HOLIDAY DRINKING

Most of us underestimate how much we drink during heavy parties.    Enjoying a drink is one thing, but often it leads to more than safe drinking without awareness.    We often underestimate our drinking levels and also forget about the harm we can cause other families and communities by our drinking. How can you curb your excessive consumption of liquor?

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs

Visit  for http://www.americanacupuncture.com/more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

HOLIDAY DRINKING 

 

Most of us underestimate how much we drink during heavy parties.    Enjoying a drink is one thing, but often it leads to more than safe drinking without awareness.    We often underestimate our drinking levels and also forget about the harm we can cause other families and communities by our drinking. How can you curb your excessive consumption of liquor?  It’s very hard to resist the offers and promotions that liquor stores employ to encourage us to buy and drink involved.
    

The inevitable next morning hangover shows are you are close to developing serious conditions in the near future.   Hangovers after bourbon  are reported to be much more severe than after vodka.
    

Whether you drink vodka or bourbon doesn’t much matter since both lower your performance on tasks that require attention and limits your quick responses. The lingering effects of alcohol after a night of heavy drinking is seen in driving and safety sensitive tasks.
   
    Whiskey will give you a greater hangover than vodka since it contains 37 more toxic compounds than vodka.   Bourbon has some nasty organic compounds as acetone, acetaldehyde, tannins & furfurol.
   
    The number of molecules, called congeners, affect the hangovers. Whiskey drinkers have more angle where symptoms as headache, nausea, fatigue, and others, compared to vodka drinkers. However the overall performance of concentration tasks is roughly the same between the two groups.
   
    Long after alcohol disappears from the bloodstream, safety sensitive workers are still impaired. Cognitive tasks that require attention and quick reaction time, are slow in drinkers then the nondrinkers. The type of alcohol at no effect on performance. Both were equally impaired.

COMMENTARY

 
    Moderate drinking is linked to a 30% increased risk of recurrence of breast cancer in women. This increased risk was found in women who drank at least 3 to 4 drinks a week. Women who are postmenopausal, overweight, oral fees, should limit their drinks to less than three drinks a week. This will cut down their cancer risk.

    Over a long period of time alcohol has been shown to shrink the brain. Excessive drinking accelerates the reduction in brain size caused by aging.    Heavy  drinkers having more than 14 drinks a week at any risk 1 to 6 reduction and ratio of brain about him compared with non-drinkers. Drink and be merry but stay in the limits.

 

 Visit www.drneedles.com for more commentary on medical controversial subjects.
Sources
Damaris Rohsenow Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Dec. 2009
American Association for Cancer Research breast cancer conference dec 2009
Wellesley College, American Academy of Neurology in Boston 03/05/2007
 

MEDICARE WILL ANSWER TO NO ONE.

Medicare is well on its way to reduce Medicare spending. They will target doctors and be free from congressional intrusion. Traditional medicine will disappear and national healthcare will appear.Rural  America will lose all of its solo family doctors. A doctor will first become a businessman and then a healer.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs
Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

MEDICARE WILL ANSWER TO NO ONE. 

Medicare is well on its way to reduce Medicare spending. They will target doctors and be free from congressional intrusion.  They'll have the power to decide when a cheaper medical option will suffice for a given problem. Congressional authority will be absent unless they pass a separate law to explicitly block Medicare's newly acquired powers.  Medicare actions will not be subject to judicial reviews. 

Doctors will  be forced to join large groups, and solo practitioners will become extinct. Medical innovation will stop and cheap medical devices will be the norm. There will be no regular improvements in annual upgrades of medical devices. 

HOW TO CONTROL COSTS

The best way for Obama care to restrain medical costs is through controlling medical specialists. The first game to control costs will be to control surgeons and medical devices that they use, because that's where the bulk of spending is. They often make wasteful treatment decisions. Drs. will find financial penalties and regulations constrain their costly clinical options.

MEDICARE’S NEW OMNIPOTENT POWERS

The Senate gave to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, a new independent Medicare advisory board.  It will be made up of experts assigned to find new ways to reduce Medicare spending as well as private sector health spending. This will target doctors for spending cuts and will also be free from  congressional intrusion (It would begin work by 2014).

