Freakonomics reports on a working paper titled “Demanding Customers: Consumerist Patients and Quality of Care” by Hai Fang, Nolan H. Miller, John A. Rizzo, and Richard J. Zeckhauser by asking:

But surely it’s in everyone’s best interest for patients to stay informed, right? For patients to do their own research, to ask lots of questions — especially of their own doctors — and so forth, right? Right?

From the paper:

Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources apart from their physicians, such as the Internet and direct-to-patient advertising. Consumerism has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Consumerist patients place additional demands on their doctors’ time, thus imposing a negative externality on other patients.

Hmm.  I don’t see the informed patient caring much about additional demands on doctors’ time.  I also don’t see patients asking fewer questions in order to speed more people through the system.  The reality of health care today is that it is a partnership.  It may not be the most efficient model, but it is one with which many are growing more comfortable.

Sad, but true: one of the most visited posts on this blog is Billy Mays’ foray into hawking health insurance.

Jessica Hagy’s Indexed provides wit related to the above (and a much better attempt at humorizing it).  More often than not, my thoughts on her wonderful work manifest into some variation of “Huh, so true.”

Great story from the USA Today on efforts by Banner Page Hospital in Arizona to introduce culturally competent care for Native Americans.  The blending of cultural traditions and modern medicine can be a difficult task—for patients and caregivers alike.

From the Associated Press:

As the country’s ethnic profile diversifies, some states are trying to assure that health care providers are trained in “cultural competency.”

New Mexico passed a law last year requiring that higher education institutions with health education programs provide such training, though the state still is grappling with how it will be implemented. New Jersey and California are among a handful of states with similar measures already in place.

Bravo! Cultural competence is of the utmost importance!

This is cool. Remarkable only in that such an idea isn’t the norm industry wide:

The service, unveiled Wednesday, offers a variety of free tech tools to patients who sign up to receive a credit-card-sized “myCommunity” card. The service features express check-in kiosks (similar to those at airports) to be installed at Community North first, then throughout the system eventually. Patients will swipe their myCommunity cards and use touch screens to complete the inpatient and outpatient check-in process.

[snip]

MyCommunity — which took about three years and $1.2 million to develop — also allows patients to keep track of their conditions and medications. Additional features include a blog for new parents or long-term patients to write updates or post photos for loved ones.

Thought inducing:

Providing health care for all Americans is one of those problems with solutions that don’t fit within the ideological fields fenced off by either party.

From The Big Sort by Bill Bishop.

1. Why being able to log-on to Google after a patient leaves the Emergency Department is desirable.  An interesting statistic would be the number of return visitors for the same diagnosis because of poor communication/lack of understanding.

2. Recession proof? A story about layoffs (non-patient care variety).  Probably one of many in coming months.

From Dr. Ted Eytan on this article from the late Larry Ragan published in 1980 :

When you read this, it seems like everyone is trapped in a system that they are powerless to change. Patients probably wouldn’t have it work this way.

Mesmerizing how some of these opinions still ring true in 2008.

As we search for ways to make our health care system better, wouldn’t it be appropriate to ask patients what they wanted, what they see as areas of needed improvement? In fact, I’ll argue improvement efforts should start with the voices of patients.

A perfect example of why we all need to work together to find an appropriate way to rank physicians/rank hospitals/rank insurers.

Lawsuits don’t help the process.  Ignoring one group’s concerns doesn’t either.

As much as some would like to continue doing things the way they have always been done, it’s just not possible…or appropriate.

The Technium: “Health care is finite resources applied to an infinite appetite.”