Hospitals are struggling and the future is grim

--------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the stories you missed on KevinMD. Thank you for your continuing readership. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors [eBrief: How to move the needle on patient satisfaction and other measures that matter](. Consumers value hospital safety ratings over cost 97% of the time. Your communication infrastructure can have a direct effect on these measures and others that impact hospital reimbursements. [Learn more](. Up to 28% of patients refuse home health care services they’re eligible for -- and [when they refuse, it can put the doctor at risk](. In fact, noncompliance appears in [25% of internal medicine malpractice claims](. [Is your hospital communication system trapped in the dark ages?]( Just like a medieval page boy, pagers are annoying and inefficient. This leads to delayed patient care, frustrated providers, and potential HIPAA breaches. Learn why you need to ditch your [Page Boy]( today. [Case study video]( Technology that’s there for you -- and your patients. [Watch now](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: Nov. 24, 2017 [Hospitals are struggling and the future is grim]( A strange thing happened last year in some the nation’s most established hospitals and health systems. Hundreds of millions of dollars in income suddenly disappeared. This article, part two of a series that began with a look at primary care disruption, examines the economic struggles of inpatient facilities, the even harsher realities in front of them, […] [Why your child should get the HPV vaccine]( My young daughter will be entering middle school in another year. However, she still likes coloring books. If she watches a scary movie, I have to lay with her in bed until she falls asleep. She is still just a kid. Should I really be worried about HPV? Is this something you should consider for […] [The new battleground of prime time media, disease, and death]( I first noticed this phenomenon while watching the world news on a weekday after work. It was a commercial for a new diabetes medicine that showed overweight people dancing at a barbecue, cooking and enjoying life. How different this was from my day in the wound clinic, where I saw patient after patient with obesity, […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Physician Coaching by KevinMD]( Define your online reputation. Grow your social media platform. Be a dynamic keynote speaker. Find out more about [personal, 1-on-1 coaching]( with KevinMD. --------------------------------------------------------------- [How burnout is plaguing doctors and harming patients]( The presidential symposium at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Child Neurology Society of America in early October in Kansas City raised many eyebrows. The first presentation of this symposium focused on burnout rates among neurologists around the country. Many of my colleagues felt that this was an inappropriate choice, especially with so many trainees […] [Mental health problems in the transgender population]( Diana Feliz Oliva, a 45-year-old transgender woman who grew up outside Fresno, Calif., remembers being bullied when she was younger and feeling confused about her gender identity. She was depressed and fearful about being found out, and she prayed every night for God to take her while she slept. “I was living in turmoil,” said […] [Who’s responsible for polypharmacy in the elderly?]( There’s a common affliction that’s rampant in my practice, but it’s not a gastrointestinal condition. It’s called polypharmacy, and it refers to patients who are receiving a pile of prescription and other medications. I see this daily in the office and in the hospital. It’s common enough to see patients who are receiving 10 or […] [Good doctoring transcends numbers]( Measuring metrics is a common catch-phrase in health care. The goal of capturing certain data is to improve patient outcomes. But, as doctors, we were taught to treat the patient and not the numbers. While optimizing clinical outcomes is a needed goal with all the complexities in medical treatment currently, the system seems to have […] [Women as leaders: reflections from the conference trail]( October is the epitome of academic conference season. Returning home, suitcase laden, and a belt-hole wider from lost promises of exercise, and plans to “watch what I eat” while on the road, I am ready to get back into my routine. All the same, I come back refreshed by a new flavor to the mundane […] [Why do doctors who hate being doctors still practice?]( How important is it for a doctor to want to be a doctor? At first glance, that question is ludicrous. The path to becoming a practicing physician is so long and tortuous that no one would do it if they didn’t want to. Right? First, there’s the four years of undergraduate education, then four years […] [Are cultural sensitivities affecting care?]( My job as a standardized patient (SP) at several different medical schools means that I spend a lot of time being interviewed and examined by students at every stage of their education. Occasionally, the interview is of such a nature that the SPs are told to dress in a certain “costume” because it signifies to […] [Don’t let the opioid crisis affect treatment course for your patients]( Mrs. Smith is an 81-year-old female. She worked a long time doing very physical work and is now on a fixed income and comes to my office with chronic pain. X-rays show she has degenerative arthritis in her hips, knees and lumbar spine. She has taken Norco twice a day for years and has been […] [EMRs are robbing physicians of their writing skills]( Many physicians have become world famous writers, and in Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of both poetry and medicine. I can personally think of many prominent physician writers I have come across in my reading over the years: There was the 12th-century rabbi Maimonides, Copernicus in the 15th century and the poet John Keats […] [Reporting an elderly doctor. And suffering from snitch guilt.]( He struggled to hear when people talked to him. He asked the same questions over and over. He fell asleep when really important conversations were going on around him. But it wasn’t until he missed an emergency call that I knew I had to act. I spoke to a higher-up about this elderly doctor out […] [Who’s really to blame for the obesity epidemic?]( Growing up Republican, I have long believed in personal responsibility. In junior high school, when I observed close relatives who struggled with obesity, I vowed to never let myself get out of shape. (“Junior high” is what we called middle school back in the day.) When hip surgery gone wrong dramatically reduced my level of […] [These are the biggest medical issues of 2017]( Periodically we should reflect on what challenges face patients and physicians. Over the past few days, I have worked on a list of the issues that concern me the most. I welcome suggestions for expanding the list. 1. Diagnostic errors. All patient care requires that we make the proper diagnosis. Too often we make errors. […] [Why are you in medicine?]( I was recently interviewed on a podcast and was asked the simple question, “Why are you in medicine?” In retrospect, that’s the exact question I silently ask myself in frustration and exhaustion a little bit too often while I’m in the hospital. In those moments I recognize that I feel burnt out. In those moments […] --------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the KevinMD e-newsletter. If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 173 Daniel Webster Highway Nashua, New Hampshire 03062 [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](