 This agency (an authority all to itself)  will rule on when medical devices and drugs can be used and how they should be priced. They will have the power to decide when a cheaper medical option will suffice for a given problem.  Medicare will only then have to pay for the least costly alternative.

BY- PASSING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

On December 22, the US Court of Appeals denied the Justice Department appeal.  This same administrative power will be given in this Senate bill, making the court decision meaningless.  Hayes versus Sibelius involved a patient who was denied a prescription treatment for lung disease by Medicare. Medicare decided to pay for a different drug that would be suitable for a cheaper alternative.

Obama will try to attain into law the powers that he could not get through the court system.  This bill lets Medicare see any restrictive payment authority it wants from a Medicare commission, which is established for the purpose to control costs. If Medicare overreaches this boundary, Congress will be required to pass a separate law to explicitly block Medicare's newly acquired powers. This bill is designed to prevent congresses from acting  in a timely fashion.

Medicare's actions will not be subject to judicial review. This takes away the rights of patients to sue the government. Today's Medicare coverage laws allow you the patient to feel any of the decisions of the new Medicare commission.   Private. health insurers however will still be required to comply with the patience appeal rights under the Senate bill.  The government has exempted itself from the same sort of protections.

STOP CADILLAC MEDICAL TREATMENTS

Medicare will have the power to control which medical devices the surgeon uses. By clamping down on expensive procedures the agencies will have authority over the specialists themselves. In the past it was hard for a central bureaucracy to control individual physicians. Obama care will fix this by putting the doctors on the financials for their treatment decisions. Long-Shoremen Union "Cadillac heath plan" will retain its exemption. 

GENERAL PRACTITIONERS SQUEEZED

General  practitioners who refer patients to specialists will also face financial penalties under this plan. They will be cut 5% of their Medicare pay when they have a brigade is use of resources above the 90 percentile of national utilization., (section 3003 Chairman's Mark).  Doctors will quit referring patients to costly specialists like surgeons, since these penalties will put the recurring general practitioner on the hook for the cost of the referral and perhaps any resulting procedures.

JOIN A  BIG GROUP OR QUIT DOCTOR

Doctors  who have a financial incentive to consolidate their practices.  In this way Medicare will easily apply its regulations to institutions and manage big groups of doctors rather than individual doctors. 

If a doctor wants to remain in solo practice, his overhead requirements will become increasingly absorbed during the such as requiring three years of medical records every time a doctor's orders routine medical equipment like wheelchairs. This should be the death of rural solo doctors.

Doctors will be forced to give up their small practices and go into larger medical groups, or become salaried by hospitals.   Doctors will share with the government any savings that the government achieves by delivering less care ( section 3022). This will only occur if the doctors are part of groups caring for more than 5000 Medicare patients and have in place some leadership and management structures, including clinical and administrative systems.

MEDICARE NOW ABOVE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY

Medicare is given for the first time broad authority to roll these programs out nationally without needing to go back to Congress for more authority.

MEDICAL ADVANCES WILL BE CURTAILED

Regulating medicines has always been a local endeavor, with medical journals and professional medical societies setting clinical standards. This made sense. Medical practice evolves more quickly than even the latest technologies that doctors use. Especially in surgery, were advances come from experimentation by good doctors to try different kinds of surgical approaches.

CHEAP MEDICAL DEVICES WILL BE THE NORM

By regulating medical devices and pricing, innovation will be discouraged. Improvements in medical devices come with each generation of the device showing clinical relevance advances over previous models. This is because the underlying hardware that turns on embedded software and micro processors are constantly upgraded. Now with Medicare pricing similar devices off one another, a reference point on pricing schemes will be used as in Europe. Manufacturers will hold back from making  small changes. They will only introduce new models every four or five years sufficient enough and unique enough to fall outside of the Medicare pricing schemes. Meanwhile you will have lost the benefit of regular improvements and annual upgrades that now characterize medical devices.

Private . insurance companies will follow the pricing from Medicare, since they will both be managed from the same bureaucracy. The standard for medical care will be set by Medicare. You won't have to change your doctor.  But it's clear that doctors will be forced to change how they make their medical decisions involving your illnesses.

COMMENTARY

The standard for medical care will be set by Medicare. Doctors will be forced to change how they make their medical decisions involving your illness based on financial concerns.

