One billion dollars a year could be saved a year if Medicare adopted the VA's prescribing habits, according to a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
A new analysis shows how commonly doctors don't understand cancer screening statistics. That's no excuse for journalists not to do a better job in learning the basics and educating their readers, viewers, and listeners.
So how can a hospital be judged so deficient by federal inspectors, yet rank among the best in U.S. News & World Report?
It's all in the methodology.
As patient satisfaction surveys become more important to how doctors get paid, Doc Gurley finds them to be easily gamed and lacking in statistical validity — creating problems for both doctors and their patients.
How did we get to the point where we actually pay popular doctors more for our health care? No such system exists in any other professional or non-professional field. You can’t even pay your plumber less if she has a lower customer satisfaction score.
Dr. Mark D. Smith is president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, or CHCF, an independent philanthropy committed to improving the way health care is delivered and financed in California and to helping consumers make informed health care and coverage decisions. Since CHCF's formation in 1996, Smith has led the California HealthCare Foundation in developing research and initiatives aimed at improving California's health care financing and delivery systems.
