Disruptive Women Archelle Georgiou was interviewed for the blog below, originally posted on August 21st on Big Think.  In order to be a patient advocate you need to be well informed of the issues, this post reminds us of that:

You may want to think twice before your next visit to the doctor’s office. According to Dr. Barbara Starfield’s now-famous study, iatrogenic deaths (those resulting from treatment by physicians or surgeons) are the third leading cause of mortality in the United States, resulting in the loss of 225,000 lives per year. Of that total, nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections kill 80,000, physician errors claim 27,000, and unnecessary surgery results in 12,000 deaths.  

But iatrogenic errors aren’t the only reason people should avoid hospitals, says physician and health care administrator Archelle Georgiou. She tells Big Think that relying on doctors may actually shorten your lifespan. Georgiou bases this idea on her studies of the earth’s so-called “blue zones,” isolated communities around the world whose inhabitants live longer and healthier lives than the greater populace.

In the Greek blue zone, the island of Ikaria, inhabitants are more than 4 times more likely to live to age 90 than Americans are—yet there is virtually no health care infrastructure. Georgiou tells us: “There are no hospitals or major surgery capabilities…. People needing emergency care are transported by helicopter to Samos (a neighboring island), and all elective surgery is done in Athens.”

A procedure like an arthroscopy or a hysterectomy that would take 3-5 days in the U.S. consumes 3-5 weeks for Ikarians, who must relocate to Athens for the procedure and convalescence. Therefore, “their threshold for elective surgery is significantly higher than ours,” Georgiou says. The result is that people depend on themselves rather than doctors for non-life threatening ailments. And, knowing that health care is so inconvenient, Ikarians take greater care not to get sick—they eat a healthy diet rich in vegetables and exercise daily.

Our greater access to health care (discounting, of course, the millions of uninsured Americans) might make us more likely to live unhealthfully. “U.S. culture is steeped with a ‘find it and fix it’ mentality,” Georgiou tells us. Rather than try to prevent illnesses, we rely on our doctor’s ability to fix what ails us. And the result is that “we spend significantly more on health care than any other nation but without the benefit of improved outcomes or longevity.” In the U.S., our life expectancy is only 78, yet we spend 2.5 times more money per capita than Japan, the country with the highest life expectancy (82.6 years). One-half to one-third of the $2.2 trillion per year America spends on health care is simply unnecessary, says former AMA chairman Raymond Scalettar. (more…)

By Regina Holliday. On Thursday night in an office space in Georgetown a crowd was forming. It was an after-hours crowd. The room was filling with advocates, artists, professors, and students. There were doctors, IT professionals, authors, and members of the community. There were mothers, fathers, grandparents and children. They had all come to see an exhibit of art.

This office was the shared space for Clinovations and Osmosis. The wonderful folks at Clinovations had suggested placing one of my paintings in their space to brighten up the blank white walls. Perhaps one of my paintings would support an even greater awareness of the need for patient-centered care. I thought, why stop with one painting why not many? Why not have an entire show and invite people from every facet of health care and beyond? I wanted to create a space for conversation and networking. I wanted people to get together and have some face time surrounded by art.

I envisioned a crowd of people thinking of ways to provide better care for patients everywhere. As I thought about this, I realized that this concept would be the focal piece of the show. Give Us Our Dammed Data is my first crowd-sourced painting, and it features quite a crowd. I wanted to paint a citizen army of patient advocate authors. I knew quite a few from Facebook and Twitter and had read their work. So I asked for suggestions from Dave DeBronkart, Trisha Torrey, Lisa Lindell and Helen Haskell. Between the five us we created a list of potential authors. Helen suggested I contact all of them and ask their permission to include them in the painting. With her help I found their addresses. I really enjoyed the give and take of emailing each author. I explained I wanted to paint them and their books.

And so another crowd gathered in Georgetown on Thursday night. They did not move or laugh. They did not drink wine or nibble the delicate appetizers. Instead, they stared down upon us with sorrowful smiles. In a room usually filled with laptop computers and hushed conversation hung a large painting picturing a crowd of authors. These authors’ books span 15 years, and all of them are telling a very similar tale.

17 authors with weapons in hand stare down upon the viewer. The three panel painting measures 60 inches by 144 inches. It is a very large painting, and yet it is crowded with many who have been hurt and many who have suffered. Every one of them is an author. Most of the authors in the painting took the hurt and outrage they felt about a dysfunctional medical system and channeled that into a book. That book is their shield and their pen is a spear.

