When a patient requests an unfamiliar treatment, the physician should not hesitate to research it before giving a categorical reply about its safety or efficacy.
To prevent patients from avoiding care when they cannot afford it, providers should collaborate with them to eliminate unnecessary testing, reduce the frequency of follow-up visits where possible, and make manageable payment plans.
Jessie Kimbrough-Sugick, MD, MPH, Jessica Holzer, MA, and Eric B. Bass, MD, MPH
Researchers who approach community partners with an agenda already in hand are missing the point of the community-based participatory research enterprise: developing priorities for study together.
Medicaid is a vital piece of health care for children; any decision to close a practice to new Medicaid patients means more preventable illness, more severe, acute illness among children, and an overloaded community emergency department.
Teamwork is the key. Hospitals are full of nurses, case managers, and social workers, all striving for better patient care. Communicate with these caregivers to find out what they do for patients and how you can help.
The guidelines for patients’ eligibility for bariatric surgery have not changed since 1991, although recent data suggest there may be indications for broadening application of the surgery.