doctors

Aging Doctors Face Greater Scrutiny

Posted on 12/11/2012 by | Health | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | WorkBy Sandra G. Boodman for Kaiser Health News This story was produced in collaboration with The Washington Post. A distinguished vascular specialist in his 80s performs surgery, then goes on vacation, forgetting he has patients in the hospital; one subsequently dies because no doctor was overseeing his care. An internist who suffered a stroke gets lost going from one exam room to another in his own office. A beloved general surgeon with Alzheimer’s disease continues to assist in operations because …

International Survey of Doctors Finds Alzheimer’s Often Misdiagnosed, Stigma Highest in U.K., France

Posted on 09/20/2012 by | Brooklyn, NY | Comments

News RoundupsLast week, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America released a study saying many caregivers initially mistake certain symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease for “normal aging.” But surely most doctors would fare better at diagnosing the disease, right? Maybe not. In a survey of nearly 1,000 physicians from five countries, nearly half said that Alzheimer’s often gets misdiagnosed. And when proper diagnosis does occur, it’s “always” or “often” too late to intervene in a meaningful way.

I Can’t Believe What I’m Hearing: New Guidelines For Older Ears

Posted on 08/20/2012 by | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthIt just seems like common sense: Screening older adults for hearing loss is a cheap, effective, harmless way to determine if their hearing ability has worsened and might be helped with a hearing aid. And yet the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force won’t recommend routine hearing exams for those 50 and older. They won’t even commit to recommending that doctors ask about any hearing problems in older adults. Does this make sense? The task force is a panel of medical …

From Rolodex to Evernote: Organizing The List of my Parents’ Health Care Providers

Posted on 07/25/2012 by | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Your LifeIt was about 15 years old, and full of tattered business and index cards, neatly organized alphabetically – either by name or perhaps by service or type of physician or town or … well, it wasn’t consistent as far as I could tell. Finding the contact information for my parent’s health care and other service providers in my Dad’s card file was a journey into his mind and internal filing system. I’m sure it made sense to him, but it …

Three Ideas That Thwart Solutions to the Medical Care Crisis

Posted on 05/31/2012 by | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthThe medical delivery system is under pressure to provide quality health care despite these dire trends: ·         Reduced access because of the closing of community hospitals and low-cost clinics, ·         Staggering increases in the cost of drugs, medical treatment and insurance, ·         An increasing reluctance of HMO’s to refer patients to specialists, and ·         A dramatic increase in the number of uninsured, now estimated at 50 million and growing. I could also mention the loss of physicians who are retiring …

The Takeaway: Health-Care Costs Rise Faster Than U.S. Inflation Rate

Posted on 05/21/2012 by | Brooklyn, NY | Comments

News RoundupsHigher charges by doctors, hospitals and drug companies have resulted in healthcare costs that have risen even faster than the rate of inflation, according to a survey released today by the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Washington DC. The study found that health care costs rose 3.3 percent in 2010 even though people actually used fewer services in many categories.  The average price of prescription drugs rose 3 percent; inpatient admissions cost 5.1 percent;  more and …

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