The ease of using email communications is increasing the efficiency of many businesses, and our social lives as well. Many patients are emailing their physicians and the doctors are sending back answers.
But new regulations implementing 2 of our laws, HIPAA and HITECH privacy statutes, have now been finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in January 2013.
These new rules indicate that it is a violation of the law for a physician…
Doctors have been talking about shared decision-making by patients with physicians for over a decade, at least since the Institute of Medicine reported “Crossing the Quality Chasm” in 2001. But for you to have your voice heard in making decisions about your own health care, doctors must be giving you honest and complete background information about your condition, and be discussing the pros and cons of proposed treatments.
In a recent analysis, authors concluded that less…
The Boston Marathon terrorist attack has shaken our sense of security and shown us pictures of horror and panic. In the aftermath of that event, as well as after Hurricane Sandy, we recognize that many psychological effects can be long-lasting. This is just the same as after the World Trade Center attack of 9-11, and after Hurricane Katrina or other natural disasters (earthquakes, fires, floods). You or your family may still be experiencing distress remembering…
In America, use of vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbs is common, ranging from 10 to 95%. In my practice it is about 50%. But shockingly, a new study http://bit.ly/YVzEAx shows that between 20% to 77% of people who were using complementary or alternative medicines did NOT tell their doctor about which complementary or alternative therapies they were taking. People said they kept this a secret because the doctor never asked, or they were afraid of…
Obesity is an epidemic in America. The frequency of gastric bypass surgery is increasing. Insurance companies are more frequently paying for gastric bypass surgery, since the insurance companies recognize that treating the American epidemic of obesity is very important.
In an important article, T. Adams and co-workers (JAMA 2012; 308:1122) evaluated over 1,000 severely obese patients who had either received gastric bypass surgery, or did not have the surgery. Patients who had gastric bypass surgery…
Young adults 18 to 35 years of age, including recent graduates, are faced with an important health care challenge: you may have only
a low income (maybe even none), perhaps high student loans, no health conditions or challenges, and you want to know how to protect the quality of and access to your health care. Since you are not sick, why should you even consider getting health insurance coverage, with you knowing it can be really…