Video: Asian Rhinoplasty lectures from Cedars-Sinai
Part 1
Continue to view Part 2.
Part 2
31
December
Critical of Critical
Like legions of other wonks when I discovered that Tom Daschle was going to be Obama’s point guy on health care, I sent off for a copy of his book Critical. It’s a fast and easy read, but in its examination of the problem it doesn’t add much to superior books on what’s wrong with health care (much of the first section reads like an undergrad’s attempt to summarize Jonathan Cohn’s Sick) and there are some pretty weak logic flows and basic editing throughout (he refers to the book Uninsured in America on p155 as though it’s already been introduced before it actually gets introduced on p161). But ignoring all that, what does Daschle suggest we actually do?
31
December
Health and health care in 2009 - a year of managing risks and wild cards
As we inevitably do this time of year, we prognosticate about the new year. This time around, it's a toughie: there are too many uncertainties that preclude us from doing a straight-line forecast for 2009, especially in health and health care.
Here are some trends and wild cards to keep in mind for 2009: the year of managing risks.
How will the macroeconomy play out against health care in the new year? Keep in mind the Kaiser Family Foundation's metric on unemployment: an increase of 1% unemployment leads to 1.1 million uninsured, and 1 million more people added to Medicaid. This was the math that worked in 2007-8. The metric will probably change in 2009 as Governors struggle to balance budgets while providing medical services, education, and safe streets to citizens. The National Governors Association, and the individual state heads, have all warned that Governors will inevitably cut services in 2009 and into 2010 if tax receipts continue to decline.
30
December
Is Massachusetts a model for national reform?
I get asked this question a lot these days, which shouldn’t be that surprising. Harvard Pilgrim is headquartered in Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts health care reform plan is already a couple of years old. More importantly, it has added about 440,000 people to the insured ranks (185,000 through unsubsidized private plans and another 255,000 through subsidized, Medicaid-like coverage), has maintained high employer participation (over 70%) and doesn’t appear to be crowding out private coverage as public coverage expands.
30
December
On the Integration of Mental Health & Primary Care
The disconnect between care and reimbursement for mental health services and other kinds of clinical services suggests just how deeply mind-body dualism pervades Western and American culture, despite the best efforts of many champions over many, many decades. The beast lives, as I put it in my dissertation. Thus, the news of a WHO Report on the need to integrate mental health care into primary care is welcome, though I admit it seems almost ridiculous to me that justification is needed for the notion that caring for those suffering from mental and emotional illnessesis crucial toimproving population health, let alone being important to lessening stigma,centering marginalized populations, and caring for persons with disabilities.
30
December
Plastic Surgery vs. Dermatology Residency
Plastic Surgery and Dermagology residencies are still hot. In fact, they're getting hotter as more young doctors look at the options available to them after graduation.
29
December
My Health Care Reform House Party
The Obama-Biden Transition Team has encouraged individuals across the country to gather in small groups with friends and neighbors to discuss their ideas for health care reform. The team provided a background paper, discussion guide and a specific list of questions as a framework within which citizens could provide feedback to health reform czar-designate Tom Daschle. More than a thousand would-be hosts have officially registered on the change.gov website, and my wife and I were recently invited to one such gathering in a small village (yes, that’s the official designation) north of Chicago. My report below is not the official one.
29
December
“Get Well Soon” Wishes for Health Policy Pioneer Paul Ellwood
Here’s a greeting card conundrum. What exactly do you say to an 82-year old man who, emailing you about a joint project you were working on, notes that he has just survived “a 12-foot backward fall into a jagged confined space. Result at least 6 smashed cervical and thoracic vertebrae. [But] no paralysis! In a halo and off full duty for a while, but eager to rejoin the hunt.”
“Get well soon” seems so pallid a reply.
Paul Ellwood, who survived this most recent harrowing accident, is best known as the man who originated the term health maintenance organization and then got the federal government to support the concept. He was also one of the first policy thinkers to push vigorously for patient-centered measures of care quality, through his Jackson Hole Group and, since the mid-1990s, on his own.
29
December
Plasma Skin Resurfacing; Part 1 & 2
Plasma Skin Resurfacing Part 1
Plasma Skin Resurfacing Part 2
28
December
Plastic surgery recession vs. vanity?
The economy sucks, discretionary spending is down, and now begin the reports of a plastic surgery recession.
Of course, the talking heads have been wrong before. The press only runs two stories... ever.
26
December