Doctors will be graded on their performance by the amount of money they cost Medicare. There will be no experimentation by good doctors to try different surgical approaches. Medical journalism and professional medical societies will longer set clinical standards.  Rural  America will lose all of its solo family doctors. A doctor will first become a businessman and then a healer.

In short, traditional medicine will disappear and national healthcare will appear.


RELATED POSTS: HEALTH BILL WINNERS AND LOSERS (1)
                                THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE (1)


Visit  www.drneedles.com  for more commentaries on controversial medical subjects.  Your comments are always appreciated.

Source  WSJ  12.24.09

NO MORE TOYS FROM SANTA

A ban on all products containing lead has cost billions of dollars and closed many small businesses. The law, passed by Congress, however, went far beyond lead paint and resulted in a total ban of all children's products that contain any component with more than three one hundredths of one percent lead.  Is the above example of poorly written laws, an example of how congress will handle restrictions on medical care?


As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs
Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

NO MORE TOYS FROM SANTA 

A ban on all products containing lead has cost billions of dollars and closed many small businesses. Have you noticed how difficult it is to find children's clothes with good zippers, buttons, or belts? A good bike today is hard to find.  Toy cars now look cheap and no longer have brass axle collars. Goodwill and Salvation Army no longer carry winter coats with metal snaps on them. 

The response was because of recalls of Chinese made toys with lead paint because of genuine lead risks in children’s toys.   The Consumer Products Safety Commission in 2008 reacted and Congress subsequently produced a bill written with Congress’s usual rigid unscientific judgment.

The law, passed by Congress, however, went far beyond lead paint and resulted in a total ban of all children's products that contain any component with more than three one hundredths of one percent lead. 

This meant that ordinary items as zippers, buttons, belts, hinges on a child's dresser, and even bicycles from Santa Claus are all outlawed. All of these products exceeded the legal lead limits, but unlike lead, which is on the surface, the ban included all leads contained within any metal or other substrate material. The lead could rub off these items in very tiny amounts, detectable only with very sensitive lab equipment.  This lead, however, is not extractable and cannot be absorbed into a child's bloodstream.

In addition to banning these components the law imposes onerous product testing by outside labs that small manufacturers in handicraft makers simply cannot afford. Instead of spending money to expand and create their jobs, companies have diverges billions of dollars to destroy noncompliance and innocuous inventory to meet the complex new compliance obligations.

Goodwill and Salvation Army have disposed of over $270 million in secondhand children's clothing such as winter coats with metal snaps that are not affordable to test for compliance, but still are needed by many poor families.

Bicycle manufacturers make dozens of parts from expensive on environmentally friendly materials to replace handles spokes, tire valve stems, and other harmless metal parts that contain lead.

To cope with annual testing costs which run over half $1 million, domestic retailers have reduced their payrolls are limited to products they sell. Many have either closed shop or left the children apparel market completely.

This 2008 safety log cost businesses billions of dollars including more than $2 billion in the toy industry. There is an estimated $1 billion in annual losses by the motorcycle industry Council because of lost sales of children's model motorbikes and off-road vehicles. The German toy makers whose products comply with stringent EU regulations, have stopped selling toys in America. We consumers now are paying higher prices for a smaller variety of products that are no safer than before.

The commission decisions have made other matters worse. The statute on the observability of lead is so inflexible, that no children's product could qualify for it. Brass axle collars on toy cars are banned even though they have less lead than the food and drug administration allows in a piece of candy.

The Federal commissioners argue the statute past ties to her hands. The members of Congress who wrote flexibility into the law blame the commissioners. Commissioners refuse to reach out to Congress to seek clarification of the law. Congress now asks the consumer products safety commission for a list of their recommendations to amend the statute.

Congress now must consider common sense changes as allowing for higher lead content in products like bicycles were a very tiny amount could possibly be absorbed, allow the commission to focus on efforts on genuine risks to children, lower the age range covered by the law so 12-year-old children in 12-month-old babies are not treated the same, and eliminating the retroactive effect of the law which affects libraries and thrift shops as Goodwill and Salvation Army.

A change in this law will require a bipartisan fix. Is that possible with this Congress?  Children must be protected from harmful products without blowing away our American economy. This law has already cost more jobs, especially in small businesses, that must help lead our country out of recession.

