The Medical Professionalism Blog
Tag Archives: stewardship
There’s More To It Than Just Money
I highly recommend reading a recent report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute (the employer of the authors) by Robert Berenson and Elizabeth Docteur entitled Doing Better by Doing Less; Approaches to Tackle Overuse of Services. It is an excellent analysis of approaches that address the issue of inappropriate and [...]
Recommended Reading: May 4-11
For this week’s Recommended Reading, check out several articles on stewardship of resources, including its role in organizational professionalism: In “From an Ethics of Rationing to an Ethics of Waste Avoidance,” Howard Brody argues for a stepwise strategy to eliminate unnecessary care given the limitations of comparative-effectiveness research, saying, “it is better first to eliminate [...]
Recommended Reading: April 19-27
This week’s Recommended Reading focuses on new recommendations with the potential to improve stewardship of health care resources: The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System issued a proposed strategic plan for community-based approaches to improving care and lowering cost for individuals with chronic illnesses. They estimate that creating 50 to 100 voluntary [...]
The Words Used to Talk About Use of Resources: What Do They Tell Us?
The words we use to talk about the use of health care resources makes a difference in how we engage physicians, clinicians and patients in thoughtful discussion around the economic sustainability of the current health care system. These conversations must happen — without hysteria and political motivation. We need attitudinal and political changes before we [...]
Recommended Reading: March 16-23
How can we address our nation’s spiraling health care costs? This week’s Recommended Reading offers several potential solutions: As Ezra Klein reports, Victor Fuchs and Ezekiel Emanuel have proposed cutting the length of medical training by 30 percent, thereby reducing physician debt and allowing space for more physicians to be trained. The Wall Street Journal [...]
A Question of Worth
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 [...]
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.
Recommended Reading: March 3-8
This week’s Recommended Reading articles highlight several factors that are driving our nation’s ever-increasing health care costs: According to Ezra Klein, high prices are the main reason that U.S. health care is so much costlier than in other countries. He cites a recent International Federation of Health Plans study which shows that Americans pay more [...]
Where, Oh Where Do Physicians Learn About Cost-Effectiveness?
The Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) defines the Triple Aim as: Better health (population health) Better care (quality improvement) Reduced cost Although many quality improvement organizations and delivery systems are focused on the Triple Aim, cost is not often a part of their efforts.
Treating Heart Failure on a $100 Budget
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 [...]
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