A spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently stated that even though the number of cases of H1N1 flu is decreasing there still haven’t been enough people who have received the vaccine. Doses of the vaccine are now plentiful so if you were planning on getting the H1N1 flu shot when it was in short supply there are plenty of doses available now and it is not too late.

Many folks take the drug Celebrex for arthritis and other inflammatory type diseases. A medical study published on Dec. 16, 2009 reported that recent testing on dogs found that taking Celebrex and other drugs in that class decreased the effectiveness of low dose aspirin (81 mg) that many people take to help “thin” the blood. It will be important to see if further study shows these findings to be true in humans.  bjmdjd

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Celebrex · flu shot · H1N1 flu · H1N1 flu shot · low dose aspirin

Well with the gifts opened and the year coming to a close I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I took a few days off and I’m back and ready to share a few tid bits.

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I figure the best thing I can do when I find some valuable information is to share it. I absolutely love WebMD as an accurate site for consumers to find reliable medical and health information. Remember, everything you read on the internet is not true but you can depend on WebMD. I recently saw an ad on television for their personalized cholesterol health assessment and gave it a visit. IT IS GREAT! You would do well to give it a look at:

http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/cholesterol-health-check/default.htm?promo=1

Until next time. bjmdjd

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Well, the answer to that question is not an easy one. This entry will focus on trying to answer this important question.

1. Human error. Mistakes do occur. Someone keying information into a computer might key in the number 20 instead of 2 or might enter a code that charges for open heart surgery instead of an appendix removal.

2. Duplicate billing. You might simply be charged twice for a supply, procedure, or drug.

3. Billing for supplies, procedures, or drugs that were never ordered or provided. There must be documentation of an order for and delivery of the service.

4. Fraud. Most hospitals, physicians, and other providers are honest and just trying to make a living providing valuable services BUT there are dishonest people in every walk of life.

5. Unbundling. This means charging for something that never should have been charged for in the first place. This mistake (?) is mainly on hospital bills. For instance, a patient has a hip replacment that the hospital charges a certain  amount for and then they charge in addition for things like sterile gloves, drapes, OR nursing care, etc. All of these things are already included in the procedure charge so the patient is actually being charged for them twice. Also things like non sterile gloves, bed linens, or other routine supplies, etc. are included in your daily room charge and should not be billed seperately.

Next we will list some mistakes found on hospital bills that you will not believe!  bjmdjd

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hospital bill mistakes · Medical Bill Mistakes · unbundling

• Walk to the corner shops instead of driving.W
• Walk to the bus stop or train station, and catch public transport to work.
• If taking the bus or tram, get off one stop early and walk the rest of the way.
• Park the car a fair distance from the entrance of the shops and walk, rather than parking right out front.
• Wash and vacuum the car yourself instead of taking it to a car wash

• Ignore the elevators in favor of the stairs
• In shopping centers, take the stairs instead of the escalators
• If you do take the escalator, walk up them instead of just riding them
• If you live close enough, try walking to drop off the movies you rented, or walking to mail a letter or pick up some milk

aerobic exercise · exercise · lose weight · walk

The American Heart Assoc. Scientific Sessions 2009 met last week and heard some interesting information. Modern CT scans were performed on 22 mummies with the oldest being 3500 years old. Results revealed that a significant number of these mummies had evidence of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) when they died. It has long been felt that this was a modern disease process resulting from  diets consisting of fast food, smoking, and lack of exercise. The only thought as to why this may have occurred is that because these mummies were of a higher class of citizens they would have been meat eaters which had to be heavily salted for preservation purposes. This salt could have led to hypertension (high blood pressure). If nothing else these findings show that modern medicine may need to further study the causes of this deadly disease process beyond those we usually blame. Who knows…I may smoke a cigarette with my next quarter  pounder with cheese! bjmdjd

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American Heart Association · atherosclerosis · causes of atherosclerosis · mummies

All I hear is how once we have everyone covered by some form of health insurance there will be this big improvement in access to care. Have you tried to get an appointment with a primary care physician lately? It’s hard enough if you have a doctor and nearly impossible if you don’t. What this shows is that there is a drastic shortage of family physicians and internists. What happens from a numbers standpoint if 46 million people suddenly have coverage and feel that they can go to the doctor? Who is going to see these people? The system can’t support the number of patients that it is trying to see now. The only good thing that I can see coming out of this is that the emergency rooms and ER physicians who are absolutely swamped will finally be getting paid something for the patient care they are providing. When I worked in the ER back in the mid 1990′s our physicians group had a collection rate of 40%. How many businesses do you know that could operate on a 40% collection rate? I have heard nothing in Washington about how to increase the number of primary care physicians. They are trying to replace as many as possible with physician assistants and nurse practitioners.These providers can take care of many simple patient problems and don’t cost near as much in salary as a physician while they can generate almost as much income. But as most everyone realizes there is no replacement for a physician’s education. If there were, physicians training would last a couple of years like that of these mid level providers. It takes 4 years of medical school and at least 3 years of residency training (after 3 – 4 years of college) to produce a new family physician or internist. Add to that the disrespect that primary care gets in the training programs and from other providers, the salary disparity with other specialties, the burdensome reams of paper work, and the long hours.There is not much incentive to go into primary care. I have a friend whose daughter just graduated from pharmacy school (5 years TOTAL training) and she started at a higher salary than a family physician friend of  mine makes after 15 years in practice! Yeah, all doctors are getting rich! If you are uninsured and think healthcare reform will mean that you will have your own doctor, think again!  bjmdjd

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access to care · family physicians · internists · primary care physicians · universal care

If you are taking or using any medicines containing the generic diclofenac which is the old brand name drug Voltaren, you need to pay close attention to news released by the Food And Drug Administration and associated drug companies late last night. It said that treatment with any of these drugs may lead to decreased liver function which can result in severe liver reactions, the need for a liver transplant, and even death. This also includes the new Voltaren Gel which is not even taken internally. Diclofenac is a non- steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) which is used for arthritis, other joint problems, and pain. Also be sure that you are not taking any other drugs in this class at the same time that you are taking diclofenac. These drugs include aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen which can be gotten without a prescription. If you are using any of the diclofenac drugs you might want to give your doctor a call to see if you need to be changed to a different medication. bjmdjd

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diclofenac · FDA · liver side effects · NSAIDs · Voltaren