chronic care

Like A 1965 Ford Mustang, Medicare Needs a Redesign

Medicare is the 1965 Ford Mustang of healthcare. It was cutting-edge back in the day. But, like that half-century old car, Medicare no longer runs very well and needs a remake. The real issue is not its finances, which is what most of Medicare’s 50th anniversary commentary is about. It’s about redesigning how it delivers care, which is what really [...]

By |2015-08-12T13:25:05-04:00August 12th, 2015|Medicare|0 Comments

Three Great New Palliative Care Resources

I am a huge fan of efforts to increase awareness of palliative care among physicians, health systems, patients and their families. And I wanted to pass on information about three major efforts to do that. The first is a landmark study by the prestigious Institute of Medicine on the importance of managing pain. The report, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint [...]

By |2011-07-14T00:49:38-04:00July 14th, 2011|End of life, family caregivers|3 Comments

Powerful New Ways to Integrate Care for Seniors

I'm just back from a two day conference sponsored by the Catholic Health Association on ways we can do a better job integrating both medical and personal care for chronically-ill seniors. There may be no more important issue for the delivery of care to this population. If you don't believe me, ask Don Berwick, who runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the federal [...]

By |2010-12-15T10:00:45-05:00December 15th, 2010|Uncategorized|3 Comments