Now, every hospital in the country challenges the OIG’s statement and many will insist that patients are not harmed in their facilities. They would have you believe that all the bad happens at some 16-bed first aid station atop Mt. Hood. However, the OIG made no such distinction. I will restate: 1 in 3 patients who enter a US hospital is harmed by the care they receive. More than 1000 of them a day are killed by that care.

For further reading on the failure to report adverse events, I refer you to this report by the IOG released last month.

However, this morning I discovered this story in my stack of asthma/COPD material; it was published today in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and was written by Jennifer Robison. I read it three times to make sure I didn’t misunderstand. Anthem Blue Cross in Nevada actually wants Primary Care Physicians to play a larger role in the care of patients with chonic conditions such as asthma, COPD, diabetes and heart disease. And, get this, they’re actually going to pay physicians for the additional time spent to provide preventative care.

Have you any idea how big this is? Patient care in the US is in the sorry shape its in today largely because physicians are only compensated for core services provided to patients. That’s why you see a PA instead of your doctor on most visits. That’s why you have to speak with the speed of an auctioneer when you do get 2 minutes of his/her precious doctor time. Physicians today are moving patients through their offices in rapic assembly-line fashion just to make the overhead.

Anthem Blue Cross has finally figured out that it is actually less expensive to pay primary care physicians to do things like go over a treatment plan with an asthma patient, or make follow up phone calls to check on medication compliance. This personal preventative care costs Anthem far less money than repeated hospitalizations for uncontrolled chronic disease.

I would love to meet The Mind at Anthem who made this discovery and pushed it past the corporate minions to make it reality. Let us hope this common sense policy change is repeated by many more insurance companies across the land – and quickly.  Its a win for patients and physicians.

As you may remember, last fall HealthCare PSI launched its first patient advocacy program aimed at addressing the runaway problem of asthma and other breathing disorders in children. The project is called PEAK 4 Kids™ and we began introducing it to K-12 schools in late November.   To date, 17 public schools in Missouri are enrolled in the program – some 9,000 children ages 5 – 18. (And now you know why the posts suddenly stopped in mid-November!) We provide staff training for the  detection & screening of symptoms, continuing education, treatment referral and longterm support.

Our program focus is on rural and underserved communities in the US, and on cities with fewer than 300,000 residents.  These populations are largely overlooked by government-funded health programs. And, unlike grants, we are not coming to town to conduct research – our goal is to form knowledgeable teams of people in each community to effectively tackle their own local respiratory health issues.

The US spends $56 billion annually to treat asthma – yet half of all patients fail to get effective care from their physicians. Instead, far too many are inappropriately given antibiotics. This physician behavior is throwing gasoline on the Antibiotic Overuse Bonfire, which has been blazing out of control for so long now that it has become of major concern to the CDC.

PEAK 4 Kids™ is funded by corporate partners who share our commitment to good respiratory health. And I am happy to announce that last week, we formed a new alliance that allows us to expand our program to include respiratory health screening and  education for adults, too. The national COPD Foundation in Washington, D.C. is graciously supplying us with all the materials needed to educate parents, faculty and staff about COPD.

Unimpeded breathing is essential to every function in our daily lives. Diminished respiratory health also diminishes the quality of life itself and leads to nothing but limitations and unrealized potential.  We aim to change that.

Our goal for 2012 is to introduce PEAK 4 Kids™ to 100 schools throughout Missouri, and expand into Southern Illinois school districts. This is an aggresive, but doable goal. We welcome collaborations with other groups working in this field and with companies interested in supporting the work.

This year there may be fewer posts here – but check our Twitter feed for headlines concerning patient care. And I’ll probably post a rant or two when news warrents. Be assured – there is no loss of interest in patient advocacy. My work has shifted away from the keyboard and into the field.

As always, you are welcome to contact me with comments, questions and other inquiries. I look forward to hearing from you.

May 2012 Be Your Brightest Yet

DK

We’re talking broad-spectrum antibiotics here, drugs that save lives and work miracles when they’re properly used. But they’re not harmless and they shouldn’t be doled out like Pez. Antibiotics kills the good with the bad – and they’ve been linked to childhood asthma and, most recently, the obesity epidemic in our kids.

We’ve made progress toward removing antibiotics from our beef and dairy cattle, chickens, and other elements of our food chain. Our farmers got the message and responded,  but our nation’s doctors haven’t.

Here’s the link to today’s story: Inspector General: Never Events Go Unreported.

Be on the lookout for checks arriving via overnight courrier, bearing the name Purvin & Gertz. I issued the press release below and sent it to various news outlets.

PRESS RELEASE – MO Charity Receives Fraudulent Donation

UPDATE February 15, 2012: We finally discovered the identity of the fraudulent Mystery Donor. Apparently, HealthCare PSI caught the attention of Anonymous, the infamous organization which engages in “hacktivism.” They were engaged in giving big Texas oil a lesson in philanthropy when we received our “donation.” I’m flattered we made it on Anonymous’ radar as a deserving charity… I think. Wish the money had been real. Just thought you’d like to know.