Originating from Saint Paul, MN, Doctor Pundit is all about the intersection between healthcare policy, science, politics, and all surrounding points and issues. Although the entire scope of healthcare delivery and policy is much too encompassing for just one blogger to cover, I'll try my best. Enjoy! From time to time, you'll also see other items of interest that probably have nothing to do with health policy in the least. Try and keep an open mind. :) Proprietor & Editor -- Michael Douglas, MD, MBATag Archives for Education
Headline Roundup: Jolie Does It Right
Here’s a sampling of what’s making the rounds in healthcare headlines today. (1) Angelina Jolie makes the right decision for many. [LINK] (2) Apparently, oncologists are in agreement. [LINK] (3) U.S. House gears up for yet another vote on ACA … Continue reading
Government Institute Announces Distancing from Psychiatric “Bible”
Just mere weeks before the next edition of the “bible” of psychotherapeutics hits doctors’ offices nationwide, the federal government entity tasked with overseeing medical research is announcing a plan to conduct its investigations away from using the principles of the fifth … Continue reading
Exchanges Offer More Than Just a Product under ACA
The healthcare provision of online exchanges as part of the ACA is the next big step (hurdle, for some) in the gradual roll-out of legislation that has and will continue to transform the way healthcare is delivered in this country. … Continue reading
A Quick TB Primer
From the excellent student blog, Now @ NEJM: In 2011, there were 8.7 million new cases of active tuberculosis worldwide. Recent advances in diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines and enhanced implementation of interventions are helping to improve the prospects for global … Continue reading
Working Group Projects North of $100B in Healthcare Savings over Next Decade
Finding a way for healthcare organizations to deliver care without wasting money is just one of the holy grails in improving the quality of healthcare during sweeping reform. In California an unlikely collaborative is taking shape in which this primary … Continue reading
Reagan SG C. Everett Koop Dies
C. Everett Koop, the Reagan administration’s Surgeon General, has passed away at the age of 96. Arguably the most influential SG in the history of this country, Koop is widely credited with providing the collective legislative impetus to toughen standards … Continue reading
Can States Agree on Insurance Exchanges?
A report detailing the matter of setting up insurance exchanges is moving to the top of the list of priorities as the meat of the ACA begins to unfold over the next year in advance of scheduled implementation. Up till … Continue reading
Encompassing Theory of Online Patient Diagnosticians Somewhat Overblown
It’s a digital world, and, any trepidation physicians have had from the prospect of having to deal with know-it-all patients who come in armed with previously resourced material for diagnoses scrubbed from the Internet ready to pounce, can breathe a … Continue reading
Influenza Season Is Here, and It’s a Bear
The season 2011-2012 is shaping up to be a nasty one from coast to coast, including here in flyover land. Although the death toll from influenza A is attributed to at least 23 deaths in Minnesota, the state of Massachusetts … Continue reading
Organizations Slowly Considering Greater Scrutiny of Aging Physicians’ Practice
Would you attend a 101-year old physician? Should there be a mandatory retirement age for physicians? While that question itself is a little ridiculous, there really has never been careful consideration of the issue. Many, if not most physicians go … Continue reading
Minnesota Announces New Strategies Dealing with Opioid Abuse
Minnesota has been a pioneer of sorts in the manner in which it approaches policies of addressing prescription opioid abuse. One goal is to train physicians in the basics of addiction, opiate prescribing and alternative approaches to pain management, according … Continue reading
CDC Warns of Increasing Gonococcal Resistance
A gonorrhea super bug? The CDC is now warning that the most commonly used antibiotic class to treat the infection is losing its activity against the increasingly resistant organism. Instead of the oral formulation of the representative antibiotics used in … Continue reading
