A Real Doctor's Raw Thoughts - How Prior Authorization can be at odds with Evidenced Based Standards of Care Did you ever wonder what your doctor really thinks? Kevin Campbell, M.D. candidly shares his raw thoughts on the dynamic between insurance plans and patient care. Dr. Campbell forcefully argues "Our doctors are wasting valuable time on the phone arguing with...

Don't Give with One Hand and Take with the Other Seema Verma, the head of the Medicare program has placed a priority on chipping away at the red tape and administrative burdens that saddle providers with paperwork and sidetrack them from patient care. Dr. Patrice A. Harris. M.D. President of the American Medical Association calls Administrator Verma's actions "... a

Spirited, Safe and Strong Superheroes Caregiver safety is too often overlooked; we should pay more attention to it. The physical, emotional, mental and spiritual demands of caring for a loved one with a complex illness are immeasurable. Yet 43 million adults in the U.S. rise each morning and gracefully take on the role of family caregiver. They prepare meals, manage

Giving Thanks for Biomedical Research In the NIH Director's Blog, Dr. Francis Collins gives thanks for exciting progress in biomedical research that is transforming medical treatment. These five "cool gadgets and devices now under development" at NIH's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering may one day become widely used to care for patients with cancer, diabetes and high blood

National Family Caregiver Month November is National Family Caregiver Month. Caregivers may be parents, spouses, siblings, adult children, neighbors or close friends. Whomever they are, they deserve to be recognized, thanked and celebrated. National Family Caregivers Month is a time to recognize that family caregivers wear many hats including “nurse,” financial manager, “psychologist,” chef, housekeeper, driver, grocery shopper, medical appointment

Community-Based Care Must Remain Accessible Patients prefer care that is high quality, close to home and cost effective. That is exactly the type of care that community-based providers deliver and why maintaining access to them is necessary. A federal commission that looks at accessibility found that Medicare patient copays were approximately 3 times higher at hospital-owned sites than at independent,