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February 2, 2009 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's Column: Health Care: Right Or Privilege?
Response: The Debate Is Not So Simple
Doctor And Senator Tom George Ponders
Gubernatorial Run
Dr. Wozniak Named To Karmanos Education Post
WSUSOM Dean, Faculty Member To Appear In Web
Course
Several SE Michigan, Detroit Hospitals Among Top
In Nation
HFHS Physician Named To National Committee On
Electronic Data
MSMS Connect Is Live: Try A Demo |
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Click Here To Contact Us
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Editor's Column: Health Care: Right
Or Privilege?
By JOSEPH WEISS, MD
Physicians should no longer waste time listening to or taking part
in debates on whether health care is a right or a privilege. What
the constitution states or does not state on the matter has no
bearing.
Access to health care as a right has becomes a part of the
fabric of this nation. People believe that health care is a right.
When the marketplace fails to offer adequate health care insurance,
the populace turns to its elected representatives to do what is
needed to fulfill expectations.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
will fail in its campaign to stop Congress from enacting health care
“reform.” The AAPS is correct when it calls for vigorous and
vigilant lobbying. Congress needs careful scrutinizing to prevent
new legislation that, like the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR)
formula, can prove to be a catastrophe for physicians.
However, the AAPS rails against the very idea that
government should intervene in health care; AAPS believes Medicare
represents a takeover of health by the government, and urges a
physician revolt by mass refusal to accept Medicare as a payer.
Refusing to acknowledge Medicare is not good policy by
physicians. The American public embraces Medicare as a way to obtain
the health care people believe is their right. Where physicians need
to put money and time is into seeking changes in programs such as
the Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) to make
government administration sensible to both government and
physicians.
The medical community should seek to modify excesses of
government participation in health care. However, to expect a
complete end to the presence of government funding and regulation is
a bad read of the American public’s concern on health care for
others and their conception of health care due for themselves.
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Response: The Debate
Is Not So Simple
By SUSAN
ADELMAN, MD
I agree that the AAPS is wrong to try to oppose any health care
reform. The question of whether health care is a right has always
been approached in too simplistic a manner, however. There is a big
difference between the easy to agree upon position that access to
vaccinations must be a right and the question of whether or not hair
transplants are a right. When you try to tease apart the components
of health care, it all becomes murky. Is health care a right for
illegal immigrants? For the rest of the population, what about sex
change operations, Viagra, cosmetic surgery? What about the right
for the elderly to have joint replacements when medical treatments
achieve some palliative benefit?
There is a danger in quickly agreeing that health care is a right,
and that it is the responsibility of the government Then the
government, as it does in Britain, begins to ration care, claiming
that there is not enough money to pay for everything for everyone.
That is how Britain got age limits on eligibility for organ
transplants and coronary bypass surgery. Suddenly the right to these
procedures has a limit.
Who do we want to decide on which patients have which rights? Is it
the government, or doctors plus their patients? Should rich elderly
who can pay for these procedures, be similarly limited? They will
simply travel to Singapore or India, of course, to get their
surgery. Poor people of course cannot do this. Does the government
have the right to thus discriminate against them? Or do rich people
not have the right to travel abroad for health care?
Do patients have a right to obtain care without long waits? Do they
have a right to choose their doctors? Do they have a right to an MRI
when an X-ray will diagnose their condition 70 percent of the time,
or 85 percent of the time? Think about it. It is not so simple.
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Doctor And Senator
Tom George Ponders Gubernatorial Run
State Sen. Tom
George (R-Kalamazoo) on Jan. 26 announced he is considering a run
for Michigan’s top elected office, according to published reports.
Dr. George would
join a quickly crowding field to replace term-limited Jennifer
Granholm in 2010. A partial list of those who are considering
throwing their hats I the ring includes state Attorney General Mike
Cox, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Lt. Gov. John
Cherry and Michigan State University Trustee George Perles.