These are people who have taken up arms in a battle they had never intended to fight. Note they are dressed only loose robes or hospital gowns. Their feet are bare. They dress as the supplicant or the pilgrim. They are on a mission. For some of the citizen soldiers it has been a very long path.

Journalist Michael Millenson’s Demanding Medical Excellence was published in 1997, and as you read it it is hard to comprehend it was written 13 years ago. It reads like it was written yesterday. So in the far left panel Michael’s back faces the viewer in the piece. The public has not been listening. He is turned toward a fellow advocate who will spread the word. He is speaking to Julia A. Hallisy who looks concerned. And so she should. (more…)

By Robin Strongin. Over the next several weeks Disruptive Women will be blogging about the various aspects of patient advocacy.  Then in September, we will disseminate an e-Book on the topic.  To get ready for this series, I invite your input; think about what patient advocacy means to you and share your stories with us. Please comment on this post to let us know what you think about the topic– its level of importance in health care and any questions you may have or experiences you are comfortable sharing.I hope you will join us in this very important dialogue.

Did you miss Disruptive Women bloggers Indu Subaiya, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Trisha Torrey, and Regina Holliday this week on the Real Women on Health! Radio series? Or did you hear them, but want to listen again? If so, you can listen to the podcasts now available.

No matter who you are, the Affordable Care Act will help make your health care better. The reforms in the law will help bring costs down and will improve the quality of care for all Americans.

But we know that women in particular suffered under the old health care system and will especially benefit from the important changes in the new law. This was confirmed last week, with the release of a new report from the Commonwealth Fund highlighting how important the new law is for women across the country. The report notes:

Up to 15 million women who now are uninsured could gain subsidized coverage under the law. In addition, 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums. Women who have coverage through the individual insurance market and are charged higher premiums than men, who have been unable to secure cover-age for the cost of pregnancy, or who have a preexisting health condition excluded from their benefits will ultimately find themselves on a level playing field with men, enjoying a full range of comprehensive benefits.

Under the old health care system, a healthy 22-year-old woman could be charged premiums 150 percent higher than a 22-year-old man and many insurance companies treated simply being a woman as a “pre-existing condition.” Many individual market health insurance policies didn’t include maternity care and some states even made it legal for insurers to reject applicants who are survivors of domestic violence.

The new law makes important changes that will help ensure all women get the care they need and deserve. The Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies from denying any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition, excluding coverage of that condition, or charging more because of health status or gender. Being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition.

The law will also help ensure women have access to a host of preventive benefits including mammograms and pap smears. If you purchase a new insurance policy after September 23, insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you a deductible, co-payment or co-insurance for these and other preventive services. You can learn more about these new preventive services, and get information about your health care choices at HealthCare.gov.

And beginning in 2014, Americans will have access to a new competitive insurance marketplace. The new marketplace will include health insurance exchanges where millions of Americans and small businesses will be able to purchase affordable coverage, and have the same choices of insurance that Members of Congress will have.

To learn more, read about the benefits of the new law for women.

Orignally posted on http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/02/ensuring-women-get-care-they-need-and-deserve on August 2nd by Tina Tchen who is Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Executive Director of the Council on Women and Girls.

By Pamela Cipriano. On July 13, 2010, the clock started running for eligible providers, hospitals, and critical access hospitals, to become meaningful users of certified electronic health records (EHR). Under the direction of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, together with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released the final rules that lay out the first two years of requirements for eligible professionals to qualify for incentive payments included in provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the HITECH act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health).  View the press conference led by Secretary Sebelius.   (Disruptive Woman Regina Holliday, spoke at the press conference)

Seven months and 2000+ professional and public comments later, the final rules lay out a three phase graduated approach of requirements for demonstrating meaningful use of certified EHRs.  Since not one stakeholder group is wholly enamored with the rules, they are more than likely equitable and balanced.  Listening to the feedback, the ONC made a number of changes from the proposed to the final rules, taking into account concerns about the speed and scope of implementation of criteria to qualify as a meaningful user.  Groups across the industry gave faint praise as they acknowledged the greater flexibility in the final rules and an easing of some of the requirements.  The phased approach lays out the goal for Stage 1 as capture of data in coded format, Stage 2 exchange of information with emphasis on guiding and supporting care processes and coordination, and Stage 3 improving outcomes by focusing on decision support with improved access to comprehensive patient data.

