Blog Home

Archive for the 'Personal Experience' Category




Remembering Larry Lewin: A Legacy Of Accomplishment And Mentorship


May 16th, 2012
by Robert Rubin

On April 29, 2012, four days after his 74th birthday, Larry Lewin (pictured below) died from complications of an underlying cancer. The funeral was May 1 and his wife, Marion asked me to speak briefly about his professional life. What follows is adapted from those remarks. It will be obvious that anyone who knew Larry... Read the rest of this entry »

The Latest Health Wonk Review


May 15th, 2012
by Chris Fleming

A belated tip of the hat to Hank Stern’s  Health Wonk Review at Insure Blog. Hank offers a nice collection of posts, including Diane Meier’s Health Affairs Blog post on Amy Berman’s Narrative Matters essay and overcoming barriers to palliative care. Happy reading!  

Read the rest of this entry »

Learning From Amy Berman: Barriers To Palliative Care And How We Might Overcome Them


April 30th, 2012
by Diane Meier

Editor’s note: You can hear Amy Berman discuss her April Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay at the recent release event for the April issue. You can also join Amy tomorrow (May 1) at noon for live online chat hosted by the Washington Post, which will also be publishing an abridged version of her essay. In... Read the rest of this entry »

Hospitals, Practice Administrators and Clinicians: You Gotta Learn to Love Patient Ratings


April 25th, 2012
by Jessie Gruman

You are increasingly being held accountable for the outcomes of the health care you deliver. Pay for performance; shared savings in ACOs; public report cards…the list of strategies to monitor and measure the effects of your efforts is lengthening. Many of you seem dismayed by the increased weight accorded to the patient experience of care... Read the rest of this entry »

What Is Strategy In Global Health Care?


March 12th, 2012
by Sachin Jain

Over the past decade, it has become popular to invoke the term “strategy” in global health.  For many NGOs operating in developing world contexts, strategy is synonymous with “vision.”  For others, strategy is the set of operating activities that meet a defined goal.  And for others, still, strategy represents the ex-post principles invoked to justify... Read the rest of this entry »

Reform Litigation Post Leads HA Blog January Top 10


February 13th, 2012
by Chris Fleming

The most-read Health Affairs Blog post for January was Tim Jost’s examination of the first set of briefs filed before the Supreme Court in the litigation over the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The full top-ten list for the month also includes Jerald Winakur’s post on disruptions experienced by many patients during care transitions... Read the rest of this entry »

Passing The Torch: A Day In The Life Of An Attending Physician


February 1st, 2012
by Jonathan Han

November 9, 2011. Time fell back three days ago, leaving me one less hour of daylight to enjoy on a gorgeous Indian summer Wednesday. I’m the attending physician on a busy family medicine inpatient service, and it’s been a long week of patient care and meetings. I rush out of the hospital somewhere near 5 pm,... Read the rest of this entry »

Patient-Centered Care: What It Means And How To Get There


January 24th, 2012
by James Rickert

At a recent symposium concerning both saving money and improving patient care, Health Affairs Editor-in Chief Susan Dentzer stated, “It is well established now that one can in fact improve the quality of health care and reduce the costs at the same time.”  This is exactly the principle behind the growing movement toward patient-centered care. ... Read the rest of this entry »

It Takes A Village: Caring For Children With Diabetes


January 23rd, 2012
 
by Michelle Katz and Lori Laffel

Editor’s Note: The January 2012 issue of Health Affairs is a thematic volume titled “Confronting The Growing Diabetes Crisis.” Ariella was a different child, thin and shy, when I first met her about a year and a half ago, just after her 6th birthday. Her mother had noted her thirst and hunger, and, despite this... Read the rest of this entry »

The Transition Abyss


January 18th, 2012
by Jerald Winakur

In June of 2011, I flew to Washington, D.C. to say good-bye to my friend, Alvin.  I wanted to be there with him and his family during his peaceful passage from this life.  Unfortunately, his end was not peaceful.  It was a nightmare because he, like too many patients being transferred from one level of... Read the rest of this entry »

