Sustainable Universal Coverage
Last month CMS announced the results of the efforts of the Pioneer and MSSP (Medicare Shared Savings Program) ACOs for 2014. The headline made for compelling reading: Medicare ACOs Provide Improved Care While Slowing Cost Growth in 2014. This suggests that sustainable...
The Older Americans Act
Recently the New England Journal of Medicine published a great article in the “Perspective” section, “The Older Americans Act at 50”. Unfortunately the article is available online only to those who are subscribers, so I will try to give a very brief overview of its...
The Triple Aim Before its Time
Lately I have been thinking again about the prescience of one of my most important mentors, Dr. Robert Ebert, who was Dean of Harvard Medical School when I was a student there. In my last blog post I cited a talk Dr. Ebert gave in 1967 at Simmons College, and I...
The Moral Injury of Avoidable Death
Last week I passed on a story my friend Dr. Doug Beers told me about a case of avoidable death as a result of medical “overkill.” It was a distressing story, but Doug recently told me another story that disturbed me more. We were sitting on the dock at my place on...
Overkill Can Be Deadly
Dr. Doug Beer, my former colleague and longtime friend, told me a story about the way healthcare overkill can actually kill a patient. Doug, who practices internal medicine at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and I were talking about cancer treatment during a...Case Study – Elizabeth Mcarthy
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