e-Patient Dave

Power to the Patient!

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Daily Digest: Geography=health, right-care, and more

Geography is health: Geo-mapping expert Bill Davenhall said that in a TEDMED talk. An interesting neighborhood development in Austin has built in open spaces in a new-urbanism model to foster community health and social interaction. NPR has the story: “Urban Utopia”

Worm in that Austin geo-health apple? The new-urbanism that Austin was aiming at in the above story had a flip-side that revealed underlying racial tensions. Recognizing that, and talking about it, has been eye-opening. Social determinants are a big part of public health. Part 2 of the NPR series on the Mueller neighborhood in Austin: “Utopia Tackles Racial Tensions Under the Surface”

UnitedHealth’s $43 billion bet: “Fee for service” is often blamed for the high cost of US healthcare. Health insurer UnitedHealth has taken a big step away from fee for service, and toward value-based payment to medical providers. From the Wall Street Journal: “UnitedHealth’s $43 Billion Exit from Fee for Service Medicine”

We need to talk: A study in JAMA Oncology concludes that doctors’ views that patients ask for more testing and other care than they need is true in only 1% of cases in cancer care. This piece by Sarah Kliff in Vox breaks down the study’s findings. Seems like doctors and patients have yet more reasons to talk clearly and plainly with each other. “Doctors think lots of patients ask for medicine they don’t need. This study says that’s not true.”

Anthem data hack: A piece in FierceHealthIT says that the FBI is on the case in tracking down the folks behind the Anthem hack, which compromised the personal data of 80 million Anthem customers. There are some hints that it might have been a Chinese hacker group, but no solid leads yet. “Details emerge in Anthem hack”

Friday’s laugh track: From Gomerblog, a visual discourse. “Medical Specialties as Game of Thrones Characters“

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Daily Digest: Life is 100% fatal, medical error stats, and more

“Life is 100% fatal“: I’m quoting myself there, and I’ve helped beloved family members navigate that final journey by holding their hand, and standing watch, as the light of their living selves flickered out. It’s a sacred human experience that’s become over-medicalized, particularly in the US. From the NY Times, written by a palliative care doctor, Ira Byock: “Dying Shouldn’t Be So Brutal”

Killer numbers: In a terrific post on Vox, Sarah Kliff, who’s built a solid reputation as a journalist who can break down complex statistical data into accessible information, tells us that we have miles to go before we’ve defeated the medical-error monster. “Medical errors in America kill more people than AIDS or drug overdoses. Here’s why.”

Doctors as family advocates: Dr. Pauline Chen makes a forceful case on the NY Times Well blog that doctors should advocate for their patients and families to get work policies in place, policies that let people get the time needed to care for sick family members. “Doctors as Advocates for Family Leave”

Why discharge instructions matter: On Forbes.com, a piece by Robert Szczerba on why care transitions, particularly from hospital to home, can present re-admission risk, and efforts to eliminate that risk. “Coming Home From The Hospital Is Actually More Dangerous Than You Might Expect”

Bad science, and how to spot it: Another post from Vox, this one by Susannah Locke, on how to spot weird (bad/fake) science reporting. Piece includes a great infographic, too. “15 ways to tell if that science news story is hogwash”

Dr. House of Cards: Wednesday humor comes from ZDoggMD – slightly funnier than placebo – and his mashup of House of Cards, Dr. Oz, and medical-science mayhem. “Dr. House of Cards: Oz vs. Underwood“

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Daily Digest: Thursday, February 5, 2015

Hello, Thursday – here’s your dose of ePatient vitamin-D-for-Digest!

Social workers are superb participatory medicine practitioners. They get it. Here’s a post from The Social Work Helper with a nifty little virtuous-cycle quadrant image that outlines how, and why, the e-patient movement matters. “The E-Patient Movement”

Our friends over at The Incidental Economist noticed an item in the White House’s proposed budget related to the agricultural use of antibiotics. With the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, why are we still pumping antibiotics into cattle, pigs, and chickens to “promote their growth”? Modern farming practices promote growth just fine. The science of ag antibiotics, and why it should stop: “Agricultural antibiotics in the President’s budget request”

Cui bono (Latin, to whose benefit) in healthcare reform? Sarah Kliff has an interesting answer after studying insurance stock earnings reports. Health plans have far outstripped the S&P 500 for the last five years. “Health insurer stocks have crushed market averages since Obamacare passed”

Stephen Wilkins is a health policy thinker whose home on the web is something he calls the Mind the Gap Academy. He posted something on LinkedIn that is a pretty tight list of the Top 10 things a clinician can do to foster patient engagement. No tech required. “The Ten Commandments Of Patient Engagement”

The American College of Physicians (ACP) – the 2nd largest physician organization in the US, after the American Medical Association (AMA) – has jumped in to the pharma price fight with both feet. They announced this week that they were signing on to the Campaign for Sustainable RX Pricing. Here’s a piece from CNBC with the details: “Doctors group joins fight against ‘skyrocketing’ drug prices”

We love the internet. We wouldn’t be here talking to you if we didn’t. However, the Wild Wild Web can be a challenging place for advocates of all stripes. When I (Casey) came across a post on the Guardian’s site recently, it prompted me to put up a post about trolls on one of my own blogs. Here you go, weigh in with your thoughts. “Advocacy, trolls, and threats – oh my!”

Last but not least, our humor break for today, in which Dr. Grumpy ponders Zen and the art of cough drops. “Cough Drops“