When people are anticipating a possible diagnosis of cancer, or receive one, the internal clock begins to tick. This is a concept that can be difficult for physicians and other clinicians to grasp. This is one thing that I have been acutely aware of since my own clinical rotations. I saw time and time again people and families having to wait to find out news, sometimes it was good, other times it was bad, but...
Today is Friday, the 4th of October. Spoke to my mother this morning and she said that my father is feeling a bit better. Apparently on Thursday he didn't sleep well, he had to take pain medication twice, and pain upon urination. On Tuesday morning my father went in for a stent placement. Typically the urologist will place a mesh like stent, but in my father's case they place a metallic spring like coil as a...
In my previous post I discussed the fact that an ultrasound was being scheduled for my father. It took the hospital 5 business days to schedule my father for his appointment. Well, that happened last Friday. What was found on ultrasound was a mass just under the spleen. I spoke to his primary care physician. (after filling out the appropriate release forms) I also spoke to the physician and set my expectations. We are not going...
Last night I gave my father a call to check in and see how he is doing. My dad is in really good health, retired, and about to turn 69 this year. I typically speak to him once a week, and usually see him about the same. However this week due to work, managing global calls, it slipped and didn't get my chance to check in. When he answered the phone I immediately knew something was...
In the last few weeks I have been reading a lot of articles on technology, healthcare, business, marketing, and design. There has been the announcement of the new iPhone, the Xbox One & Kinect, a disruptive lab company offering precise testing to patients/providers for 50% of a typical blood lab draw, and the ongoing political babble of Obamacare, or as the more educated like to say, The Affordable Care Act. In all of the various media...
A big concern for cancer patients, consumers, and anyone ever having to seek medical intervention or care is the amount we pay for it. There is a lot of "fluff" in the media today about Obamacare, Employers, Healthcare Reform, Emergency Room visits, and many other things that all are effectively working to potentially drive up the cost of care. However, I want to point out a real life example, in the highly competitive landscape of Pittsburgh,...
A new article was published in the current issue of JAMA Pediatrics. (Abstract here) It was a retrospective look at children under the age of 15 who were administered a CT Scan from 1996 to 2010including just over 4.8M child years of observation. The researchers used The Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation II Report for most major cancers that was published by the National Cancer Institute. (Find it here: NCI) The researchers were able to conduct...
This was a recent commentary I made in the Evening Standard...
There was a post today on twitter from @HCDMagazine in regards to the $200M Proton Cancer Center that Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute broke ground on today. It will be 100,ooo+ sq ft facility with at least 5 treatment rooms and can accommodate about 2200 cancer patients/year. The question I have is in regards to healthcare in general. If we are moving from a world of fee for service (pay per click) towards a world...
There has been a lot of articles and attention as of late in regards to the variation in hospital charge code masters. There was a great graphic in the New York Times that allows one to click and drill down to anyplace in the U.S. to see what hospitals are charging Medicare (CMS) and the reimbursement paid to the facility. From this point you have the ability to see the hospitals in that given area, can...