Bob Maurer, DO writes the AOA President and President-Elect
Bob and John:
One year ago, at the AOA convention, I asked to meet with Dr. Vinn to give him my perspective on the concerns of the general AOA membership. I came to him as a long time AOA member and NJAOPS leader.
He started off the conversation by calling me a bully and telling me that I do NOT
represent any AOA members. He refused to listen to any of my suggestions.
On September 14, 2014, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) released its final version of the Interstate Medical Licensing Compact. Even though this 24-page document and the FSMB’s website promote the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, the document claims “it does not necessarily reflect the views of the Federation of State Medical Boards, the Board of Directors of the Federation of State Medical Boards, or any state medical board or its members.”
Just about every good or service we buy involves bundling decisions. At MacDonald’s, for example, there is no extra charge for pickles, onions, catsup, salt and pepper. These are all included in a basic price. But there is an extra charge for a slice of cheese or an extra beef patty. Or more precisely, these extras are included in a different bundle. How did MacDonald’s decide what to bundle and how to bundle it? I have no idea. But I am very confident their judgment on how to maximize consumer satisfaction is far superior to any bureaucratic committee appointed by politicians would have been.
The same principle applies to medical care. Doctors are the only professionals in our society who are not free to repackage and re-price the services they offer to the market. Medicare, for example, has a list of about 7,500 tasks that it pays doctors to do…
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(Excerpt from LinkedIn)
How much Epic, Cerner, other vendors spent to lobby Congress
Paper files are reliable, medical legal standard and ultimately recyclable. How about your computer? They look bad and are toxic to landfills for a thousand years. Your old hard drives when discarded may still be accessible to piracy. By the way, I support your right to keep medical records in any way, shape or form that you and your patients see fit. The government HITECH HIPAA ACA/Obamacare violates my right to record keeping systems that might benefit my patients, yet force me to comply, and make me subject to penalties when the mandates system fails. #EpicFail
Craig M. Wax DO
Craig M Wax DO, Family physician and talk show host, and David Condoluci DO infectious disease specialist have a common sense plan for United States and all municipalities to prevent spread and to combat the deadly #Ebola virus.
1. Close borders to #Ebola endemic countries and their people until such time the disease is prevented or cured.
2. Do not fly planes to #Ebola endemic countries except for humanitarian drops of supplies, medicine and food. No planes landing in #Ebola endemic nations.
3. Screening at all airports for history, signs and symptoms of #Ebola disease.
4. Do teaching to all healthcare entities, physicians and nurses for prudent preventive, isolation and treatment techniques.
5. Study those patients who survived Ebola infection to determine what factors played a role in their survival and can be reproduced for #Ebola infected patients.
6. Connect and get consults of leading infectious disease physicians and nurses to develop prevention, detection and treatment standards.
7. Create and maintain situational awareness at all times especially when traveling or if a health care worker caring for patients.
8. Educate the public on all known #Ebola facts and all of the above in simple terms so they may all may act responsibly to prevent disease spread.
Best wishes for good health,
Craig M. Wax, DO
Family physician, Editorial Board of Medical Economics
Host of Your Health Matters
Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS FM
http://wgls.rowan.edu/?feed=YOUR_HEALTH_MATTERS
Twitter @drcraigwax
Exec. Dir, Independent Physicians For Patient independence @IP4PI
IP4PI.wordpress.com
According to CNN and NBC, Dr. Nancy Snyderman—pediatrician and media reporter—and crew recently returned from a reporting trip from Liberia to find their cameraman contracted Ebola. At that time, they voluntarily agreed to a CDC and New Jersey health department recommended 21-day quarantine in their homes. However, Dr. Snyderman and other members of the team violated their quarantine.
Craig M Wax, DO, family physician, talk show host, exec director of IP4PI-Independent Physicians for Patient Independence, is recommending that the NJ Board of Medical Examiners investigate removing the medical license from Dr. Nancy Snyderman, and NBC consider discharging her from her job as a medical reporter and anchor for her actions this week. Dr. Wax says, “Dr. Snyderman and her crew reportedly violated their quarantine and subjected local residents to Ebola exposure; a potentially deadly virus. She and her crew accepted the assignment willingly, understanding all of the risks. She and her crew accepted the voluntary quarantine for the good of public health and risk containment for 21 days. She then volitionally violated it at a local restaurant, possibly conferring risks to other patrons and staff. This is a violation of both her oath of Hippocrates and public health law. She should be investigated, and if the investigation determines her actions warrant it, she should lose her medical license(s) and lose her job at NBC media. She has carelessly violated the first rule in being a physician, “primum non nocere,” first, do no harm. It is sad that such an educated long time exponent of children’s health has acted this irresponsibly.”
Per Eric Shore, DO, JD, MBA: The issue is very simple and non-negotiable. Ebola is not very contagious, but highly infectious. Any actual contact MUST be considered direct contact and the individual isolated until the incubation period has passed. Dr. Snyderman knew all of this, she accepted the risk when she went to Africa, and should have accepted and abided by the quarantine as well. The probability that she would spread Ebola was very small, BUT NOT ZERO! I agree with Dr. Wax, it is an issue that the State Board or Medicine should review.
It is true that spending for the CDC has dipped ever so slightly since 2011, but the cuts followed years of massive increases. Overall, since 2000, CDC outlays have almost doubled, from $3.5 billion to $6.8 billion in 2014 constant dollars. Moreover, in January, the Republican-controlled House actually passed legislation that increased CDC spending for 2014 by $567 million — $300 million more than was requested by President Obama.
It’s not that the CDC hasn’t had money, it’s that the money has been spent on things that have little or nothing to do with the agency’s mission of protecting Americans from health threats.
As the agency’s mission statement says in part, “Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.” Seems straightforward enough. There is, after all, a…
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How effective is the Constitution if the Supreme Court itself is willing to help the President and Congress weasel their way around the constraints on federal power that the document was intended to impose?
Obamacare/ACA is a complete and utter or failure since it’s unaffordable unusable roll out. It was either cobbled together by idiots and never read by any in total, or designed to fail and roll into a government for all plan. It has never and will never solve any of the problems it was purportedly designed to. It will however continue to cause job loss and worsen the bankruptcy of our nation. Did I mention taking away your right to choose your doctor and insurance, and being denied curative and life-saving procedures by a board of politicians called IPAB?
I wish to add to the note that I blogged earlier here regarding electronic health records. I wish to emphasis the extreme dangers of such EHRs.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation incident of HIPAA violations regarding release of a patient’s confidential medical records to me when I am not the patient’s doctor, is not an isolated event. These violations happen frequently.
What I actually found out through my investigation of this incident is that the error occurred at initial intake at the hospital of concern.
IP4PI - Independent Physicians for Patient independence 