In America, there is medicine to treat the common cold, regulate diabetes, lower blood pressure and even help cure cancer. But pharmaceutical drugs do Americans little good if they can’t afford them.
Today, 67 percent of Americans are worried about unexpected medical bills and 37 percent are very worried. What some people may not know is that surprise billing is usually the result of a breakdown in negotiations between providers and insurers on how much to pay for these services.
Healthcare is changing dramatically, and not just for patients. The nature of physician employment, too, is undergoing disruption. More and more, physicians who remain independent are banding together under a management services organization (MSO), a legal entity that allows physician practices to share resources, limit risk and gain the necessary efficiencies to compete in a consolidating market.
In 2009 I wrote about my first-hand frustrations as a physician with Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys. A decade on, has my hell gotten worse?
The cost of healthcare has become a hot topic in American politics in recent years, and with good reason. A recent Bankrate survey found that 22 percent of Americans are losing sleep over healthcare or insurance costs, up from 13 percent just one year ago.
After providing scant details for months, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) released the key planks of their healthcare plans in July. In it, they staked out positions differentiating themselves from other presidential primary frontrunners, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
America is a leader in many respects, but there is an alarming exception: We are the only industrialized nation on earth where the rate of mothers dying before, during and after childbirth is growing.
Over the past 20 years, America has fully embraced the technological revolution, spurring an incredible economic boom. This revolution continues to be a driving force in our economy and allows for innovation in many fields, including the healthcare industry.
Newborn screening (NBS) is one of the most impactful public health programs in the United States, especially for the neuromuscular diseases spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Pompe disease. Through newborn screening, infants born with these diseases can benefit from therapies early in life, improving their health outcomes.
Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs lasts 36 months. Once it expires, some kidney transplant patients must choose between these life-saving drugs and the necessary costs of everyday living. They also may skip doses, risk organ rejection and perhaps need expensive taxpayer-funded dialysis.