5 ways assembly line medicine harms patients

--------------------------------------------------------------- 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 have a choice -- are they choosing your hospital? [Get the eBrief now](. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is a marathon, not a sprint. [Here are some tips]( to stay in the race and [here are 5 best practices]( to meet MACRA/MIPS requirements. A typical provider spends close to $4,000 on paper and fax supplies each year and loses another $41,000 to patient no-shows. Sound high? [Calculate your spend](. [Infographic]( 7 questions that will help prepare your hospital for the unexpected. [Learn more](. [Patient misidentification can lead to medical errors, patient harm, and costly inefficiencies]( for providers. Get the facts on patient misidentification, and [learn how to avoid it]( from organizations that use biometrics to do so. --------------------------------------------------------------- KevinMD Plus: Jun 21, 2018 [5 ways assembly line medicine harms patients]( When we go to the deli, we expect to take a number and wait in line. Accomplishing any task at the department of motor vehicles can be an ordeal of waiting and then being herded out the door. This is part of life in American society. However, it should not be part of your health […] [A surprising way to connect with the most difficult individuals]( I have met, in the emergency department, some fierce individuals. Sometimes they can be terrifying. Their clothes, their manner, their demeanor, the way they pace, all suggest potential danger. They seem clearly capable of violence. They look at me with distrust, expecting to be disrespected, dismissed, treated harshly. Sometimes, they are covered in piercings; a […] [A physician was fired for standing up for his beliefs]( Dr. Eugene Gu. He is — was — a surgical resident at Vanderbilt University. His resume exemplifies academic perfection: valedictorian in high school, undergraduate degree from Stanford, medical degree from Duke, surgical residency at Vanderbilt. He also founded his own research company. Not once throughout the span of his academic or professional career would one have any […] [It’s time to create the safety net by normalizing psychiatric care]( I’ve thought a great deal about what to say, if anything, about the two suicides recently of two people who were not merely celebrities in the TMZ sense, but people who represented creativity — perhaps in a way that seemed tangible to the rest of us — and seem to have become celebrities almost by […] [Antidepressant use and the climbing rate of the suicide]( It is not clear whether Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade were getting drug treatment for depression. What is clear is that suicide in the U.S. has never been higher even as the use of SSRI antidepressants has also never been higher. One in every eight American adults recently took an antidepressant says the CDC and the number is only […] [Obesity from the pathologist’s perspective]( Editor’s note: Graphic image below. Envision a large, loafy muffin top. Not just a central bulge or even love handles. I’m speaking of an apron of skin and fat that hangs down over many an American’s lower torso and groin. Surely you’ve seen it — you may even have one. Its medical name is the […] --------------------------------------------------------------- [Conference planners!]( Find vetted, handpicked physician speakers that shine on stage. [Physician Speaking by KevinMD: Your audience deserves the best](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [How this physician curbs his smartphone addiction]( I am a frequent traveler and spend a lot of time in a number of different cities. The one I’ve currently been spending the most time in is a place, quite frankly, I’m crazy about: New York City! Anyone who writes a lot is usually also by default, a keen observer of people, and there’s […] [When asking about suicide, are you ready for the answer?]( I still feel a little anxiety whenever I ask someone about suicide. I have no fear when asking The Question — “Have you been thinking about killing yourself?” — but sometimes I find that I’m not breathing while I await the answer. What if this person says “yes”? This anxiety persists even though it’s literally […] [It’s always easier to judge someone’s failures from higher ground]( We’ve all heard the excuse or explanation that “it’s society’s fault,” to explain someone’s failure. We hear expressions like this often when an individual has committed a crime or simply failed to succeed. Personal accountability is diluted as we are told that this person came from an imperfect home, had no role models or ample […] [Why it’s time to humanize addiction]( One of the most sought-after tickets on Broadway these days is Angels in America, a revival of Tony Kushner’s seminal play about the AIDS crisis and its aftermath. While only a few of us will be fortunate enough to see the show in person, everyone can benefit from the following insight: When the play originally […] [Why do physicians publish in predatory journals?]( A new study found several senior academic surgeons had published papers in what used to be termed “predatory journals.” The newer, gentler term is “solicited publishing,” but it defines the same pay-to-play, low-quality publications. Surgeons from the University of California, San Diego examined 110 emails sent to the senior author from 29 publishers during a six-week period and […] [Becoming a doctor is the epitome of delayed gratification]( Recently, I had the honor of standing by one of my childhood best friends as she promised the love of her life that she’d stand by him forever. The wedding was beautiful, and at the reception, I played with another close friend’s 3-year-old daughter and talked with other friends about their work promotions and apartment […] [An innovative approach to fix the generic drug shortage]( Most physicians are increasingly forced to grapple with the problem of shortages in generic drugs. These are drugs for which the patent has expired and any company can make them. Certainly for those of us in the PICU it is a chronic problem because the majority of drugs we use are injectable medications that have […] [Fixing primary care’s broken business model]( Primary care visits are never quick; we don’t give much advice over the phone or online; and we prioritize the government’s and insurance companies’ public health agenda over our own patients’ concerns. Imagine health care as a retail customer experience for a few minutes: Imagine you’re going to Walmart to buy a bag of dog […] [The National Guideline Clearinghouse will go offline. Patients will be worse off.]( Absent a last-minute, lifesaving intervention, after 20 years of reviewing and summarizing clinical practice guidelines in a continuously updated database, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) will go offline on July 16th. Prior to its untimely death due to budget cuts, the NGC not only served as a one-of-a-kind online resource for clinicians, […] [How did EHR designers get control of health care?]( Wouldn’t it be cool if … ? Wouldn’t it be better if … ? Wouldn’t it be much easier when we see patients if … ? How come we can’t … ? It seems like every day, someone in our practice comes up with an idea for a way to do something better: Continue reading […] --------------------------------------------------------------- If a friend sent you this email and you want to subscribe, go to [KevinMD](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 345 Hudson Street New York NY 10014 USA [Unsubscribe]( | [Change Subscriber Options](