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Index 2006: Letters to the Editor

Write a letter to the editor

Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun - Jul - Aug - Sep - Oct - Nov - Dec - 2005 - 2007

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Dec. 25

• If Florida's Supreme Court can't speak tort reform, perhaps the state's medical and legal leaders can
• Find the right limits for e-mail consults between doctor, patient

Dec. 18

• Get politicians to go on the record about Medicare for their own care
• Patients not well served by transparency proposals on price and quality reporting

Dec. 11

• Claims data an appropriate basis in pay-for-performance programs

Dec. 4

• Index Medicare pay to inflation

Nov. 27

• Even for those willing to pay, health insurance can be unobtainable

Nov. 20

• Medicare not rewarding physicians for keeping the service growth rate down
• In-store clinics' edge: Less waiting
• Competition's outcome

Nov. 13

• Despite rules, "in-office dispensing is a form of implicit coercion"
• Crackdown on detailer visits a joke given what academic researchers get
• HHS chief Q&A article left physician with more questions than answers

Nov. 6

• Practice-based sales risk reducing physicians to cosmetics salespeople
• Prison research can't meet standard of "freely given informed consent"
• End Medicare hypocrisy by making it mandatory for those now in charge
• Medicaid capitation fails patients

Oct. 23/30

• EMRs need not cost $50,000 per doctor
• Physicians should take a stand against pharmaceutical promotions

Oct. 16

• Work-life balance best learned in residency to meet career-long demands of the profession

Oct. 9

• No tears for those who choose not to buy health insurance

Oct. 2

• Lawmakers with no thought for future are behind Medicare crisis
• In-store clinics hurt primary care

Sept. 25

• Consider the "why" factors of some surgeons' criticized behavior in the OR
• Medical societies can expect trouble over policing expert witnesses

Sept. 18

• E-prescribing still has too many drawbacks to be practical
• Replace the current medical tort system with a compensation fund
• Abuse of residents, liability pressures could lead to physician suicide

Sept. 11

• Following parliamentary procedure makes meetings more productive
• Residency is not the right time to pursue extracurricular interests

Sept. 4

• Hospital case managers get unfair rap as "utilization review police"
• Physician shortage no surprise

Aug. 28

• Want ICD codes? Have someone other than the doctor look them up
• Parental monitoring of teens is reasonable in isotretinoin therapy

Aug. 21

• Pain scores not a reliable gauge of what treatment patients will seek

Aug. 14

• Resident nap rooms shouldn't be shared, and especially not be coed
• Resident nap study should not be used to make case for longer hours

Aug. 7

• Poor pay for much-needed cognitive services threatens primary care
• Physicians should drop all dealings with public and private insurers
• Medical marijuana underscores a basic right to make personal decisions

July 24/31

• Residency's end gives revealing look at dangerous gaps in coverage

July 17

• Good care flows from maintaining medicine as a desirable career
• Report on better pay in primary care doesn't jibe with practice realities
• Protect patient privacy by using a waiting room number system

July 10

• SGR stealthily undermines care -- what will physicians do about it?
• Urgent care fellowships as valid as other specialist training
• Quote, as it appeared in AMNews, did not accurately reflect my position

July 3

• IVF reporting experiences foretell pay-for-performance problems
• States' Medicaid healthy living push could be accomplished in better ways

June 26

• American Academy of Pain Medicine offers guidance on proper prescribing
• Better pay, liability reform will ensure the doctors needed for universal care
• True hospital infection control requires clean stethoscopes

June 19

• Drug reps could see prescriptions in this physician's name, but he couldn't
• Doctors should rely on better business sense -- not government generosity

June 12

• New twist on hospital staff reappointment: No due process
• Major funding for Florida medical schools not money wisely spent

June 5

• Part D exception form won't work with insurers who act in bad faith
• Low pay for mental health treatment is a major Medicare shortcoming
• Dump United's $1.6 billion CEO

May 22/29

• PIAA: Liability insurance critic's suggestions were off base
• Emergency medicine physician: Provide a tax credit for free care
• Answer to Medicare's problems lies in HSAs, and not in managed care

May 15

• Mind-set behind certain Web sites can lead to physician hiring discrimination
• Primary care doctors have "ever-increasing burden of paperwork"

May 8

• Medicare payment panel will pit physicians against one another
• Patients, to their peril, are resistant to colonoscopies when warranted
• Physicians not immune from adopting views from faulty news stories
• Profitable pharma industry shouldn't get incentives to do the right thing

May 1

• Judge doctors on qualifications and sensitivity -- not race or religion
• Time for men to feel the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy
• Physicians should stick to providing information and let patients decide moral matters for themselves

April 24

• Doctors shouldn't be dismissive when patients' pain source isn't obvious
• Report author: Criticism in AMNews editorial was shortsighted
• No long-term benefits from 80-hour workweek for surgical residents

April 17

• Performance pay plans will increase paperwork burden for physicians
• A hired-gun witness can be exposed by a good liability defense attorney

April 10

• Physicians shouldn't have to report their own pay-for-performance data
• Doctors ill-served by "high-and-mighty posturing" over aid in executions
• Obesity is clearly a disease and not a reflection of "individual failure"

April 3

• Conscience clause laws undermine appropriate care for patients
• A physician shouldn't have to provide option viewed as morally wrong
• Treat records theft as the crime that it is -- not as cause for lawsuit

March 27

• At this practice, HSAs a "disaster"
• Workers comp-style system should replace current medical tort system

March 20

• Oath of Maimonides is an apt choice for medical school graduations
• Physicians must realize the true goal of drug company representatives

March 13

• AMA-OMSS: Tell the Joint Commission not to weaken medical staff bylaws
• It's psychiatrist -- not "shrink"

March 6

• Marketing advice article desecrates the proper practice of medicine
• Interaction with drug industry reps needs to be professional, educational
• Drug companies unfairly under siege by critics of marketing practices

Feb. 27

• ECFMG: U.S. has a rigorous system to assess physicians seeking licensure
• Mystery shoppers are deceptive, unethical in a health care setting
• When screening for depression, also screen for bipolar disorder

Feb. 20

• Don't penalize doctors for patient behavior that can't be controlled
• Falls far too common to be routinely placed on the list of "never events"

Feb. 13

• Physicians don't have to want gifts to appreciate the role of drug reps
• Hard to expect residents and fellows to pass on an offer of lunch
• Questions for critics of honoraria

Feb. 6

• Medical community holds answer to problem of rogue expert witnesses
• Health care facing similar economic breaking point as is predicted for oil

Jan. 30

• Handle claims on case-by-case basis instead of blending
• Blend codes but provide pay supplement for special cases

Jan. 23

• Don't expect a cost-saving fallout from Wellpoint's blended rates
• Blended rates immoral and more

Jan. 16

• Health plan profits should go to higher reimbursement or back to members
• Diversity covers a broader range than what was presented in article
• Pay-for-performance at odds with the idea of patient autonomy

Jan. 2/9

• Special courts are not the right setting to decide medical liability

Last year's letters - Back to top

78% of medical expenses during the final year of life occur in the month before death. Read more

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