With quality at stake, the meaningful use incentives tie payments to achieving advances in health care processes and outcomes.  The payments are intended to help accelerate use of HIT. Fortunately there is already broad agreement that populating data into EHRs, using electronic prescribing, reviewing and sharing data across providers and settings, and reporting on quality measures has a positive effect on care.  Dr. Don Berwick, newly appointed Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, emphasized that the new rules define the use of EHRs that is “meaningful to care and to people,” emphasizing the direct improvement in patient safety, transparency, and access to data resulting in better, safer, and more reliable care for everyone.  Certified EHRs help providers know more about their patients, make better informed decisions, and reduce costs of care.  Electronic systems can reduce potential for errors, and enable consumers to work with their providers to coordinate and manage their care.     (more…)

By Stephanie Mensh. During the next week or so, various Federal, state, and local government agencies as well as consumer organizations will be celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the landmark legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law on July 26, 1990. 

My husband suffered a stroke that resulted in speech and mobility impairments around the time that the ADA became law.  The ADA continues to help my husband and family by increasing awareness and accessibility for people with disabilities to fully participate in our community, to go to school, work, shop, movie theaters, restaurants, and hotels, to use public transportation, to access hospitals and health care, and to have a place to call “home.”

The ADA rights also extend to caregivers of people with disabilities.  Balancing the demands of a full-time job and taking care of a family member with a disability or chronic illness can be difficult, even with the most understanding employer. Under ADA caregivers, male or female, are protected from job discrimination resulting from real or perceived family commitments. (more…)

By Santi Bhagat, MD.  It seems that children with chronic medical conditions and disabilities (CMCD) just disappear into thin air when they grow up.  No-one tracks these young people, so we have no idea what happens to them.  We don’t know if they have insurance and doctors; are sick and in emergency rooms; go to school and have jobs; and/or live independently and have social lives. It is estimated that 600,000 young people with CMCD enter adulthood every year, into a system devoid of any supports and services, a system that is completely unprepared for them.  

To help improve things for children with CMCD as they transition into young adults , Physician-Parent Caregivers (PPC), is launching EMERGE–a new campaign  next week…stay tuned…I will be blogging more about that in the coming weeks.  

In the meantime, I would like to introduce a special PPC young adult leader, Amy Long.  Amy is one of America’s 8.2 million amazing young adults with CMCD who push through barrier after barrier and never give up on their dreams.  Amy gave me permission to share her first person account of what it is like to be a young adult with a chronic medical condition.  She calls it, the Google Circus.

GOOGLE Circus

Five years ago, I aged out of my pediatric skeletal dysplasia clinic (a place for kids with bone diseases).   I will never forget my first two adult medicine experiences….The first happened late one Fall evening. 

I was in college dorm my senior year and I woke up  from a late afternoon nap with a terrible headache, flashes of light and floating dots in my vision. I have a rare connective tissue disorder and form of arthritis called Kniest Syndrome that puts me at risk for a detached retina.  The flashes of light and floaters are common symptoms of retina disease.  Retina detachment is only fixable in the first 24 hours. I immediately called Student Health who told me they could get me into see an eye doctor next week.  I tried to explain that I couldn’t wait that long but no one seemed to take me seriously. All the doctors had left for the day. I called a friend and we drove the Emergency department.

We arrive. I spell Kniest no less than 3 times for the tirage nurses. They lead me back to the eye exam room and leave the door open with my chart hanging there. The doctor grabs my chart, starts to come in, looks at my file. His eyes widen and he backs out of the room. Through the open door I watch him try to Google Kiiest Syndrome.  He flips through the links and then finally after five minutes comes back in and sheepishly asks me, “So what exactly is going on?” I tell him, yeah I have a migraine-like headache, and I am seeing stars. I have a collagen disorder that causes high myopia and thus very fragile retinas. “Yes, yes, how exactly do you spell your condition?” I spell Kniest 2 more times.  I then watch him turn around and type Kniest Syndrome into Google. (more…)

By Rozalynn Goodwin. Yes, I said “cooties.”  You remember that childhood imaginary disease believed to spread through contact with those infected or worse, those of the opposite sex.  The cooties epidemic has spread to Washington, DC, and has politicians frightened to work across the aisles for the greater good.  I heard that the lesson: “They Have the Cooties” takes up most of the first day of orientation for newly elected congressmen and senators.  This class perfects neophytes’ skills in murdering any attempts for bipartisanship.

Cooties can be deadly for a politician.  Just look at SC’s latest casualty, outgoing Congressman Bob Inglis.  His independent thinking and willingness to sometimes side with the other party were clear symptoms that he had been infected, and now he’s being sent home to be quarantined.  Senator Lindsey Graham’s case of the cooties is thought by some to be in the advanced stages.

