Emergency physicians air concerns, hear public input at community forum
Haywood Emergency Physicians expressed concern at a public forum last Tuesday night (Dec. 19) about the turnover of emergency room operations at Haywood Regional Medical Center to a new corporate physician staffing entity at midnight the night of Thursday, Dec. 28.
It is a sad day, indeed
Thursday night, the Haywood Regional Medical Center Board chose to breach the hospital’s contract with Haywood Emergency Physicians rather than consider mediation, as proposed by the medical staff.
What the system needs now
By Mark Jaben
In an earlier column, I discussed whether cutting costs should be the underlying motive for our health care system. Unfortunately, there is something even more fundamental that has been cut along the way.
Looking for ways to fix the health care system
By Mark Jaben
Last time, we talked about EMTALA (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act), managed care and how far the pendulum has swung, leading to decreased capacity in the system. The availability and provision of health care is not determined by system planning, but by unintended downstream effects, resulting in uneven, unfair health care rationing. Do the rules of the system still work?
What the health care system needs now
Do the rules of our health care system work anymore? That is the question posed in this column two weeks ago.
A survival guide for direct-to-consumer ads
By Mark Jaben
In the 1970s, a book written about a doctor’s internship experience, The House of God, reached near cult status for its reasonably accurate — if not cynical — portrayal of one intern’s experience surviving medical training.
Health care costs remain important issue for voters
From behind the prescription counter at Village Pharmacy in Waynesville, Jim Winfree has a bird’s eye view of rising drug costs in America.
Where do you get medical advice?
By Mark Jaben
I always marvel at people that tell me they haven’t been to a doctor in 25 years. Not engaging the health care system is a great strategy if you can get by with it. But then, they are seeing me, so what does that say.
Osteoporosis is real – get tested
By Darcia Bondurant
I would like to think of myself as a healthy, 46-year-old woman. My weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol are all good. I know I need to exercise more, but who doesn’t?
Pharmacists find themselves on the receiving end of Medicare confusion
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
As the revamped Medicare system moves from policy to practice, pharmacies nationwide increasingly are faced with confused customers and bureaucratic red tape.
Customers come in with a prescription to be filled and for one reason or another are denied. Sometimes customers are simply trying to refill their prescriptions ahead of time, perhaps in preparation for a trip. But most often the problem is a result of human error, such as information that doesn’t match up between customers’ insurance cards and what’s in the computer system like birthdays or cardholder identification numbers.