Dr. Lundberg makes excellent tactical suggestions and gives specific examples of costly procedures and practices, and how they should be handled differently.
However, Dr. Lundberg focuses this article on the power of the doctor/patient relationship.
I believe that there are still many ethical and professional American physicians and many intelligent American patients who are capable of, in an alliance of patients and physicians, doing "the right things." Their combined clout is being underestimated in the current debate on healthcare reform.
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An alliance of informed patients and physicians can widely apply recently learned comparative effectiveness science to big-ticket items, saving vast sums while improving quality of care.
What Dr. Lundberg fails to address here is the cost-savings and improved quality of care that could result from a greater focus on behavior management and lifestyle changes.
Many of the most costly disease states in the US (such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and colorectal cancers) could have their prevelance drastically reduced, as well as minimizing the number of costly procedures associated with complications of those disease states, if Americans simply took a better approach to preventive medicine -- which means eating right and exercising more. This is something many Americans are adverse towards, because they are coddled by allopathic medicine and taught to expect a "magic bullet" of a cure, in drug or surgical form, which will solve their problem.
Many problems, from cancer to depression, could be helped by this magic bullet: avoid processed foods, eat lots of fruits and veggies, eat only clean-sourced organic meats, and get some exercise everyday.
It's not rocket science. It's just not as sexy for the medical community or the media to talk about these things. We need to change that. The power of the physician/patient relationship CAN change that, so we should all focus on empowering that small change.
Reducing Medical Costs
George D. Lundberg, MD had an article published on Medscape last month -- Seven Ways to Reduce Unnecessary Medical Costs -- Right Now!
Dr. Lundberg makes excellent tactical suggestions and gives specific examples of costly procedures and practices, and how they should be handled differently.
However, Dr. Lundberg focuses this article on the power of the doctor/patient relationship.
What Dr. Lundberg fails to address here is the cost-savings and improved quality of care that could result from a greater focus on behavior management and lifestyle changes.
Many of the most costly disease states in the US (such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and colorectal cancers) could have their prevelance drastically reduced, as well as minimizing the number of costly procedures associated with complications of those disease states, if Americans simply took a better approach to preventive medicine -- which means eating right and exercising more. This is something many Americans are adverse towards, because they are coddled by allopathic medicine and taught to expect a "magic bullet" of a cure, in drug or surgical form, which will solve their problem.
Many problems, from cancer to depression, could be helped by this magic bullet: avoid processed foods, eat lots of fruits and veggies, eat only clean-sourced organic meats, and get some exercise everyday.
It's not rocket science. It's just not as sexy for the medical community or the media to talk about these things. We need to change that. The power of the physician/patient relationship CAN change that, so we should all focus on empowering that small change.