For almost six decades, Medicare and Medicaid have grown increasingly costly and expansive while delivering subpar care to beneficiaries.
Category: Policy
Gun violence is our society’s disease
About a month ago, I had just finished hospital rounds when I heard “code active threat” on the overhead intercom. Thinking it was a drill, I continued typing patient notes until I heard a more urgent: “Please barricade in place or, i…
How our sickest patients mirror the political divisions of our country
I was on service as the attending physician recently, and it struck me how closely our sickest patients in the intensive care setting mirror the political mires of our country. Usually, when I’m on service, it’s an all-consuming matter, wit…
The claims data dilemma: 4 things to consider
I recently met with leaders of provider organizations representing a range of specialties and geographies. One of the themes that came through loud and clear was their ongoing struggle to obtain claims data from their payers. As providers continue thei…
It’s time to invest in trauma-informed ACEs interventions
Last year, I witnessed the extreme consequences of untreated childhood trauma as a medical trainee rotating through multiple safety-net hospitals in Los Angeles County. I helped care for children who arrived in our emergency departments after multiple …
Florence Nightingale. Clara Barton. Radonda Vaught?
Mistakes and errors are regrettable but inevitable risks of the job for any patient-facing role in health care. As nurses, we are trained to report mistakes and errors when they happen. The maintenance of transparency in this way is an important elemen…
It’s Time To Cure The FDA’s Regulatory Sclerosis
The FDA has not displayed sufficient urgency throughout the COVID-19 crisis—and is threatening to repeat its mistakes with the ongoing outbreak of monkeypox. It’s long past time for lawmakers to reform the sclerotic agency.
Corruption in health care: when the mice mind the cheese
That the United States spends the most on health care is unsurprising. What’s questionable is paying so much for the worst health care system amongst high-income countries and being far behind many countries that could not be considered high-inco…
Abortion debates need to happen, but both sides need some ground rules
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to uphold Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act and 5–4 to overrule Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The political temperature was already heightened because Politico released a leaked draft o…
These are the women who are being told they are not a priority
There are situations where I have told a patient they had no options: a cancer recurrence not responding to any treatment, detecting no heartbeat in a 37-week pregnancy, or telling someone their family member coded and didn’t survive. The worst part of…
