Kaiser Health News (KHN) ran an article titled, As Fewer MDs Practice Rural Primary Care, a Different Type of Doctor Helps Take Up the Slack. It’s about osteopaths working in rural America. I know several Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs). I also know quite a few Doctors of Medicine (MDs). In fact, I have relatives who are both MDs and DOs. I call this old news because the divisions between the two similar, but slightly different medical societies were patched long ago.
Category: Doctors & Hospitals
Monday Links
- Why the new food stamp work requirements matter.
- Republicans have been as bad as Democrat’s when it comes to federal regulations.
- How much do you like your job? 9 of 10 workers would give up a quarter of their lifetime earnings to do meaningful work. (WSJ)
- Johns Hopkins study: less than 10% of Texas hospitals ever sued a patient for an unpaid bill. Even in those cases, the hospitals’ recovery was scanty and half the time the patients didn’t even show up at the hearing.
- But here is an exception: A rich nonprofit hospital denies care to patients who don’t pay their bills. (NYT)
- Noah Smith: there is a need for libertarianism after all. HT: Tyler
WSJ: Hospitals Try to Improve their Poor Image
It’s hard to imagine enjoying a hospital stay, however hospitals are trying to improve the patient experience. Back when I worked for a hospital the executives would bristle when someone joked that the daily room charge in a hospital cost 10 times the daily room charge in a nice hotel. The ratio is probably closer to 30 times now. Despite the massive price increase, hospitals still don’t excel at hospitality.
Saturday Links
- Study: If the IRA drug price controls were in place in 2014, “between 24 and 49 therapies currently available today would most likely not have come to market and therefore not available for patients.” The act will cause patients to lose access to an estimated 40% of new medicines or up to 139 new therapies over the next decade.
- Licensing laws are creating a shortage of dentists, just like they create a shortage of physicians.
- AFP endorses the Pete Sessions health reform bill.
- Study: School lunches no longer lead to more childhood obesity. But is that because the kids are throwing the food away?