JAMA Exclusive Addresses “Statinization”.

JAMA Early Release: More Than a Billion People Taking Statins? Potential Implications of the New Cardiovascular Guidelines John P. A. Ioannidis, MD, DSc1,2 Published online December 02, 2013. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.284657 “The ACC and the AHA are among the most experienced organizations in medicine that develop guidelines. Their processes are meticulous, including transparent reporting of conflicts. The work behind […]

Health Reform On The Edge: Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Mike Magee This past week, in a speech at Bowling Green State University, I described health transformation as occuring in two phases. Phase 1 was the acknowledgement that the status quo in U.S. health delivery had run its course, that is to say it is no longer affordable or defensible. Phase 2, as I defined […]

JAMA Early Release – “Guideline Panels Should Rarely Formulate Strong Recommendations”.

The Optimal Practice of Evidence-Based Medicine Incorporating Patient Preferences in Practice Guidelines FREE ONLINE FIRST Victor M. Montori, MD, MSc1,2,3; Juan Pablo Brito, MBBS1,2,3; M. Hassan Murad, MD, MPH1,2,3 “Guideline panelists must recognize, with humility, the challenges they face in working often without access to informed patient preferences and acknowledge that their recommendations should rarely assume uniform patient values and contexts in […]

JAMA Feature: Consensus Growing On Next Steps In Sustainable Health Reform

The September 30, 2013 JAMA article, The Elusive Path to Health Care Sustainability by John C. Lewin, MD; G. Lawrence Atkins, PhD; Larry McNeely, MPA reviews various proposals with an eye toward consensus building. They say: “Most significantly, the proposals reveal broad, if not always unanimous, agreement about how to advance the principles they espouse. This agreement offers the basis for crafting the […]

Steven Landers MD in JAMA: “Payment reform initiatives in the ACA offer opportunities for improving the value of home health care.”

“Payment reform initiatives in the ACA offer opportunities for improving the value of home health care. These include independence at home programs, accountable care organizations, bundled payments, patient-centered medical homes, and readmission reduction initiatives. These approaches incentivize physicians and hospitals to partner with HHAs to avoid unnecessary hospitalization and institutionalization while also avoiding marginal HHA […]

King, Obama and Health Care Reform: Moving From Dream To Action.

Mike Magee “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.(1) This week we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. The promise of that dream – lives lived to their fullest, with purpose, goodness, […]

Low Fat Milk And The Shifting Winds of Evidence Based Medicine.

Mike Magee Reversals in medical science are not uncommon. As new evidence emerges, old tenets are easily discharged, and new “pillars of truth” adopted. It’s a necessary process, but confusing both for those who deliver care and those who receive it. Nutritional science is a perfect example of the phenomenon. Back in 1995, excess fat […]

« go back — keep looking »