Health

Haggling With Doctors: Lower the Cost of Your Medical Bills

by

Consumer Reports has recently put out an article by John Santa M.D., M.P.H. titled “How to haggle with your doctor” published in September 2011 and located at http://www.consumerreports.org/health/doctors-hospitals/how-to-haggle-with-your-doctor/overview/index.htm The article recommends that if you are healthy you talk to your doctor about costs. Dr. Santa touches on the fact that some doctors will pursue more aggressive treatment options due to perhaps financial motivations and because of fear of being sued. There is a focus on looking over your hospital bill to make sure everything you were billed for was done and priced properly and inspect for any possible errors. In addition, Dr. Santa recommends that if you are having an elective procedure that you take time to conduct a lot of research on different providers and options that may be available. Dr. Santa went on the NBC Today Show recently in … Read more

Professionalism of Medicine in the 21st Century

by

An article is titled Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: A Physician Charter in the Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 136, no. 3, pages 243-246, February 5, 2002, http://www.annals.org/content/136/3/243.full?ijkey=49cf14ffb35a6afdba3a14871f01fb39ad23066f&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha In the second paragraph appears the words: “…conditions of medical practice are tempting physicians to abandon their commitment to the primacy of patient welfare” The article then goes on to discuses a preamble “Professionalism is the basis of medicine’s contract with society. It demands placing the interests of patients above those of the physician, setting and maintaining standards of competence and integrity, and providing expert advice to society on matters of health. The principles and responsibilities of medical professionalism must be clearly understood by both the profession and society. Essential to this contract is public trust in physicians, which depends on the integrity of both individual physicians and the whole profession.” The … Read more

ADA Straight From the Mouth

by

The ADA (American Dental Association) has a video podcast series called Straight from the Mouth. The second video is titled “Overcoming Dental Anxiety.” http://ada.org/straightfromthemouth.aspx The press release from the ADA on this podcast was posted in September 28, 2009. http://ada.org/3241.aspx. However, it still says on the Straight from the Mouth Video Podcast that many other videos are coming soon. It seems like the ADA may have decided not to have these podcasts come out or they just haven’t posted them. If anyone has any information let me know. The podcast is hosted by two dentists Ruchi Nijjar Sahota and Eric Grove. It seems appropriate to younger audiences and is upbeat. The video is important for many of those who suffer from dental anxiety. It discusses needles, drills, and water used for dental procedures. Needles of course are used to anesthetize … Read more

The Hope, Inspiration, and Beauty of the World: Eat, Learn, Move

by

In these times of economic stress and uncertainty due to the now latest S&P downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, let’s remember to see all that is good in the world and be happy and inspired. Below are three amazing short times by Rick Mereki on behalf of STA Travel Australia. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings. -Franklin D. Roosevelt The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them. -Abraham Lincoln

Why People Who Google and Search Online For Health Information Just Don’t Get It

by

I find the current state of affairs on the internet to be extremely disappointing and discouraging. Recent research by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) “…found that 80% of Internet users look online for health information, making it the third most popular online pursuit among all those tracked by the Pew Internet Project, following email and using a search engine.” The instance a person goes on the internet they are bombarded by conflict of interest after conflict of interest. Many young people today turn to Google to conduct searches to find information online (of course other search engines such as Bing exist). The way search works of course is to enter some keyword or keywords you have in your mind about what you want to search for.  Well this is when … Read more