Cooties are not only taking out politicians who think for themselves and for the good of America.  Cooties are also killing good policy.  The six-month extension of the FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Percentage) increase appears to be the latest victim.  This temporary fiscal relief for states was first provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) back in February 2009 to prevent the decimation of state Medicaid programs at a time of rising unemployment and increasing Medicaid rolls.  This relief runs out the end of 2010 (right in the middle of most states’ fiscal years), and therefore produces a significant fiscal problem for state budgets.  Just last week, several governors from across the nation gathered in DC to lobby for this extension.  Guess whose governor was not there…

Earlier this year, it was widely assumed that this extension was a done deal, but Congress has been punked into inaction by some primary election results across the country that some believe reflect voters’ frustration with government spending.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I understand the need to be conservative in tough economic times, but I also understand the need to stimulate the economy and give our most economically vulnerable a helping hand.  It’s funny how we can bail out financial institutions and their wealthy executives, and turn a deaf ear to those truly suffering.

If FMAP is not extended, not only will SC’s disabled, very poor and senior citizens lose access to health care services, our state’s struggling economy will lose as well.  SC stands to lose over $200 million in federal dollars that could help patch our frail Medicaid budget and stimulate our economy with high-paying healthcare jobs and the accompanying exchange of goods and services.  (more…)

By Joy Burwell

You’re Invited to

“Solutions To Scale: Proven Health Care Models for Primetime”

 Wednesday, June 30, 2010

 9:00 – 11:30 am

Breakfast will be served at 8:30 am

Kaiser Family Foundation

Barbara Jordan Conference Center

1330 G Street, NW

Washington, DC 20004

 Raise the Voice, a program of the American Academy of Nursing supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showcases the work of “Edge Runners” – nurse researchers and experts who have developed proven care models and interventions that demonstrate significantly improved clinical outcomes and cost savings.  The Edge Runners will share their experiences to highlight what does and does not work for consideration by federal and state agencies during health care implementation.

Welcome:

• Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, American Journal of Nursing
• The Honorable Robert Borski

Opening Remarks:

• Ken Thorpe, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Panel One:

• Tina Johnson, CNM, MS, Practicing Nurse Midwife
• Tine Hansen-Turton, MGA, JD, CEO, National Nursing Centers Consortium, Executive Director, Convenient Care Association, Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, Advisor, Living Independently For Elders (LIFE), Raise the Voice Edge Runner
• Deirdre Baggot, BSN, MBA, Administrator for Cardiac and Vascular Services, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital, CMS ACE Demonstration Site for Bundling Payments
• Sandra Haldane, BSN, MS, RN, Chief Nurse, Indian Health Service

Panel Two:

• Randall Krakauer, MD, FACP, FACR, Head of Medicare Medical Management, Aetna
• Susan Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President, AARP Public Policy Institute, Chief Strategist, Center to Champion Nursing In America
• Matt Salo, Director Health and Human Services Committee, National Governors Association

Moderator:

• Scott Hensley, National Public Radio

RSVP: Joy Burwell 202-263-2971 or jburwell@amplifypublicaffairs.net

Sponsored by the American Academy of Nursing’s Raise the Voice Campaign. Raise the Voice is supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

After watching his parents and six siblings die from undiagnosed, untreated diseases, Peter Kithene vowed not to let that happen to other families. “I want to give kids their parents and give kids their lives,” he tells Disruptive Women.

While a college student at the University of Washington, Peter opened the first Mama Maria clinic in his home village in Kenya. He now has two clinics, three small out posts and just finished a business plan to open a third.

He wants all people in Kenya to have accessible health care.

Disruptive Women is proud to name Peter our April man-of-the-month.

He took a few minutes to speak with Disruptive Women’s Wendy Grossman.

Q: I read that by the time you were 12 — both your parents and six of your siblings had died from undiagnosed diseases? Is that correct?
A: Yes.

Q: What happened?
A: They got sick. At that time I didn’t know a lot. I was a kid myself. The kids got sick and died when they were young.

What I saw, what stayed with me until today, was my brother (who is still alive) almost died. He got very sick and had meningitis. Nobody knew what was going on. There were no laboratories to take him. When his illness got very serious, we traveled very far with him. And they said, ‘This kid has two hours to live. If we don’t get him to the hospital now, he’ll die.” They had an ambulance 15 miles away, and they drove across the border into Tanzania to a hospital there. And they treated him and treated the meningitis. Then he ended up losing his hearing and speech — he became deaf. This was a really talkative kid.

