing Wisely® Has Appeal to Physicians
We’ve heard from a number of physicians across the country that they are beginning to think through ways to advance the Choosing Wisely campaign. They are embracing the recommendations from the specialty societies and exploring how conversations between physicians and patients about reducing overused or wasteful tests and procedures can be embedded in their practices. [...]
Recommended Reading: November 24 – 30
This week’s Recommended Reading features articles on low-value health care services in both the United States and Australia, along with a piece on emotional support for physicians coping with medical errors and adverse events: In a new Archives of Internal Medicine article, the authors report that diagnostic tests are frequently repeated among Medicare beneficiaries. Such [...]
Acts of Professionalism: Opposition to Self-Referrals by Specialty Societies
In September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled Higher Use of Advanced Imaging Services by Providers Who Self-Refer Costing Medicare Millions. The report concluded that: From 2004 through 2010, the number of self-referred and non-self-referred advanced imaging services—magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) services—both increased, with the larger increase among [...]
Recommended Reading: October 27 – November 2
Here’s the latest medical professionalism articles in this week’s Recommended Reading: In Medical Professionalism, Revenue Enhancement, and Self-Interest: An Ethically Ambiguous Association, the author argues that the medical professionalism literature “should distinguish permissible and impermissible self-interested actions” by physicians. He believes that financial incentives such as pay-for-performance are permissible but are not a substitute for [...]
Choosing Wisely®: Kinder Ways of Thinking About Resource Use
The goal of the Choosing Wisely campaign is to encourage conversations between patients and physicians about what tests and procedures are, or are not needed. We hope these conversations provide an opportunity to talk about the benefits and risks of tests and procedures, including potential harms for patients. Choosing Wisely is about thoughtful discussions and [...]
American Health Care Depends on Rebuilding and Mobilizing Full Primary Care Team
Last week was National Primary Care Week and Primary Care Progress (PCP)’s co-founder and president calls all members of the primary care community to come together as a team both to deliver primary care and to advocate for it. Last week was National Primary Care Week, an annual celebration when members of the primary care [...]
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