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How Providers First Did More Harm This Week
I thought this was particularly important, because clearly there must be a reason why states like Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and parts of north Texas show up as having the highest numbers of hazardous Medicare prescribing.
Likewise, there is probably a good reason why parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and most of New England have far lower rates of high risk drug prescribing.
These three reports are just a few examples of why I believe there's a critical need for comparative effectiveness research. We need to know first and foremost that the type of care, the timing of that care and the frequency of that care are in the best interests of the patient.
Not the dialysis centers, or the radiologists, or the CT scanners, the drug manufacturers, or the doctors. It's about the patients.
That's been the adage in medicine since the Hippocratic Oath: First do no harm.
Cheryl Clark is senior quality editor and California correspondent for HealthLeaders Media. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.
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Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
JKuriyan (11/11/2010 at 2:53 PM)
This problem with tech support will only keep getting worse as we start using even more sophisticated devices & processes - proton beams and gold nano particle infusions for cancer, for example. Perhaps some of the underemployed particle physicists can be coaxed to help manage these devices. Community college grads won't suffice.