- Why patients don’t get enough pain medicine: doctor indifference and drug thieves.
- The annual retail value of goods Americans buy and then return approaches a trillion dollars. HT: Tyler
- Main drug killer of 35 to 44-year-old adults by far is synthetic opioids.
- Should we care about “forever chemicals” that lurk in so much of what we eat, drink and use? Studies show they are bad for rats. (NYT)
- Man believes pediatric doctor reported him to Child Protective Services in retaliation over a bad Google review.
- Richard Hanania with a commonsense review of the risks and benefits of the Covid vaccine.
Category: Health Reform
Tuesday Links
- Study: even small amounts of alcohol are bad for you. HT: Tyler
- Fake news from the New York Times: How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox
- Turns out the real culprit for the Maui fires was bad government policy.
- The reason for not getting another covid vaccine shot right now: We don’t know what covid variant will be threatening us in the fall. (NYT)
- Study: extreme heat causes psychosis, dementia and substance misuse. Since cold kills more people than heat, I am skeptical.
How Medicare Encourages Hospitals to Monopolize the Medical Marketplace
In 2016, the first hour of chemotherapy infusion — one of the most common services billed by oncology practices — was reimbursed at $136 for physician’s offices, while payment for hospital outpatient departments was 106% higher, at $280…. This year, this payment disparity has jumped to 158%, with physician reimbursement declining to $129 and the outpatient department rate increasing to $333….
The FDA Hinders the Progress of Regenerative Medicine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sometimes gets lost in a bureaucratic maze of confusion and red tape that deprives patients of beneficial therapies. Innovative products sometimes fall within a gray area and become overly regulated. One of the FDA’s latest targets is regenerative medicine.
An article titled, An MBA in Regulatory Confusion, talks about Florida-based Regenative Labs. The firm manufactures products made from umbilical cords (donated by mothers after a C-section, according to the company website). English physician and anatomist Thomas Wharton first described his namesake umbilical cord jelly in 1656, although he had no way of knowing it is rich in stem cells and regenerative healing properties.