Medical News Digest on the Politics of Health

Archive for the ‘care quality’ Category

Medicare Portal : Medicare.gov Site Updates

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

MediNewsDigest: Update on useful site covering the whole gamut of Medicare help:
Dialysis Facility Compare May 20, 2010
Helpful Contacts June 23, 2010
Home Health Compare April 15, 2010
Hospital Compare March 18, 2010
Medicare Options Compare July 15, 2010
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder July 15, 2010
Nursing Home Compare June 23, 2010
Physician and Other Healthcare Professional Directory May 13, 2010
Supplier Directory
Click Here for link to the medicare portal. Worth checking out…
A note on the services covered partially or full: Medicare wants you to go through institutions, which is the costly,red tape/union ladden way, even if you could private contractors. This is particularly apparent in the Home Health where services

MediNewsDigest: The following list to caregiverlist show the extent of agencies’ overhead

Tags: careresourceguide, directory, homehealth, Medicare, Medicare.gov, MediNewsDigest, resource, site, Updates
Posted in HHS, Health Care reform, Homecare, Medicare, Uncategorized, care quality, caregivers, elderly, politics | No Comments »

New Health and Human Service (HHS) tool to compare hospitals

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

MediNewsDigest: A very intestesting tool to compare hospitals nationwide. California did not come out so hot…..

Tags: careresourceguide, Comparison, Health and Human Service, HHS tool, hospitals, MediNewsDigest, new
Posted in HHS, care quality, healthcare, hospitals | No Comments »

On abuse in homes with dementia patients

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

MediNewsDigest: A good site. Who wouldn’t be outraged by elder abuse or diabled abuse for that matter? But as always, some situation are not simple. The worst case as discussed at the site occurs often with Alzheimer’s because Alzheimer’s patients have been documented to be sometimes abusive themselves towards their caregivers.

MediNewsDigest: CLICK HERE for a discussion on “reverse” abuse

MediNewsDigest: CLICK HERE for a discusion on the same topic at the institutional level
The bottom line question is: Is institutional abuse more tolerated than family caregiver’s? The sad truth is “levels” of abuse will have to be weighted and dementia patients do not have an infinite reserve of love and compassion to draw from. Human nature is such that it is finite. On the other hand the caregiver might have to be “rescued” from the situation, dangerous for the caregiven /family caregiver alike.

Tags: abuse, careresourceguide, dementia, Homes, MediNewsDigest, Patients
Posted in Medical Ethics, Uncategorized, care quality, caregivers, crime, elderly, nursing homes, societal trends | No Comments »

Brain-Computer-Interface for Coma Patients and the new Ethical Issues

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: Our post in the Disease Management Blog presents new way to interface with the comatose. What this means is the ethical issues of tentative life vs. cost to society will become more accute and shrill. “scientific” opinions will be heavily biased toward politico/religious/atheistic backgrounds. At the Digest, we are fiercely on the side of the defenseless comatose, even if it will cost some people their lattes……
Life vs death is not the only issue, pain/anguish control in the patient also is…To add to the fray, the burnout rate of family or professionals is high. Complex isn’t it? Time to check your belief system..

Tags: brain, careresourceguide, coma, Computer, Ethical Issues, Interface, MediNewsDigest, new, Patients
Posted in Academia and Family, Eugenics, Health Care reform, Medical Ethics, care quality, coma patients, palliative care, politics, societal trends | No Comments »

Consumers Not Too Psyched About ‘Evidence-Based Health Care’ (WSJ)

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: what a surprise! Evidence-Based is the death knoll of innovative treatments and of Doctors right to think for themselves!

Tags: careresourceguide, Consumers, Evidence-Based, health care, MediNewsDigest, wsj
Posted in Health Care reform, Medicare, Uncategorized, activism, care quality, politics | No Comments »

Obamacare Results: “Two Tiered Medical Care for Haves and Have Nots” (KHN)

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: To be expected, the wealthy will not suffer under Obamacare, only the middleclass will.

Tags: KHN, Medical Care, MediNewsDigest, Obamacare Results, Two Tiered, wealthy
Posted in activism, benefits, care quality, healthcare, insurance, middle class, politics | No Comments »

Americans losing confidence in healthcare (Reuters)

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

SJCRG: All depends which side of the isle you are: Americans for conservatives are the long standing US midlle class-middle income citizens; for Obama, Americans means the whoever was marginal in the US society. Middle class got the short end of the stick. This poll should not come as a surprise!

Tags: Americans, careresourceguide, confidence, healthcare, losing, Reuters, SJCRG
Posted in Health Care reform, Medicare, activism, care quality, coverage, insurance, middle class, politics, societal trends | No Comments »

Gaps in insurance policies make oral drugs too pricey for some cancer patients (washingtonpost)

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

SJCRG: Is Obamacare going to fix this? Should…But don’t hold your breath: what it attempts to fix is to offer basic treatment for the very poor. Pain is ok. Treatment that allow for a better chance at living life as opposed to surviving in pain and indignity might be more expensive so..

Tags: cancer, careresourceguide, Gaps, insurance policies, oral drugs, Patients, pricey, SJCRG, washingtonpost
Posted in Medicare, Uncategorized, care quality, coverage, insurance, middle class | No Comments »

WellPoint routinely targets breast cancer patients (Reuters)

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

SJCRG: No doubt, such greed excesses helped bring in Obamacare!

Tags: breast, cancer, careresourceguide, Patients, Reuters, routinely, SJCRG, targets, WellPoint
Posted in Health Care reform, activism, care quality, coverage, insurance | No Comments »

Health Care Concepts: Linking payment to health outcomes (sciencedirect)

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

SJCRG: Would accept to pay the garage for your car repair if it still does not work? Granted, besides the poor taste of this comparison, the human body is so complex that “guaranteed outcome” would not make sense for all medical acts. But , then again….

Tags: careresourceguide, Concepts, health, health care, Linking, outcomes, payment, ScienceDirect, SJCRG
Posted in Health Care reform, Uncategorized, care quality, coverage, insurance, politics, societal trends | No Comments »