Narrative Matters: Drug Company Payments To Physicians


December 20th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

In the December Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay, multiple sclerosis patient Maran Wolston describes how she lost trust in her physician when she found out he was receiving payments from drug companies. Wolston says she was fortunate to be able to look up these payments in a Minnesota state database, and she applauds the establishment of... Read the rest of this entry »

Narrative Matters: What’s Lacking When Care Has Assembly-Line Efficiency


November 18th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

Productivity at a breast care center is laudable, but not if interactions with scared or vulnerable patients lose the individualized human touch, writes Colleen Fogarty in the November Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay. Fogarty, a physician who practices at a federally qualified health center, describes her mammogram and follow-up care at a respected, high-volume breast... Read the rest of this entry »

Narrative Matters: Mid-Level Dental Providers Needed To Reach Underserved


November 7th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

Three dental clinics and two dental hygienists serve the 40,000 Lakota Sioux residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in North Dakota, an area the size of Connecticut. By comparison, at a typical private dental clinic, there is one hygienist for every 2,000 people, writes Maxine Brings Him Back-Janis in the Narrative Matters section of... Read the rest of this entry »

September 11 Retrospective Added To Narrative Matters iTunes U Podcasts


September 9th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9-11, Health Affairs has added a new recording to its free collection of Narrative Matters essay podcasts on iTunes U.  “Mosaics And Misery,” a poem written on September 14, 2011, was inspired by the New York Presbyterian Hospital emergency department staff members waiting for the arrival of the injured... Read the rest of this entry »

Remembering September 11 And Anthrax: Public Health’s Vital Role In National Defense


September 9th, 2011
by Jeffrey Levi

In 2001, we experienced the unimaginable. In 2011, we know we need to expect the unexpected. Over the past decade, we learned a lot of hard lessons about what it means to be adequately prepared for diseases, disasters and bioterrorism. We’ve made smart, strategic investments, and there’s been a lot of progress to show for... Read the rest of this entry »

Narrative Matters: Eleanor Clift On Her Husband’s Death And End-Of-Life Issues


August 17th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

In the newest Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay, prominent journalist Eleanor Clift writes about her husband Tom Brazaitis and his death from metastatic cancer at age 64. Clift describes the multiple ways in which she and her husband benefited from hospice care, in which Brazaitis spent the last four months of his life. Clift uses... Read the rest of this entry »

Patient Advocates: Flies In The Ointment Of Evidence-Based Care


July 18th, 2011
by Jessie Gruman

The women recounted how their lives had been saved as they pleaded for the Food and Drug Administration not to withdraw approval for Avastin as a treatment for advanced breast cancer. They did so even without evidence that it provides benefit and with evidence that it confers risks. Their efforts were ultimately not successful: the... Read the rest of this entry »

Back From The Brink, But Still Waiting For PTSD Benefits


June 29th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

On Monday, the federal government and the nation marked Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day. In a statement noting the occasion, Health And Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said: “We have a responsibility to help Americans who have lived through trauma, especially our nation’s service men and women who may be dealing with PTSD.  We... Read the rest of this entry »

New Narrative Matters Recording On iTunes U


April 27th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

Health Affairs today adds a new Medical Education recording to its free collection of Narrative Matters essays on iTunes U. The account was written by Fitzhugh Mullan, a physician and clinical professor of pediatrics and public health at the George Washington University and the original editor of the “Narrative Matters” section. The essay, “Me And... Read the rest of this entry »

Pallone Cites Michael Ogg’s Narrative Matters Essay In CLASS Act Hearing


March 18th, 2011
by Chris Fleming

Michael Ogg’s Narrative Matters essay in the January issue of Health Affairs “powerfully illustrates the realities of the current long-term care environment,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said yesterday at a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing.  Pallone, the panel’s senior Democrat, entered the essay into the hearing record. Ogg suffers from primary progressive multiple... Read the rest of this entry »

Click here to email us a new post.