Highlights from Some of the Best Healthcare Blogs

Posted on by

Be sure to take a look at the latest edition of Health Wonk Review (HWR) on Joe Paduda’s excellent blog, “Managed Care Matters” (http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001157.html)

HWR offers a round-up of some of the most insightful health blogs posts of the past two weeks including a post explaining the source of the opposition to universal coverage in San Francisco by Anthony Wright, and a Health Affairs analysis of the  crash and burn of the health reform initiative in California, and Tom Lynch’s four-part post on why the U.S. health care system is nowhere near the best in the world.

Joe himself offers a provocative “modest solution to the ever-growing problem of ever-increasing pharma costs by establishing a cap on national drug costs, allowing the market to figure out the best way to meet that cap, and if the market fails, requiring the Feds negotiate for price and allowing any and all payers access to that negotiated pricing.”

On GoozNews, Merrill Goozner reports on the FDA’s “continued squirming around the use of EPQ for cancer patients (remember those ads showing cancer ‘patients’ playing catch and gardening with the energy of a teen on Red Bull?) – turns out EPO may actually increase cancer’s progress in some patients…”

Meanwhile “Susan Jacobs takes JAMA and the NEJM to task for their close relationship with big pharma; between the two they raked in $45 million in payments from pharma for advertising and related services.”

And these are just some of the highlights from the best of health care blogging.

Each week, a different blogger hosts HWR—for a schedule see http://www.healthwonkreview.com/mt/

   

6 thoughts on “Highlights from Some of the Best Healthcare Blogs”

  1. Thanks for posting these links.
    I think Joe Paduda’s proposal makes sense. Why isn’t there already a cap on drug costs?

  2. Hi Billy–
    Thanks for your comment.
    The short answer: the
    drug industry makes large
    contributions to Congress, and so its lobbyists are
    very powerful.
    But in many/most other countries there are caps of some kind–a budget stating how much a region can spend on health care over the course of the year, for instance, or a budget as to how much a hopsital can spend on drugs.
    The aim is not to ration needed care (in the case of a catstrophe of some kind, a region or a hospital might well run over its budget) but to remind everyone that we live in a world of limited resrouces, and that money
    you spend on one thing cannot be spent on another.
    Choices have to be made.
    So in a country with caps, when a hospital makes a spending decision in May (shall we build a waterfall?) it has to take into account whether it will have enough money to get through November and December . .
    By contrast, in our system, spending is more or less open-ended—which has led to run-away health care inflation that can equal two or three times GDP growth or growth in the average worker’s salary, year after year, after year.
    Clearly this is not sustainable. Employers can’t afford it and are beginning to back out. Medicare can’t afford it and will run out of money in the foreseeable future if we don’t start to reocognize resources are not infinite . . .

  3. Discount Blood Tests via the Internet
    Stat Health Screens, LLC, brokers Discounted Blood Tests to consumers throughout the U.S. – via the internet.
    Millions of consumers who use google.com to search for medical information can now locate discounted blood tests within a few miles of their zip code. This service is convenient, confidential, quick and affordable with up to 60% discount for the same blood tests as walk-in labs, hospitals and clinics. For example: “wellness panel” for liver, kidney, urinalysis and cholesterol tests cost about $85.00; these same tests can cost over $350 in walk-in labs, hospitals and clinics.
    “This innovative and timely concept attracts healthy people monitoring their wellness, as well as those who want to save money on their physician-ordered blood tests. It’s just like shopping for anything else online,” said Gail Urban, RN. Individuals simply visit http://www.econolabs.com or call a toll free number (877.326.6652) for pricing of specific test(s). After payment with a credit card, econoLABS’ in-house doctors prepare and sign the paperwork for the nearest Patient Service Center; thus, a doctor’s order is not required. These Patient Service Centers are certified under provisions of a federal lab-safety statute; and they are staffed by licensed phlebotomists who draw the blood for certified, national clinical laboratories.
    Blood test results are typically available within two days; and can also be faxed to the consumer and/or their physician. Test results are reported as normal or abnormal; and, the normal range is clearly indicated.
    While health screens and blood tests are only a part of what goes into a diagnosis, consumers are cautioned that the results should be considered in the context of an overall relationship with their personal physician.
    In as much as patients get less face-time with their doctors, these blood tests can provide them with helpful information so that they know what questions to ask their doctors.
    To keep costs down, no government or private insurance is accepted.
    ###
    Contact: Efrain Arroyave, MD
    http://www.econoLABS.com
    Toll Free: 877.326.6652
    econoLABS@aol.com

Comments are closed.