Eric Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > > Isn't that part of the UK's single payer system? >
Sort of, I think. Docs in the UK are employees of the government, and the UK contracts with companies in the US for health measurement, care management, and disease management tools and techniques. At the end of the day it comes down to clinical methods which are just basically healthcare best practices. For example, let's say you get a knee surgery. What standard should be used to show that surgery is medically appropriate? What procedures should be used prior? During? Post? If and when should there be physical therapy? Doctors might fear best practices because it takes the mystery out of the diagnosis, i.e., if this then this and this and this else that. Maybe a nurse or an offshore telemedicine professional could make the same diagnosis for much cheaper. A lot of US voters don't like the combination of best practices and a single-payer system because it does things like this: ----------------------- Amgen shares sank 1.6% Wednesday after Eric Schmidt, an analyst at S.G. Cowen, wrote that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services might be tough on the companys anemia drugs, Epogen and Aranesp, in draft guidance expected before March 15. Schmidt wrote: "We believe certain constituencies within CMS would like to use the low confidence vote from MEDCAC to argue that ESAs are not medically useful or necessary, and that hemoglobin targets should be lowered to the lowest level possible to avoid any safety risks." http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/16/amgen-medicare-epogen-business-healthcare-amgen.html ----------------------- FYI, MEDCAC is this: "The MEDCAC reviews and evaluates medical literature, technology assessments, and examines data and information on the effectiveness and appropriateness of medical items and services that are covered under Medicare, or that may be eligible for coverage under Medicare. The MEDCAC judges the strength of the available evidence and makes recommendations to CMS based on that evidence." https://www.cms.gov/FACA/02_MEDCAC.as ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:334489 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