I just saw that, he could have died. If there wasn’t an ambulance and a reliable place to take him, and a hospital, he wouldn’t have lived. He lived. And after I opened the clinic, I saw kids coming in with the same illness, the meningitis. But we are able to treat it, and they got to go home and they don’t become deaf like my brother.

And lives are saved.

The other ones who died I don’t know what they died from. And then my parents also died. They really wanted to go to hospital. They needed the care, but there was no place to take them. Or the places they could go were just too expensive. Nobody could afford that.

Q: Is it just you and your brother now? Or do you have other siblings?
A: Me and my two brothers and one sister.

Q: Wow that’s a lot of kids your parents had. Tell me, why did you start the clinic Mama Maria? I read that your work is, in a way, avenging their deaths.
A: Avenging their death. No, I don’t think it’s avenging. It’s just giving life opportunities to people. I got a chance. I had the dream after my parents passed on — my dream as a kid was to get a place people could go to when they’re sick and get treated.

With that dream in mind, I worked so hard. Every step I made along my way from the village and everywhere I went was in doing that. I was volunteering as a kid in clinics and visiting with the sick in their homes.

It’s a dream I had at a very early age.

Q: Did you want to be a doctor?
(more…)

By Santi Bhagat, MD, MPH. Health Care Reform is off to a good start.  A couple of days ago, I blogged on the debate between the insurance industry and the administration about the interpretation of this new law.  Hats off to insurers for making the right choice, right away, to heed regulations that are forthcoming from Health and Human Services.   I first heard this through the grapevine at the Disruptive Women Breakfast Series this week from Stephanie Cohen, the expert panelist representing the insurance industry.

The law is intended to require insurers to issue policies that provide a full range of benefits for all children with pre-existing conditions starting in September 2010.  That means insurers can no longer refuse to cover children with pre-existing conditions under their parents’ plans, even if the children never had insurance.

This law has far-reaching ramifications.  A recent story about a newborn who was denied coverage at the age of a mere 9 days highlights how critical this law is.   Born with a congenital heart defect, Houston Tracy underwent lifesaving open heart surgery when he was just 4 days old.  His parents cannot afford insurance for themselves, being small business owners, and have individual policies for their older two sons.  After being charged and given the run-around by the insurance company, they resorted to enrolling their newborn in the state’s high-risk pool.

The big question now is how much will insurers charge for these policies.  If the price tag is too high, parents will not be able to afford to purchase policies, and in effect, coverage will be denied to these children.

It is not clear whether HHS regulations will speak to this issue.  The administration will be watching the insurance industry closely.   So will we.

Our sincere thanks to Mary Grealy, Judy Feder, and Stephanie Cohen for their insightful comments at this morning’s breakfast.  And a big shout out to Jennifer Berk, Julie Minevich and Jose Guzman, all of whom tweeted, emailed, and contributed to the success of our first breakfast.  If you weren’t able to be with us, you’ll want to read the summary post by Disruptive Women’s Wendy Grossman: 

Now that Healthcare Reform Legislation has finally passed – what’s going to happen next?

“The law is an outline – now the novel has to be written,” said Stephanie Cohen, Co-founder of Golden & Cohen. “This is changing daily.”

What happened, how it happened, and what will happen now were topics discussed at the first meeting of Disruptive Women’s 2010 breakfast series early this morning. The discussion, entitled: “Health Reform: US Patience (not a typo) Pay the Price,” was sponsored by Amplify Public Affairs’ Disruptive Women in Health Care Blog and its media partner, The Hill.

Mary Grealy, President of the Healthcare Leadership Council said Americans waited and waited for the new legislation (this is where the patience comes in) – like kids waiting for Christmas morning.  But now, we have to open the presents and see what’s inside. Did we get what we wanted? Or did we just get socks?  “We either had one of the greatest achievements or the downfall of the republic,” she said.   

Grealy discussed both the positives and the negatives of the new legislation. Most agree that making health insurance more affordable for millions of uninsured Americans was good. “It really was the right thing to do,” she said.

But, what happens next remains to be seen. What if people wait until they get really sick to get health insurance (since they will no longer be denied coverage).  Will that lead to higher rates? “Will Washington say, ‘Hey, we made a mistake and fix it?’” she asked. Or will they go the predictable route and blame the insurance companies?