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Dr. Wozniak Named
To Karmanos Education Post
The Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Center has announced that Antoinette Wozniak, MD,
professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hematology and
Oncology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been
named associate center director for Education.
This newly
created position will provide oversight to the Graduate Medical
Education Program for residents and fellows, as well as provide
oversight to the various medical and graduate student educational
programs at Karmanos and the Wayne State University School of
Medicine.
Dr. Wozniak has
extensive experience in educational programming, having served as
the leader of Karmanos’ Medical Oncology Fellowship Program for many
years. She is also president of Karmanos’ Medical Staff.
Due to her new
position, Dr. Wozniak will step down as leader of the Thoracic
Multidisciplinary Team.
Replacing Dr.
Wozniak as the Thoracic Team leader is Shirish Gadgeel, MD,
associate professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of
Hematology and Oncology for the School of Medicine.
Dr. Gadgeel
completed his residency at Wayne State University in 1996 and was
named the outstanding fellow in the division of Hematology and
Oncology in 1997.
Cassann Blake, MD, MPH, was named team leader of the Breast
Multidisciplinary Team, and Zeina Nahleh, MD, was named co-leader.
An assistant
professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine, Dr. Blake joined
Karmanos in 2002 and is co-director of the Walt Comprehensive Breast
Center.
Dr. Nahleh, an
assistant professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of
Hematology and Oncology at the School of Medicine, joined the
Karmanos Cancer Center in 2007. She is active in clinical research
and teaching.
All are members
of the Wayne State University Physician Group.
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WSUSOM Dean, Faculty Member To Appear
In Web Course
Two faculty
members of the Wayne State University School of Medicine took part
in creating a web course that will be viewed worldwide by
cardiothoracic surgeons treating patients with antiplatelet
therapies.
Robert M. Mentzer
Jr., MD, dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the
president for medical affairs; and Salik A. Jahania, MD, associate
professor of Surgery and associate program director of the
Cardiothoracic Residency, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery,
collaborated in the webcasting of “The Impact of Antiplatelet
Therapy in Cardiac Surgery: Current Practices, Conundrums and
Controversies.” Dr. Jahania presented for the course, filling in for
Dean Mentzer, who was suffering a bout of laryngitis at the time of
taping. Dean Mentzer developed content for the course.
“The Web will be
used more and more by physicians to share information,” Dean Mentzer
said. “It’s a tool that doctors are tapping into more frequently,
and it definitely helps provide a venue through which physicians can
update their information and skills without having to incur the
costs of travel for traditional seminars and courses.”
The course
acknowledged that the benefits of dual antiplatelet therapy in
patients with acute coronary syndrome prior to coronary angiography
are proven, and discussed the risks of excess bleeding should these
patients require coronary artery bypass grafts. The course covered
current guidelines to minimize bleeding risk in these patients.
“The Web has been
increasingly seen as the favored portal for medical professionals
worldwide to seek up-to-date medical information at the convenience
of their time and place,” Dr. Jahania said. “It is used as a lecture
tool, and a lot of colleges and residency programs routinely use the
webcasts at their weekly conferences instead of actual invited
speakers to disseminate medical information.”
Dr. Jahania said
that while he has not previously participated in the taping of such
courses, he is interested in utilizing the Web as a medium for
education. “I have thought about using the Web to teach overseas
medical students as part of an outreach effort,” he said.
Robert W. Emery,
MD, editor in chief of the Journal of Heart Valve Disease and
director of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery at St. Joseph’s
Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., served as course moderator. In addition
to Dr. Jahania, the other presenter is Christopher P. Cannon, M.D.,
F.A.C.C., senior investigator of the TIMI Study Group at Brigham and
Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.
The course was
developed under the auspices of the Potomac Center for Medical
Education, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education. The course will be available for
viewing through Dec. 30, 2009, and can be viewed by registering at
http://www.potomacme.org/index.php/online/cabg-2008/.
