Duffy Dixon, from Channel 11 Alive News (NBC affiliate here in Atlanta) picked up the story first and did an excellent job with the story (aired 08/09/09).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeUVbo8wHp4
The story was followed up by an appearance on CNN Saturday (08/10/09) and FOX NEWS (08/11/09) on Sunday.
Monday's (08/12/09) appearance on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5i7EgDqY0o
Monday, August 31, 2009
About Dr. David Lowther
I am a cancer doctor. I live and breathe cancer talk. I sit and walk through the most threatening of all medical diagnosis with my patients day in and day out as their, sometimes, only advocate. It’s in my genetic code to care. I think only of what is best for my patients. So, I began doing my own town halls over a month ago, which predated the summer recess and the national press coverage of town halls, incidentally. I did it when patients began speaking more of the proposed HR 3200 legislation than they did of their cancers. There was a moment in mid-July when I just said “enough already, the docs have to get involved and speak up for the patients.” I realized there was just a dire need to give them a voice.
My first impromptu “town hall” had over 300 participants when I truly expected more like 20-30. That fueled the desire to make this a movement. For the 2nd town hall, I required a much larger venue and found a friend in a local move theater, Spotlight Theatres, which was willing to donate two theaters for 2 hours to the cause. Between those two town halls, Dr. Brian Hill had challenged Congressman David Scott and became symbolic of the debate. As a friend of mine, I invited him to my second meeting and he was stunned at the attendance and at the response to the presentation.
Since then, we have decided to dovetail our presentations and coordinate our efforts to educate the patients about the bill—but more importantly, to speak for the patients who are so disproportionately against this legislation despite what appears, on its facade, to be a concerted effort of “involved parties” such as the AMA, AARP, hospitals, drug companies, etc. I said it to the Senator and Congressional representative “handlers” when they called after my first two town halls to express their gratitude: this is not about them...it’s an a-political effort by a single physician (now two) to educate their constituents about the expected outcomes of HC reform....they will not be asked to influence the dialogue...rather, they are invited to observe the response...in essence, I said, I’m bringing the cancer clinic to THEIR door.
What no politician, no media conglomerate, no simple observer will ever know about the practice of medicine is that it is NOT simply a science of biologic facts colliding with a set of life circumstances. It is more than that. The relationship between a doctor and a patient rivals only that between a human being and a spiritual advisor, such as a rabbi, priest, or pastor. We are invited into the patient’s life by the patient in a way that even the closest family members are not privy to on many occasions. There is a genuine bond that most physicians at one point recognize transcends the simple physical contact of an examination or the recording of medical facts in a chart. This relationship is critical to the spiritual survival of the human soul, something even disease cannot threaten. Doctors feel it, know it, and it can often be overwhelming. It is where the rubber of “responsibility” hits the road. It cannot be affected by costs, cannot be overcome by platitudes, and cannot be forgotten by turning up a car stereo after work. We carry it with us every day of our lives. We know we are here to better the human condition. The patients teach US this role every day of our careers.
So Brian and I are fighting. We are fighting for YOU like we fight for you in our clinics. We welcome the responsibility. We are absolutely determined to put our patients first in this debate.
About Dr. Brian Hill
Hi. I am Dr. Brian Hill, a working urologist, married with two girls. I love my wife, my girls, my practice and the patients that I take care of. I feel blessed that this is my life. I come from a large family, have been working since fifteen, was able to spend my summers during my high school years working overseas in Haiti, Poland and Egypt, attended a small liberal arts college in Virginia, and now after four years of medical school, six of residency and five of practice, I somehow found myself asking my congressman a question, something that had never previously crossed my mind.
I happened to stumble into this healthcare debate when I asked my congressman, David Scott, a healthcare question during a town hall meeting where a local highway project was being discussed. To clear the air, I did wait until after all of the highway questions were asked and the microphone was opened for other topics. And I had called my congressman’s office and was told that his schedule was already set and did not include any healthcare town halls. So I took the only opportunity available and asked my congressman to simply explain to me in real life dollars, not hyperbole or political speak, why he supports a government option that historically has yet to demonstrate that it fulfills any of the ideals of healthcare reform. And I came alone with my father-in-law, not as part of an organized group. I have always carried some interest in politics, but that interest rarely spilled beyond reading a few socio-politico-economic books, watching either CNN or FOX and occasionally ranting around my office when some ideology that I disagreed with was voted into law.
However, when the topic of healthcare reform began to cross the lips of politicians, I became more keenly aware. Not only would this impact my life, but change would, without much doubt, affect the manner in which I was able to practice medicine, either for better or for worse. I began to read about the ideas being floated about, and my interest peaked further. But it really was not until I watched President Obama discussing healthcare reform that included the public option with a group from the AARP that I decided to more actively engage myself in the healthcare discussion. He told the group that while the government would not step in and disallow a hip replacement, it would educate the physician and patient in better ways to manage the condition. I spent four post-graduate years in medical school followed by two years in general surgical training followed by an additional four years learning a surgical specialty, a similar tract to orthopedic surgeons. Despite that level of surgical training, I cannot tell an orthopedic surgeon the best way to manage a degenerative hip. So how can either the President or group of politicians/political appointees, even if they have some association with medicine, tell an orthopedic surgeon how to practice his surgical specialty? Does a plumber tell an electrician how to wire a house?
And I began to read more earnestly, and my concerns mounted. And I asked a question. And that question has yet to be truly answered—political speak does not constitute understanding or an answer, just a response. So now we are here, looking for answers ourselves, because we have to ask the right questions and find the right answers. Because we will all be patients at some point. And we deserve the best in healthcare.
