Author's posts
The millions of dollars hospitals spend for inspections
Two of my local hospitals just invested 3 to 4 million dollars in preparation for an inspection of the facilities by the Joint Commission. The cost of the inspection runs in the $10 million dollar range after the preparation costs. The inspection is a …
In a nutshell: technology and progress in health IT
We have a new electronic medical health record system at our hospital. It was introduced with what I believe is a short and ineffective training program for physicians followed by a far too short on-location use of experts to help the doctors and nurses learn the new system. It is frankly a pain in the […]
A physician celebrates 15 years in concierge medicine
I practiced general internal medicine from June 1979 until November 2003. Immediately after training, I became an employed physician of an older internist covering my employer’s patients and building my practice for two years before embarking on my own. I saw 20 or more patients per day in addition to providing hospital care and visiting […]
Guidelines, multiple specialists, and the science versus the art of medicine
My 80-year-old patient presented with symptoms and signs of kidney failure. I hospitalized him and asked for the assistance of a kidney specialist. We notified his heart specialist as a courtesy. A complicated evaluation led to a diagnosis of an unusual vasculitis with the patient’s immune system attacking his kidney as if it was a […]
