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Allegedly Stoops to “Name-Calling”

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

According to the Wall Street Journal Health Blog, Jonathan Leo, a professor of neuro-anatomy from a small university in Tennessee, critiqued a study published in the Journal of the America Medical Association [JAMA], and pointed out an association between the study’s author and a pharmaceutical company. He posted his thoughts on the website of the British Medical Journal [BMJ].

JAMA Responds

According to the report, a none-too-happy Leo then received calls from JAMA’s executive deputy editor, one Mr. Phil Fontanarosa. And surprisingly, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, MD got involved by asking Leo’s superiors to retract his post from the BMJ’s site. Sound familiar ME-P readers? According to Keven Pho MD, the WSJ called Dr. DeAngelis for comment, and this is how the interview allegedly went:

“This guy is a nobody and a nothing.”

She said of Leo.

“He is trying to make a name for himself. Please call me about something important.”

She added that Leo

“Should be spending time with his students instead of doing this.”

When asked if she called his superiors and what she said to them, DeAngelis supposedly said,

“It is none of your business.”

Environmental Scanning

One can only wonder if the AMA has adopted the strategy of former CDC Director Julie Gerberding, of Atlanta, GA. Local gossip suggests that one initiative under her noxious leadership was her so-called policy on “environment-scanning” or, monitoring the news-media, internet space, blogs, wikis and other venues to identify “emerging threats to the agencies” reputation.” WOWSA!

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/goodbye-julie-gerberding-md/

An Alternative Theory

My alternative opinion is the AMA might be taking censorship lessons from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico [BCBSNM], and its’ public-relations representative and former reporter, Ross Blackstone of the Health Care Service Corporation [Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas].

Monitoring the ME-P?

Or, perhaps they are reading [Think: monitoring] this Medical Executive-Post itself? They may even be teaming up with Becky Kenny [media relations specialist with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico] who goaded [threatened?] the trade magazine ModernHealthcare. As ME-P readers know, ModernHealthcare is an advertiser-driven media outlet that removed a perfectly acceptable post of diverging eHR opinion from its blogsite?

Industry Shame

Such acquiescence is both a sign of shameful health insurance industry [BCBSNM] heavy-handedness, and poor journalistic ethos from ModernHealthcare’s leadership. The BCBSNM public relations hacks, and media representatives, also appear as clueless shills who are no-doubt glad they are employed in these troubling economic times.

In other words, do they do what they are told? Jump Rover! Fetch Fido; etc! Or; are they more like the innocent child who spills grape juice on a white carpet? Let’s simply forgive them for their brainless duplicity. Yet, MH capitulated; how unfortunate!

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/don%e2%80%99t-rush-ehrs/

Doctors Censoring Patients [The Retro-Evolution]

By the way:

“What’s up with all this censoring?

The Internet has been publically available to the masses since 1995, and I was using electronic bulletin boards [eBBs] years before then. The next thing you know, doctors will start trying to censor the opinion of their patients, much like customers rate restaurants.

Ops! My bad! This has already occurred. Sorry!

The ironic thing here is that patients don’t know about quality care. But, they do know if they’ve been kept too long in the waiting room; or, if the doctor’s office staff was surly; or, if the doctor had a miserable bedside manner. So, the doctors are really being rated on their personality; not their medical acumen. I pity the fools. These medical guys, and healthcare guru gals, just don’t seem to realize that “perception is reality.”  But, they sure feign outrage at poor patient reviews.

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/doctors-censoring-patients/

Assessment

From my perspective, this is another public-relations disaster for JAMA, and especially Dr. DeAngelis, who must have known she was on the record with a national newspaper. After all, she is the editor of JAMA. Maybe not however, as we have previously opined that professional experts are not necessarily professional journalists.

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/healthcare-experts-versus-health-journalists

Of Cover-Ups and Crimes

“But, one must still wonder aloud; is this cover-up becoming worse than the proverbial crime?”

Resorting to personal attacks is somewhat unbecoming of the editor-in-chief of a prestigious medical journal, and reflects poorly on JAMA; don’t you think? Then again, JAMA and the AMA itself, is not as prestigious as it once was; is it?

In fact, when I asked ME-P managing-editor and Professor of Health Administration, Hope Rachel Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ to opine on admitted third-party limited information; she graciously replied with the utmost gentleness:

“With less than 25% of the nation’s MDs in the AMA; JAMA is probably still somewhat prestigious to those who don’t know any better; but many of us do know better. The older generation just needs some-time to catch up to modernity, and transparency – or resign. The top-down and command-control model of leadership is long gone – please be patient with them.”

Link: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Link: www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Should Catherine DeAngelis MD resign over this incident? Please criticize or defend her actions. Is healthcare industry censorship on the rise – or is the industry just following-the-money? What do you think of ModernHealthcare or BCBSNM?

Is personal integrity – or scrutiny – the reason Joseph Biederman MD [Harvard’s controversial chief of pediatric psychopharmacology] ended his ties to the pharmaceutical industry recently for diagnosing bipolar disorder in children [as well as for the nature of big-pharma’s support behind his research]? Please opine.

Industry Indignation Index: 63

Disclaimer: I am not a member of the AMA. But, for a decade I was on the editorial staff of both a leading national medical, and surgical journal, back-in-the-day. I am currently the Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies] a 1,200 page, quarterly premium print-journal, available on a subscription basis.

Link: www.HealthcareFinancials.com

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

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Filed under: Breaking News, Career Development, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, iMBA, Inc., Industry Indignation Index, Media Mentions and PR, Op-Editorials, Professional Liability, Quality Initiatives | Tagged: AMA, american medical association, BCBSNM, becky kenny, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois New Mexico Oklahoma and Texas, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, BMJ, British Medical Journal, Catherine DeAngelis, CDC, censors, censorship, david marcinko, EHRs, Harvard, Health Care Service Corporation, hope hetico, JAMA, Jonathan Leo, Joseph Biederman, journal of the american medical association, Julie Gerberding, kevin pho, medical censorhsip, Modern Healthcare, ModernHealthcare, pediatric psychopharmacology, Phil Fontanarosa, Ross Blackstone, wall street journal health blog | 18 Comments »