Welcome, from Dr. Brian Hill
I have to admit, and it will likely be quite evident as this moves along, but I am not much of a blogger. Actually, I’ve never blogged before. I have also never been very involved in politics, although this blog really has nothing to do with politics.
Because this is a blog about healthcare, and in my view, healthcare does not belong in the realm of political ideology. I do believe that most people will uniformly agree that politics, at least at this juncture in our society, has become more about following political ideology and maintaining power rather than perhaps finding true means to positively impact every American. That is not party specific. People fall on both sides of the political spectrum, and that ideology unfortunately can blind us or prejudice us to the point where we cannot approach problem-solving in a process driven by critical thought. We need to make decisions based on outcome data, not wishes and desires, no matter how wonderful and flowery those wishes are.
And I do want to make this clear. This is a blog about healthcare reform, maybe even more about the transformation of our healthcare system. This is a time where the debate about fixing the ills in our healthcare system has been raised to a crescendo. I am truly excited about the idea of making this system stronger, more efficient and more accessible, with higher quality, increased patient satisfaction and rising cure rates, hopefully with less rates of preventable illnesses. But this is also a time for reflection and certainty. We cannot choose change for change’s sake. We cannot pick the wrong type of reform, or we will all suffer, and future generations will suffer. So now is a time to judiciously examine different approaches and make decisions based once again on evidence derived from outcome data.
And this is the real driving force behind this blog. In medicine, we practice what is called “evidence-based medicine.” This means that we look at trials and research to determine the best approach to treating medical conditions. We don’t just hope that a treatment works. We don’t cross our fingers and hope with all our heart that we are choosing the right treatment path. We look at the evidence and follow that evidence to direct us toward the proper pathway. And if we practice medicine in this manner, and we do because we see that our cure rates are best when we follow this model, then does it not make sense to correct the ills within the healthcare system in the same manner.
So this blog will hopefully provide data and information along these lines. It’s what I do for my life. And I love what I do. And I worry that if we don’t heed the data but instead follow some politically driven ideology, we are going to irreparably harm the best healthcare the world has to offer. But if we find the right way to transform our healthcare delivery system, then we just might make not only an impact of tremendous proportion in the
Sunday, August 30, 2009
References
1http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/03_NationalHealthAccountsProjected.asp#TopOfPage
2http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
3“Survey of Employer Health Benefits 2007,”Kaiser Family Foundation, http://www.kff.org/insurance/7672/upload/7693.pdf.; “Survey of Employer Health Benefits 2008,” Kaiser Family Foundation, http://ehbs.kff.org/images/abstract/ 7814.pdf.; “Hewitt Data Reveals Little Change in U.S. Health Care Cost Increases for 2009,” Hewitt
4 http://www.nber.org/papers/w15213.pdf
5 http://www.nber.org/papers/w13429
6 The Business of Health, Robert L. Ohsfeldt and John E. Schneider
7 http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/health/infant-mortality-rate.aspx#_ftn7
8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih/pubmed.gov/pubmed/16711376
9http://www.mdconsult.com/das/citation/body/155849644-2/jorg=journal&source=MI&sp=19642103&sid=0/N/19642103/1.html?is
10 http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/
11 http://lancet.com/journals
12http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=91106
13http://www.healthimaging.com/_news/organization/National+Bureau+of+Economic+Research
14 Jeffrey H. Anderson, “Medicare’s Costs Have Risen Far More Than the Costs of Private Health Care,” Health Policy Prescriptions, Vol. 7, No. 06(June 2009)
15http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/docLib/20090714_HPPv7n07_0709.pdf
16 Sharon K. Long, Allison Cook, and KarenStockley, “Health Insurance Coverage in
17 Kevin Sack, “
18“Health Benefits Survey 2007,” United BenefitsAdvisors, http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicinenews-1/survey-3a-massachusetts-employers—employees-paying-most-for-health-care-plans-10689-2/. John McDonough, “Massachusetts Health ReformImplementation: Major Progress and FutureChallenges,” Health Affairs (June 3, 2008): w285–97.“2009 CommCare Premium Contributions andAffordability Schedules,” March12, 2009 http://mahealthconnector.org/portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.ContentDeliveryServlet/About%2520Us/Publications%2520and%2520Reports/Current/Connector%2520Board%2520Meeting%2520March%252012%252C%25202009/Affordability%2520Schedule%25202009%2520%25283-11-09%2520revised_2%2529.ppt#257,1,Slide 1
19“Survey of Employer Health Benefits 2007,”Kaiser Family Foundation, http://www.kff.org/insurance/7672/upload/7693.pdf.; “Survey of EmployerHealth Benefits 2008,” Kaiser FamilyFoundation, http://ehbs.kff.org/images/abstract/7814.pdf.; “Hewitt Data Reveals Little Change inU.S. Health Care Cost Increases for 2009,” HewittAssociates LLC, http://www.hewittassociates.com/Intl/NA/en-US/AboutHewitt/Newsroom/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?cid=5604
21 “2009 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times,” http://www.merritthawkins.com/
22 www.urban.org/health_policy/about/news.cfm
23http://www.pnhp.org/mass_report/mass_report_Final.pdf
24http://www.pnhp.org/mass_report/mass_report_Final.pdf
25http://www.physiciansfoundations.org/news/news_show.htm?doc_id=728872
26http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6245.html
27 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, 2007
28http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2modulechunk&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eeohhs2&b=terminalcontent&f=dhcfp_payment_commission_pr_2009_07_16&csid=Eeohhs2
29http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/12/08/prl11208.htm
30http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=995270
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