COMMENTARY 

We consumers now are paying higher prices for a smaller variety of products that are no safer than before.   Is the above example of poorly written laws, an example of how congress will handle restrictions on medical care?

Visit www.drneedles.com for more comments on controversial medical subjects.
LEAD AGAIN IN OUR TOY

LEAD AGAIN IN OUR TOYS

Source; WSJ 12.24.09

HEALTH BILL WINNERS AND LOSERS

A health reform amendment with bribes and payoffs to many Senators drafted in secret, was introduced it in the middle of a snowstorm, and passed in a Senate session at 1 a.m.  Why the big hurry? Every Democratic senator got something.


As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs
Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.


HEALTH BILL WINNERS AND LOSERS 

A health reform amendment with bribes and payoffs to many Senators drafted in secret, was introduced it in the middle of a snowstorm, and passed in a Senate session at 1 a.m.  Why the big hurry?

Senator Reid insists that it be passed before Christmas — because they don't want the American people to know what's in it. The calendar is ticking quickly toward an election year in which a voter focus on the economy could undercut momentum for healthcare.

This special flurry of deal making with powerful senators resulted in an opportunity to insert a lot of last-minute black mail changes to obtain the votes needled for passage of this Medicare Reform.   

Dealmaker Harry Reid commented: “This is how lawmaking always worked and legislation is all about the art of compromise. This legislation is no different than other pieces of legislation.  I don't know if there is a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to thim.  And if they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them."

It’s obvious why elected officials prefer to bury their unpopular votes in off years. The New Year makes a difference.  Most people will tune out politics during the holiday season.   It’s always better to deliver the bad news while YOU  aren’t paying attention.

LETS LOOK AT THE WINNERS AND LOSERS OF THIS BILL!

WINNING STATES

CONNECTICUT Senator Chris Dodd got $100 million in service to the bill to help the University of Connecticut hospital. 

FLORIDA Senator Nelson got 3.5 billion to keep Medicare Advantage policies in effect.

MONTANA Superfund site to be helped in Libby Montana because it was exposed to a health hazard subject to a federal emergency declaration as of 6.17.2009.

LOUISIANA Senator Mary Lambieux, and Arkansas Senator Blanch Lincoln each get $100 million for their state’s Medicaid programs.

IOWA Senator Tom Harkins gets Iowa hospitals an increase in Medicare payments for poor service at eight of their hospitals, since they are shortchanged by the current system.

VERMONT got inserted $10 billion for community health services centers and 600 million for its small state Medicaid program.
MASSACHUSETTS got 500 million for its Medicaid program.

NORTH DAKOTA Senator Max Baucus gets money for rural health hospitals in his state.

NEBRASKA Senator Ben Nelson gets an exemption for Mutual of Omaha supplemental Medicare plan.  Blue Cross of Nebraska got an exemption for mutual companies owned by policyholders state to expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Other states must pay a small portion of the additional cost. Nelson also won concessions for qualifying nonprofit insurers and for Medigap providers from a new insurance tax and was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts. He also got a Michigan-Nebraska Blue Cross carve out on the insurance tax.

You the taxpayer will have to pay for these special deals that the above states received!

OTHER WINNERS

LONG SHOREMEN UNION has its Cadillac healthcare plan exempt from the 40% excise tax slapped on other Cadillac plans.


AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION got canceled the proposed Botox tax of 5 percent tax on cosmetic procedures and Botox treatments. This was expected to generate $6 billion for health care costs. 

TRIAL LAWYERS     Trial lawyers will continue to get at least $54 billion annually from suing the healthcare industry.  With more exposure, transparency, and lack of testing, expects that number to rapidly rise.

AARP is the winner in Medicare gap insurance. 

DRUG COMPANIES     Drug industry will get 12 years of patent protection for their high-tech drugs instead of the current three year patent protection, for biological vaccines, and drugs to combat cancer parkinsonism, and other deadly diseases. Big Pharma agreed to contribute $80 billion toward healthcare management, but got one-year amnesty in payments.

