An entry in the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) can end a doctor’s career permanently. It is critical for doctors to understand how this works, and patients ought to know what it means. In the winter 2018 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Lawrence Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D, summarizes the key points in […]
Promoted as simply a way to help the elderly pay their medical bills, Medicare has led to the federal government controlling the practice of medicine, writes Marilyn Singleton, M.D., J.D., in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. “Federal interference has only served to increase medical costs, herd patients into managed […]
More Democrats are lining up behind “Medicare for All” as the midterm elections approach, but the idea under different names has been proposed repeatedly since 1942, as shown in the timeline outlined in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons by Jeremy Snavely. “The last 75 years have seen exponential growth […]
Americans may be more worried about the costs of a major illness than about the illness itself, writes Jeanne Pinder in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Prices for various procedures can vary by a factor of 20 or more. Pinder describes an award-winning project, ClearHealthCosts.com, that she and fellow […]
In searching for treatable causes of sky-high medical costs, both government and private entities are scrutinizing the cost of hospital supplies, writes Marilyn Singleton, M.D., J.D., in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Supplies account for an average 15 percent of total costs, and as much as 40 percent. About […]
According to a recent survey, doctors think that more than 20 percent of medical care in the U.S. is unnecessary, writes Albert L. Fisher, M.D., of Oshkosh, Wis., president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. He explains several reasons for […]
Today, your doctor is likely to be a “stranger at the bedside,” making decisions according to the “new morality” of bioethics, rather than the traditional Oath of Hippocrates, writes Jeffrey Hall Dobken, M.D., M.P.H., in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Dobken writes from the perspective of a doctor […]
Hospitals and health plans are government-protected and favored businesses, and as Americans increasingly suffer from high costs and other problems, the effects of government intervention are under scrutiny, writes Lawrence Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D, in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. “Government intervention in medicine has led to higher costs, shortages, […]
In repealing the automatic Medicare physician fee cuts called the SGR (Sustained Growth Rate), Congress replaced it with something worse, in the opinion of ophthalmologist Kristin Held. M.D., in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) set up the Merit-based Incentive […]
The U.S. is said to be suffering from a crisis in deaths from opioid overdoses, prompting legislative and other efforts to clamp down on physician prescribing of these drugs. However, this effort is likely misdirected, and targeting legal prescriptions is thus unlikely to reduce overdose deaths, according to a careful review of official government data by […]