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Several SE
Michigan, Detroit Hospitals Among Top In Nation
Fourteen Michigan
hospitals are ranked among the top 5 percent in the nation for
clinical quality, according to an item appearing on the Detroit
Medical Center website.
Overall, 270
hospitals across the U.S. earned the 2009 Distinguished Hospital
Award for Clinical Excellence presented by the health-care rating
organization
HealthGrades.
"The hospitals
that have been designated as Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical
Excellence have, across the board, been leaders in their commitment
to delivering the highest quality patient care," HealthGrades senior
physician consultant Rick May said. "Consumers can choose where they
receive their health care and our study again highlights the
tremendous disparity in quality between hospitals."
Michigan hospitals
recognized were:
• Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo
• Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc
• Hackley Hospital, Muskegon
• Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, Clinton Township, including Community
Hospital Foundation in Almont
• Huron Valley Sinai Hospital, Commerce Township
• McLaren Regional Medical Center, Flint
• Munson Medical Center, Traverse City
• Providence Hospital, Southfield
• Saint Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia
• Sinai Grace Hospital, Detroit
• Spectrum Health Hospitals, Grand Rapids
• William Beaumont Hospital-Royal Oak
• William Beaumont Hospital-Troy
Using data from
Medicare cases, HealthGrades rated hospitals based on 26 procedures
and diagnoses.
The winning
hospitals collectively had a 27 percent lower risk-adjusted
mortality rate and an 8 percent lower risk-adjusted inpatient
complication rate for Medicare patients. If all hospitals met the
performance of the HealthGrades winners, 152,666 lives would have
been saved between 2005 and 2007.
(Courtesy
Mark Sanchez of the Business Review Western Michigan)
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HFHS Physician
Named To National Committee On Electronic Data
Kathleen L.
Yaremchuk, MD, chair of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry
Ford Hospital, has been appointed to serve as a member of the
National Quality Forum's Steering Committee for a project seeking to
identify top ambulatory care practices using electronic clinical
data.
The project will
study quality measures for ambulatory care based on administrative
data, enriched by laboratory and pharmacy data and other electronic
clinical data.
The goal of the
NQF project is to provide additional tools for purchasers, health
plans, consumers, clinicians and other stakeholders working to
create more feasible approaches to ongoing performance measurement
and quality improvement. Funding for this project has been provided
by Aetna Foundation, United Health Foundation, Cigna Foundation,
Wellpoint Foundation and the Pacific Business Group on Health.
Dr. Yaremchuk is
a national expert in quality and managed care. She is a surveyor for
the National Committee for Quality Assurance of Health Care
Organizations and sits on its Review Oversight Committee. She has
led Henry Ford Medical Group in national and regional
pay-for-performance initiatives and organized HFMG's efforts in HMO
contracting and performance management. She also pioneered the HFHS
vendor policy, which has been adopted by many organizations
nationally.
In her surgical
specialty, Dr. Yaremchuk has achieved subspecialty certification in
Sleep Medicine and has been awarded leadership roles in national
professional societies and journal editorial boards.
The NQF is a
not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and
implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement
and reporting. A shared sense of urgency about the impact of health
care quality on patient outcomes, workforce productivity, and health
care costs prompted leaders in the public and private sectors to
create the NQF as a mechanism to bring about national change. To
learn more, visit www.qualityforum.org.
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MSMS Connect Is
Live: Try A Demo
MSMS has
established a statewide, physician-sponsored electronic portal
called MSMS Connect. The basic portal is a free benefit to MSMS
members that securely connects physicians to patient information,
each other (for referrals and consultations), labs, patient
registries, and other resources – all through a convenient single
sign-on. It will expand to connect to insurance companies, state
agencies, other medical practice management resources, and other
networks. Organizations interested in linking from the portal may
contact MSMS at 517-324-2518 for information. Also, if you belong to
a physician organization (PO), you may wish to explore whether your
PO provides further discounts on portal services. View training
sessions schedule, an online demo, and read FAQs at
www.msms.org/msmsconnect.
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