Improving Patient Communications

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Managed Care Ethical Considerations

By Render S. Davis; MHA, CHE

In contemporary medicine, and managed care, ethical dilemmas in communications are increasingly common and may come in many different forms. For example:
  • Physician’s failing to communicate necessary clinical information to patients in terms and language the patients can truly understand;
  • Physicians’ offering only limited treatment choices to patients because alternatives may not be covered by the patient’s insurance plan;
  • Failures to disclose financial incentives and other payment arrangements that may influence the physician’s treatment recommendations;
  • Time constraints that limit opportunities for in-depth discussions between patients and their doctors; and,
  • The lack of a continuing relationship between the patient and physician that would foster open communications; etc.             

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Assessment

Most so-called “gag clauses,” implemented by some managed care organizations to prohibit physicians from informing their patients about non-covered treatment alternatives have been declared illegal in most states. Nevertheless, does the physician’s duty to be fully truthful and informative in patient communications, remain under suspicion? Please opine with your experiences and how we might improve.    

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Conclusion

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

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CMS Shells Out to Compare Hospitals

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“You show me – I’ll show you”

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] just launched an advertising campaign to demonstrate how some patients get needed help … and how other hospitals give surgical patients antibiotics! Say what?

Site Traffic Quadruples

Yep! All told, the ads include more than 2,500 hospitals, according to the Associated Press. Of course, in true advertising fashion, the CMS wants patients to be intrigued enough by the marketing “teasers” to visit www.HospitalCompare.com when considering what hospitals to … and they used the word … “patronize.”

Publicity over changes made to the site in March 2008 helped quadruple traffic.

A Questionable Start

Reviewers and critics hale Hospital Compare with a solid enough start, but it still lacks real “quality outcome” measures.

Instead, the site measures procedures, or how well the facility follows standard guidelines. The site’s only mortality gauge for example – for heart attack and heart failure – lumps virtually all hospitals into the “normal” category, with just a handful ranked above or below them.

But, they are expected to show statewide averages for those benchmarks, sometime soon.

The Site

Hopefully, the site will begin to demonstrate the type of medical care quality review, severity rating adjustments and proper drill-down analysis that readers of the Medical Executive-Post have come to expect from the likes of our section-editor, the luminous Dr. Brent A. Metfessel MS, CMP™ (Hon). Until then, it may just be the best available information for now. And, can a Doctor Compare service be next? 

Assessment

Do you expect this type of hospital specific – and more general medical practice and industry – healthcare transparency to continue? Is it a help to patients – and providers – or just more marketing obfuscation [like being Valedictorian in your DUI school class]? Please opine.

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

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