HOSPITALS will be exempt from the commission’s cost-cutting powers until 2019.  Doctors and hospitals will be paid higher reimbursements if they coordinate their care through clinics, which will be more easily controlled by the government. They will get a lump sum payment for a given patient's care.    Everyone involved in your care from the emergency room doctor to the bone doctor to the physical therapist, dear family pack dish dinner will all have to work together sit down and argue and divide the money allocate

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LOSERS

TANNING SALONS will see a 10% tax increase. This should put a lot of these people out of business in over 20,000 salons.

YOUNG ADULTS   Over 10 million young adults between the ages of 19 and 26, lack health insurance coverage and will be forced to buy insurance.  Most young adults are uninsured because they are less likely to work for employers who will give them coverage. They are also likely to assume that they will not get sick and will never need health insurance. They'd rather spend the money on other things.  Where in the constitution does it give Congress the right to mandate health insurance on any American citizen?

EMPLOYERS AND INDIVIDUALS   Individuals must purchase government-approved insurance and most employers provide coverage or face a fine.   Individuals will also face penalties if they do not comply.  You will pay immediately into a fund that you will not have access to for five more years.

MEDICALDEVICE MAKERS   A tax of $20 billion over the next decade from a 2 1/2% excise tax on sales of their devices. 

INSURANCE COMPANIES   The new bill will impose new regulations on the insurance industry, such as prohibiting companies from denying coverage once enrollees become sick.  Health insurers will offer national plans to Americans under the supervision of the Office of Personnel Management; the same entity that oversees health plans for Members of Congress.

IMMIGRANTS   Over 8 million illegal immigrants under the age of 65 will remain uninsured under this plan aimed to cover everyone with health care insurance.

ABORTED FETUSES   We talk about the health of unborn babies, but we don't want them to be born.  You will be forced to pay for abortions, late-term abortions, and probably euthanasia of our senior citizens.

QUALITY MEDICAL CARE    If hospitals admit too many patients or allow infections in the hospital their payments will be decreased.  Doctor will be graded and will see a reduction in their Medicare payments if they order more tests compared to other doctors. 

This would promote rationing, and even function as a death panel by proxy; by compelling doctors to arbitrarily cut care to you. Since Medicare has started studying utilization patterns of doctors, data will soon be available. Doctors would get more money if they deliver high-quality care at lower costs, and their income will be reduced if they order too many tests. This will change the behavior of doctors who manage your care, since they will increase their share in the money saved by Medicare. 

SENIORS   If you’re a senior on Medicare, YOU ARE THE BIGGEST LOSER and better be afraid of this bill.  Despite paying all your working lives into the Medicare trust fund, you are now in danger of having $483 billion cut out of it. 

This healthcare overhaul will certainly shorten the lives of American seniors by cutting Medicare services.    Senior consultants will counsel you on end-of-life care--a government program that will determine when to pull the plug on grandma and grandpa.

Ask most seniors who have been treated recently for illnesses and they will tell you they have yet to see significant waste and the systems. Seniors are told that Medicare spending could be cut by 30% without doing harm.  Congress insists that someone must swallow the deadly pill.  Democrats will find the money to pay for this 1.3 trillion dollar plan. It will come from the seniors. Democrats say the cuts would not be in services but in a reduction in reimbursements to doctors and health providers.

COMMENTARY

 Health care is probably the single hardest and trickiest problem our American society faces. Economically, it involves about one-sixth of our economy, and everybody in the United States has a dog in this fight.  Hospitals are now the biggest and fastest-growing employers in many communities across the country and their jobs offer the highest pay possible.

Everybody wants to live forever, yet nobody wants to cut any corners on his or her own health care: yet nobody wants to pay through the nose for everyone else’s health care costs. 

Any attempt to change the American health care system is going to be complicated; most people will have no idea how it will work out in practice. You will have to take it on faith that the Obama, Reid, Pelosi, proposal is a good one.

However, it’s hard for most of us voters to trust Congress right now.  They have failed to get us out of this recession, increase the jobs, and restore confidence in returning our country to fiscal health.  Will this 2000 page program passed at 1 am in the morning make us better?

Only 10% of healthcare needs fixing. Policies providing a more competitive market structure to bring down costs, regulations from prohibiting people from being dropped, and regulations addressing pre-existing conditions are all that are necessary.

This bill does not address costs at all.  It misses everything that is wrong with the system, and is geared to put dollars into the pockets of certain groups. This bill it is about taking over a private industry and not constructive reform.

