Health

Free medical alert means new Medicare scam

Seniors all over Texas are receiving phone calls from individuals who want to make an appointment to come to your home and deliver a new Medical Alert that is all paid for by Medicare. But the truth is, Medicare does not pay for medical alert systems and this item is not free! This is merely a trick for you to give out personal information over the phone to strangers.

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Why not cheat when improving healthcare quality?

Dr. James Holly

In 1993, John Patrick set IBM on another course and changed the company’s future. Reading his story made me wonder if it’s possible for SETMA to set medicine on another course and to change the future.

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Being accountable for good preventive care

The plaque arrived on April 23, and it reads: “Texas Physician Practice Award presented to Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP for Providing Exceptional Preventive Health Care Services using Health Information Technology.” Awarded by The Texas Physician Practice Quality Improvement Award Committee, the committed is made up of the TMF Health Quality Institute (Texas’ CMS Quality Improvement Organization), the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association.

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Annual cardiovascular risk assessment

Cardiovascular risk assessment is important in your healthcare planning. For more detail review the 14-part series published in 2005 online at www.setma.com/your-life-your-health/cardiovascular-disease-risk-factors. Even though these articles were prepared eight years ago, they are still valid as a foundation for you understanding your risk of developing heart disease.
At a minimum, once you are over 45, your annual cardiovascular risk assessment should include:

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Medication Reconciliation: AMA, NQF, ISMP

Why is medication reconciliation a subject worthy of special consideration in a medical home setting? To answer that question, consider active conversations which went on among high school students during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

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Abraham Lincoln and modern healthcare

Contained within Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided Speech,” delivered to the Republican Convention on April 16, 1856, is the imperative for data analytics and performance auditing by healthcare providers today. Lincoln said, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” 

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Response to week at Harvard Kennedy School of Government

From Jan. 27 through Feb. 1, 2013, I participated in an executive education program titled “Shaping Healthcare Delivery Policy” at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Boston, Mass. In more than 54 hours of case studies, presentations and dialogue, we examined creative approaches to solving complex healthcare problems, including ways of fulfilling the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim: improving care, improving health and decreasing cost.

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The Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership and Healthcare

While Kent Keith has not said such to me, it seems obvious that at the root of The Paradoxical Commandments are the virtues of personal passion, trust and hope. It seems that the leadership required for the transformation of healthcare will embrace those commandments and will exhibit the Personal Mastery describe by Peter Senge. 

 

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The Interaction of SETMA’s Hospital Care Team

(Author’s Note: Following a hospital survey, several questions were raised about how physicians and nurses share their work. The survey team was alarmed that some physicians were allowing registered nurses with associate degrees (two-year diplomas) to complete patient evaluations.

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From Homicidal Threat to Reciprocal Caring

(Editor’s Note: The following narrative is about a real patient. I have requested and received permission to tell his story. His name will not be used but he is aware that it may be possible for some who know him to identify who he is. The story will be told from my perspective. He would tell it slightly differently, I suspect, but the facts are accurate and the implications of his story and our relationship are significant for the future of health care. Over the past three years, he and I have become good friends. I have learned to respect and care for him and he for me.

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