A recent NY Times Letter to the Editor featured letters about health care:
As “The Wrong Place to Be Chronically Ill” (editorial Nov. 18) points out, the American health care system desperately needs reform.
We could solve most of our problems with the patient-centered medical home, already shown to end the fragmentation of health care, reduce medical errors, help reduce costs and lead to greater patient satisfaction.
Medical homes provide whole-person care, rather than single-illness or single-organ treatment. Patients get preventive services, diagnosis and treatment for minor health problems, and coordinated care for chronic illnesses. They cut unnecessary emergency room use by offering extended office hours and same-day appointments.
Medical homes’ electronic health records ensure accurate patient charts and help communicate with subspecialists, hospitals, pharmacists and allied health professionals.
The medical home concept has gained widespread support. But this is just the beginning. Only when employers demand medical home benefits from health plans, and insurers cover those benefits, can we make a dent in the fragmentation, excessive costs and poor outcomes that plague our system today.
Ted Epperly
Boise, Idaho, Nov.20, 2008The writer, a medical doctor, is president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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To the Editor:
The results of the Commonwealth Fund study are not surprising. Limited insurance benefits and rising premiums have contributed to the growing number of Americans who forgo medical care because of costs. Lack of electronic records, coordinated care and insufficient incentives to physicians also affect patient care.
As Americans continue aging, it is expected that chronic conditions will continue on the rise. Adult primary care physicians are at the forefront of chronic disease management. Unfortunately, it is expected that the country will face a shortage of between 35,000 and 44,000 adult care generalists by 2025.
Primary care has evolved into an overloaded and unsatisfactory choice for medical students and residents, who prefer more lucrative subspecialties that offer a better lifestyle. The solution to our health problems relies not only in the much-expected health care reform but also in making primary care a very appealing option.
Hernan Delgado
Boston, Nov.20, 2008The writer, a medical doctor, is in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston.
December 2, 2008 at 3:33 am |
I am for universal health care, including medication costs. This would be modeled on Medicare with added benefits. It would mean gradual elimination of the private drug industry as being too expensive, and depending on private, governmental and university departments to research and develop medications.
I dont know the health programs that Congress members get but they seem happy with it so it should be made available to anyone who wishes it.
Health care should be available for all, the same as firefighting, civil order (policing), education, military protection, environmental protection, etc. There are other sides to health care which should also be provided by the government, such as sanitation, assisted living services, and so on.
Please get on the ball and accomplish this program asap.
December 2, 2008 at 3:36 am |
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