Will people rather pay a fine, than pay for coverage? Plus, while more Americans will be eligible for Medicaid – they may not be able to get treatment, since many doctors don’t accept it. Just because the legislation passed, doesn’t mean the work is done. “Congress is really going to have to revisit this,” she said. 

After Mary spoke, Judy Feder, Professor of public policy and former Dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute talked about the history and politics of the new legislation.  “I’m beside myself with excitement,” Feder said. “My God, you couldn’t have a more dramatic process – we were up, we were down, we were dead, we were alive…. I am of the camp that calls this a bloody miracle.”  

Healthcare reform has been decades in the making, she said. “It goes all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt.”  “This was too big to fail.”   She spoke about all the roadblocks the bill faced – like losing the 60th vote when Scott Brown (R-Mass.) was elected. “I loved Senator Kennedy – but I am still mad at him,” she said. “He could have held on just a little longer.”

Still, the day of the vote was a “cliff-hanger,” she said – no one knew what would happen. But, “they compromised, rallied the troops, and delivered,” she says. “It shows that Congress can get something done…. If we can pass this legislation – we can do anything.”   

Stephanie Cohen, who recited insurance change after insurance change, told the group that the legislation is still a work in progress. “There are a lot of misunderstandings,” Cohen told Disruptive Women. “The book is being written chapter by chapter. It has to be revised. This is just the beginning.”

There isn’t a solid plan for exactly how everything will be implemented.  “I learned that a lot of this is still up in the air,” said Cara Tenenbaum, Vice President of Policy and External Affairs for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. “I don’t know what to tell patients. I don’t think anyone does.”   

Still, the discussion this morning tried to fill in the blanks and explain exactly what happened and what’s next.   “It’s important to be able to distill this information, because much of it remains uncertain at this point,” said Santi KM Bhagat, MD, MPH and President of Physician-Parent Caregivers.  “We don’t yet understand the full implication of the legislation… I don’t think there was time for transparency, it moved so fast. It helps to be able to discuss it together.”
   
The next breakfast meeting, “News: (Hot) Flash: Sex, Drugs & Menopause,” will be April 29, 2010 from 7:30 a.m.-9 a.m. If you are interested in attending, please register here: www.disruptivewomen.net/breakfastseries.  Men are welcome, encouraged even, to attend.  Come on, you know you want to.

By Ruth Lubic. The release this week of Amnesty International’s new report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA,  highlights the poor outcomes of African American women in particular. 

When I set up The Developing Families Center in Washington DC’s Ward 5, it was with the goal of addressing this very issue, particularly from the point of view of infant mortality.

At a rate of 12.22 per thousand live births, the District has the highest infant mortality of any of the states, with only Mississippi, at 10.74 also experiencing a double digit rate.

Help Wanted: PHRMA ISO New CEO
By Robin Strongin | February 13th, 2010

Immediately after the snow stopped falling in Washington DC this week, another news story took DC by storm–the resignation of Billy Tauzin, effective June 30th.

Mr. Tauzin’s departure comes at a critical time for those involved with health reform efforts, not to mention PHRMA’s own thick portfolio of issues that include patents and trade, the economy, taxes (think offshore), and shrivelling pipelines, just to name a few.

The job pays well, but the applicant will surely inherit a daunting to-do list…

Read the rest of Robin’s “Help Wanted: PHRMA ISO New CEO” post.

Stop Running Red Lights AND Pay for Health Care Reform
By Rosemary Gibson | February 1st, 2010

With all the hand wringing about health care costs, it is possible to cut costs without harming patients. Even better, costs can be reduced while making patients better off. Here’s how.

An unspoken truth is that three kinds of medical treatment are provided in the U.S. The first is treatment whose benefit is unquestionable. Surgery to treat a ruptured appendix is an example. Without it, death from life-threatening infection is almost certain. The life-saving medical care being rendered to earthquake victims in Haiti is in this category…

Read the rest of Rosemary’s “Stop Running Red Lights AND Pay for Health Care Reform” post.

A new meaning for super-size
By Lisa Korin | February 10th, 2010

During this blizzard of 2010, I thought about the difficulties an ambulance would have reaching someone in need on an unplowed street—let alone if the person were significantly obese and hard to transport on even an ordinary day. Then today I read an astounding Washington Post article that noted “a patient between 400 pounds and 600 pounds is part of every workweek for many crews throughout the [DC metro] region.” Really? I thought this only happened on occasion in select areas shown on the Discovery Channel. Apparently, not the case…

Read the rest of Lisa’s “A new meaning for super-size” post.