The good news is that most patients, 60 percent in fact, felt appropriately “connected” to their primary care physician.

However, that leaves a significant 40 percent who were not.

According to a recent study, patients who were not connected were less likely to received recommended preventive care and other screening tests.

Which all comes as no surprise. Not only is it increasingly difficult to find a new primary Read more »

What if a retired physician, Harvard-trained no less, wanted to give away medical care?

You’d think the huge demand would make it easier for him to accomplish this, but that’s not the case.

When funding dried up for New York physician Lloyd Hamilton’s free care clinic, he wanted to continue serving the same patients, even depriving himself of a salary. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so easy, as appeals to charities and community organizations Read more »

A family physician chronicles his journey from an HMO to urgent care to practicing outside of the insurance system.

Steve Simmons notes that doctors out of residency rarely have any training in the business of medicine, including the all-important skill of coding.

“I needed to learn this ‘skill’ on the fly,” observes Dr. Simmons, “using a code book to translate each medical diagnosis into a five digit number, with an additional Read more »

That’s a question this case in the UK is trying the answer.

As Dr. Crippen, the crusty blogger who notes the inanities of the UK medical system, notes, extra-martial affairs are commonplace.

But should a physician be censured, effectively ending his medical career, for having a dangerous liaison?

“If every man and women in Britain who had an extra-marital affair were to be prevented from working,” writes Dr. Crippen, Read more »

The new 24-member council will vote amongst themselves for a successor to GMC chairman Sir Graeme Catto who steps down in June.

The 150-year-old medical regulatory body has never been led by anyone other than a qualified doctor.
12 GMC members are laymen and 11 are doctors.

Dr Brian Keighley, former GMC member and chairman of the BMA’s working party on the GMC, said: ‘The GMC has become increasingly good Read more »

13 percent of patients lie to their doctors, and almost a third “stretch the truth.”

Chances are most doctors can see through the lies, and in cases like cigarettes or number of sexual partners, physicians already double or triple the numbers patients say anyways.

Why do patients lie? Reasons include “fear of judgment, the desire to appear to be a good patient, a lack of understanding about why certain questions may be asked, Read more »

An interesting question.

Amy Tuteur asks this question at a dinner party, and it elicits a whole host of responses. If a patient asks directly, the answer is easy. But what if the patient doesn’t ask? Is there an ethical requirement to disclose another physician’s error?

My first reaction, along with Dr. Tuteur’s, would be full disclosure, meaning that the patient should know everything that any doctor would want to know in Read more »

Public reporting and transparency are frequent buzzwords in this consumer-directed era of patient care.

Bob Wachter wonders why patients aren’t using the data that’s already out there, as a recent study showed that most patients use word-of-mouth when choosing a doctor.

Is it because of technical limitations of websites, or something “more fundamental,” Dr Wachter asks.

I still think it’s the lack of awareness. A Read more »

A scathing critique of these doctor rating sites show that physicians have very little to worry about.

A doctor writes in Slate (via the ACP Internist) about how he tried his best to find usable ratings about himself and colleagues and comes up with a “shocking lack of useful information.”

The sites were inundated with ads, promoting “cheap generic Viagra [and] fantasy football leagues,” amongst others. Reading Read more »

Three sobering examples from Health Beat, detailing instances were doctors either left primary care or chose another field.

The majority of medical school training is anchored in specialty training. Students are not exposed to a primary care ideal, leaving them with a negative impression. Why would they go into primary care, where students “simply can’t get their bearings; so they abandon the field,” because of the “frenetic pace” of Read more »