Our best course on health care is a long-term, incremental strategy: We should be making lots of little fixes that, over time, can ease the way for bigger changes.  What we get is rationed care and exploding deficits.  Taxes going up now, Medicare cuts made now, and five years later we will start our subsidy spending.


What is the big rush? This bill is a bad bill, but a good deal for the Democratic senators.  Their short term benefits are exchanged for long term costs for our nation.

We don't need new legislation to remove waste and fraud for Medicaid and Medicare. It could be done now without costing us one trillion dollars. If we want to stimulate the economy, why not give the money back directly to the taxpayers?

Our nation is broke and Obama health care will further destroy our economy, our future, the future of our children, and will enslave us.  It isn’t isn't really about lowering costs. It's about putting Washington in charge of us and our health insurance at whatever costs necessary.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more discussion of controversial medical subjects.

THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE

Doctors have always focused on the treatment necessary to cure your medical illness.  Today's healthcare reforms require that doctors change their mindsets and become businessmen in the practice of medicine. Universities have responded to this business challenge to make doctors business men!


As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs
Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE

Doctors have always focused on the treatment necessary to cure your medical illness.  Today's healthcare reforms require that doctors change their mindsets and become businessmen in the practice of medicine. Universities have responded to this business challenge.

To implement changes in their workplace, doctors are now asked to evaluate their annual performance in reducing medical costs to the government.  This shows a focus and grip with the fact that medicine is now very similar to other businesses and medicine must act as a business.

Since performance data has been recently easy to gather, because of advances in information systems and technologies, we are told to recognize a medical knowledge gap. 

Now that doctors have access to details like how many patients get bed sores, or how many patients get infections in hospitals on a given day, they must analyze this data. In an attempt to figure out how to use these statistics to lower medical costs, doctors are turning to business schools for the answers. 

MANAGING YOUR MEDICAL CARE

To cope with the fast pace of modern Obama healthcare, doctors are now signing on for some business school training.   Hospital administrators, private practice managers, and nurses are also looking for guidance on how to analyze all the data accessible to them now in an attempt to improve the quality of care and lower the medical costs that government demands.

Schools are responding with business management programs for the medical community.  Harvard is now offering programs costing $22,000 for three one-week courses over a nine-month period.

As part of the Cancer Institute’s attempt to optimize patient care, Harvard has instituted business programs that will involve day-to-day strategic planning and management to change the practice of medicine.

To teach students to analyze data, Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business is offering master degree programs for people who are employees of the university's health system. The curriculum includes information on how to examine performance data that show where mistakes could have been avoided through better management. Pilot programs are being developed which include a new discharge timeout process requiring doctors to meet you before you are released.  On discharge, a team will teach you to medically care for your incision, so the chance so of a surgical site infection can be lowered.

Pennsylvania University’s Business school budget has doubled to over $1 million to invest in front line leadership training courses to prepare new young medical leaders that will focus on what Obama’s  medical organizational development should be.

Duke University has started a master's degree program in clinical informatics, to focus on new technology in record keeping to lower waste and improve patient care. The program is a one year program, costs $43,000, and starts this year.

Vanderbilt University School of management is also offering a master’s program for doctors and clinicians to help them manage health care more efficiently. Dartmouth school of business is developing a joint degree program to help manage clinical practice.

COMMENTARY

Business schools are becoming extremely important for medIcal change, and are leading the medical world in moving from medical access to medical efficiency and cost cutting.  With no emphasis on patient care and tort reform, this bill is a total failure. 

Physicians of tomorrow will need business courses in medical school so they can effectively deal with managed government care of medicine as it moves into becoming first a business and last a source of patient care.  Medical school applicants will come from the business schools of America, all with the proper new attitudes for medical care.

With all this emphasis, you can feel confident that Medicare will survive and  500 billion dollars of wasteful spending on behalf of our seniors will be reduced by new good sound Obama business habits. Unfortunately for seniors, the money saved on their treatment denials will go to lower the 1.3 trillion dollar cost of this reform bill.

What do you think? Visit www.drneedles.com for more comments on controversial medical subjects.

Source: Wall Street Journal 12.17. 2009

A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE

The Christmas Carol," A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE",  has always baffled me.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs  Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens,swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come outof the pear tree have to do with Christmas? 

