Essay Contest Finalists!
On Labor Day we asked doctors and patients to send us anecdotes that illustrate the importance of cost-awareness in medicine. What was in it for them? A chance to shine a national spotlight on a big problem: doctors and patients have to make decisions in a vacuum, without any information on how those decisions impact what patients pay for care. Also in it for them was a chance to win one of two $1000 prizes. The launch of the contest was covered in newspapers, radio, TV and dozens of blogs.Two months later we received 115 submissions from all over the country - New York to...
Read MoreCosts of Care Essay Contest!
On September 7, 2010 Costs of Care launched a national essay contest, with $1000 prizes for the best anecdotes from patients and clinicians illustrating the importance of cost-awareness in medical decision-making. We have a great line-up of high-profile judges. Details available atwww.costsofcare.org/essay Gov. Michael Dukakis, former Democratic nominee for President of the United States Tim Johnson, Chief Medical Correspondent of ABC News Atul Gawande, surgeon and New Yorker staff writer Jeffrey Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School Gov. Michael Leavitt, former United States Secretary of...
Read MoreCaveats to “letting go”
A recent NYTimes article comes at the heels of Dr. Gawande’s compelling essay on end of life care. The matter at hand is that legislators are realizing the economic value of palliative care options for terminally ill patients. Recently, Gov. David A. Paterson signed into law a bill — the New York Palliative Care Information Act — requiring physicians who treat patients with a terminal illness to have frank discussions about prognosis and options for end-of-life care, including aggressive pain management and hospice care as well as the possibilities for further life-sustaining...
Read MoreDoctors and the Costs of Care
A recent New Yorker article described a small border town in Texas with the most expensive healthcare in the United States. The author, Atul Gawande, investigated what led to such high costs in such an unlikely place. The answer was surprisingly simple: doctors in McAllen, Texas, have the most incentives to order unnecessary tests and treatments for their patients. Unfortunately, researchers at Dartmouth have demonstrated that the problem in McAllen is pervasive throughout the country–a fact that has not escaped the Obama administration. In fact, Atul Gawande’s article has...
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