Drinking had already jumped before the Covid Pandemic and shot up even more during Covid. Many Americans felt isolated, worried for the future, stressed due to income loss, risk of death and uncertainty. They drank as a result, or perhaps they drank more as a result. The proportion of Americans who drank alcohol rose, as did the amount of alcohol they drank.
Category: Doctors & Hospitals
How to Increase Doctor/Patient Communication
Americans visit their physicians about 1 billion times a year. That works out to about three visits per individual. Office visits are not distributed equally. Visits are more concentrated among less healthy individuals, while others may not see a doctor at all. Physicians are the gatekeepers to most therapies and treatments.
Monday Links
- What Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might do to undermine vaccines — and what they likely can’t. (Statnews)
- Pharmacists are the ultimate gatekeepers to opioids and other narcotics.
- People with cash on hand have fewer emergency department visits related to behavioral health and substance use.
- ”A typical 35-year-old in the bottom half of the income distribution faces the same chronic disease burden as a typical 50-year-old in the top half.”
Thursday Links
- If a “race neutral” standard were used, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Black Americans would be classified under the newer race-neutral equation as having more severe emphysema, greater medical impairment, more occupational disqualifications, and higher disability payments because of their newly classified lung disease.
- Following the passage of the No Surprise Act, some surprise bills are costing insurers more than before the act was passed, possibly by as much as 50 percent above prevailing in-network rates.
- Oracle’s AI backed Electronic Medical Record system can draft clinical documentation, propose next steps like lab tests and follow-up visits, and pull data from notes to automate coding.
- US Nonprofit hospitals have widely varying criteria on who qualifies for free and discounted charity care.