This week, I found out in an email.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.  It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. 

Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

 -The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching,  Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,  Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening.

 I now know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol....so pass it on if you wish.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more comments on controversial medical subjects. 

  Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

        Dr. Needles

SOURCE:  email from DONNA & ALLAN HOAGBERG 

LEAD AGAIN IN OUR TOYS

BEWARE OF TOXINS IN TOYS

The Chinese are at it again. Last fall, the toy corporations promised they would get the lead out of the toys that they were importing from China. The public was outraged that lead, antimony, cadmium, mercury, and other toxins are allowed in their children's toys.. Even Congress threatened to mandate new regulatory controls for this problem.

The public outrage has subsided, and the toy manufacturer’s concern for your child’s health is gone. It’s business as usual, with the bottom corporate line being strictly financial.

TOY TESTING RESULTS

The Ecology Center, a consumer advocacy group, just conducted 50,000 tests on children’s toys and found one third of them had significant levels of lead, mercury, cadmium, and other toxic chemicals. All of the products tested would be illegal under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that was passed last year and will take effect on February 10, 2009.   

You the consumer are now again faced with toxic toys, that contain many chemicals that are hard to pinpoint.   Only a few contain a single toxin, as lead, mercury antimony, or cadmium. Over one third of the toys tested were found to be unsafe, having significant levels of toxic chemicals.

We get 80% of our toys from the Chinese market. Yet we are seeing toys coming from all around the world with elevated levels of these chemicals.

LEAD PROBLEM

Eighty percent  of all the toys tested had lead levels higher than the recall standards of the federal government. The standard was 600 ppm, but a suggested safety level of 40 ppm has been advised by the Academy of pediatrics.

Costume jewelry, including gems and baubles, have very high levels of lead.  Children's jewelry is five times more likely to contain higher lead levels than most other toys.  High school Musical jewelry is a big offender.  Children's jewelry often contains small pieces that can be ingested in a child's stomach, delivering a toxic lead load. This is especially seen in toys with buttons, protruding eyes, and other small removable parts.

THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT  2008

This act makes it illegal to sell children's products that have more than 300 ppm of lead.  Lead ingestion can cause neurological damage, developmental delays. learning disabilities, behavioral problems, coma and even death. Lead affects every organ system in the body and is not recognized because its symptoms are not obvious.

PVC

Many plastic toys contain polyvinyl chloride, PVC.   Being very brittle, this plastic is augmented with phthalates.   The law also bans certain phthalates, common in soft plastics and cosmetics. Phthalates have been linked to hormonal disturbances as reproductive defects, early onset of puberty, and low sperm count.

FLAME RETARDANTS

Anything with flame retardants is usually toxic and unnecessary.  Almost 3% of the toys tested showed a high level of this compound. It is found in most electronic components that use circuit boards, and is present in TVs, stereos, and other electronic games.

ANTIMONY 

Antimony  is used as a fire retardant in textiles and plastics.  Chronic exposure can cause heart and lung problems, and even small amounts can cause headaches and dizziness.

 High levels of this toxin were found in caterpillars, and Zhu Zhu Pet's'   "Mr. Squiggles" model. Federal law requires that there be less than 60 ppm of antimony.   These toys showed levels between 93 and 106 ppm.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOXIN FREE TOY

You must ask yourself if you've chosen a toy which is non-toxic and made of organic materials.  Avoid toys that have small parts easily swallowed.  Make sure the toy is age appropriate. Check the packaging that it is not dangerous. Check if the toy meets US safety standards or better yet European standards.  Does the toy have any sharp edges?  Will the child be educated with this toy as well as entertained? If the toy is for a baby, are there any strings longer than 6 inches that could strangle him?  Best choices are to choose fabric toys, plush cloth toys, and unpainted wood toys.  Avoid children's jewelry at all costs.

Commentary

Many Consumer Reports state that 35% of the toys contain lead.  Our federal government is maintaining a liaise faire approach to this problem.  Check manufacturer’s websites for information about the toys and whether or not they have potentially unsafe lead amounts or other toxins.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more medical discussion of perplexing and current controversial medical subjects.

Sources THE ECOLOGY CENTER

Good Guide website

                healthystuff.org