our own system
Hi there, I'm Drew Weilage and I'm working to make healthcare better for patients.
This is a blog with links to healthcare goings on, trends, and uncategorized interestingness as well as attempts to filter my own healthcare thinking through essay.
I am greatly aware of my idealistic, naive even, views on a number of topics. But frankly, I think healthcare is in dire need of more of the "what's possible/what could be" type of thinking. I'm greatly protective of my unabashed idealism but always open to reason and discourse about any of it.
This is round two of my blogging life, the first being archived here.
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Deeper Thoughts
- Health is a Platform
- Health is Co-Created
- Make Healthcare Awesome
- Don't Call It Quality
- Healthcare Needs Hackers
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ER care not so spendy, not so overutilized
Dispelling myths about ER care are Slate’s Zachary Meisel and Jesse Pines:
While the past decade has seen dramatic increases in the use of emergency care and ER crowding, ER care is but a tiny portion of the U.S. health care pie: less than 3 percent. The claim that unnecessary visits are clogging the emergency care system is also untrue: Just 12 percent of ER visits are not urgent. People also tend to think ER visits cost far more than primary care, but even this is disputable. In fact, the marginal cost of treating less acute patients in the ER is lower than paying off-hours primary care doctors, as ERs are already open 24/7 to handle life-threatening emergencies. And while we’re at it, let’s dispel one other myth: Despite the belief that the uninsured and undocumented flood ERs, most emergency room patients are insured U.S. citizens.
