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Index 2007: Letters to the Editor

Write a letter to the editor

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - 2006 index - 2008 index

Access to American Medical News content listed here is restricted. Details

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Take a tour of the print edition. Look inside.

Dec. 24/31

• Open-source code is best path to creating physician-friendly EMRs
• Protect doctors so they can say no to improper requests for antibiotics

Dec. 17

• Small practices could benefit from EMR data -- if given the chance

Dec. 10

• ACPM: Ask lawmakers now to fund preventive medicine residencies

Dec. 3

• Proposed law would rework residency spending to increase primary care

Nov. 26

• Tort system reflects a greedy society
• What will the test of time reveal about what really matters to those seeking medical career?

Nov. 19

• SCHIP bill would have been "first big step" towards socialized medicine
• Insurers distort the proper economics of providing heath care in this country

Nov. 12

• Religious needs are important element of an effective treatment plan

Nov. 5

• Key question in health coverage: Who needs insurance but can't get it?
• Health insurance creates its own drawbacks for patients, physicians
• For organ donation, eminent domain argument fails morally and ethically

Oct. 22/29

• Medicare sends uninsured count up
• Stylish scrubs undercut germ control

Oct. 15

• How will a reworked health system attract those needed to provide care?

Oct. 8

• Unregulated growth of retail clinics undermines primary care medicine
• Sticking with paper records for now

Oct. 1

• AMA Alliance: We are active partners in Voice for the Uninsured campaign
• This footwear a safety flop

Sept. 24

• The government should claim organs for donation by eminent domain
• Rodeo injuries seem a waste of already strained medical resources
• Encryption not a burden when communicating with patients

Sept. 17

• Untangle SCHIP from the needed Medicare pay increase for physicians
• EMRs are not designed now with human factors in mind

Sept. 10

• Pen and paper still best for now
• Forcing physician to e-prescribe would create a "financial burden"

Sept. 3

• Medicaid should include incentives for patients in pay-for-performance
• Allow compassionate and ethical involvement by doctors in executions
• People want, need medical homes

Aug. 27

• To serve patients and the profession, more physicians should be lawmakers
• Transgender policy is misguided

Aug. 20

• Antitrust case reveals what government thinks of physicians
• Focus on numbers is a misleading approach on doctor discipline

Aug. 13

• Referral rule change not in sync with real world of medical practice
• Physicians shouldn't casually dismiss patient mistrust of treatment plan

Aug. 6

• CEJA: Ethics code does not allow physician participation in an execution
• Retail clinics have something to teach on the subject of access to care

July 23/30

• Neurological surgeons: Back surgery is safe and effective when warranted

July 16

• Primary care, rational premiums are needed to make Medicare sustainable
• Abortion participation just as sullying to medicine as aiding in executions
• Medicare should not be trusted to make medical decisions

July 9

• Pa.'s $12 solution to control costs
• Patients think they have traditional Medicare, but it's actually an HMO

July 2

• Pay-for-reporting a shell game
• Cooperate on care, not stress division
• Ready "day or night" to ensure execution takes place on schedule

June 25

• ABMS: Our board certification process is rigorous and does not require specialty society membership
• What a deal: Lower pay but more work
• In the real world outside Capitol Hill, it's clear that Medicare's a mess

June 18

• Medicare and Social Security can't be sustained as currently operated

June 11

• Where's the voice of physician outrage over the bids to take over practices?
• Physicians are acting properly when they participate in executions

June 4

• United's threat to fine physicians is on top of enough other burdens
• Legal training teaches that physicians must take control of their own destiny

May 28

• Don't limit videotaping to surgery -- turn the camera on lawyers, too
• If board certification essential, why is it not part of licensure exam process
• Lawmakers should consider toll insurers take on the quality of care

May 21

• Create a no-fault period of probation for new drugs

May 14

• FDA tobacco control bill is misguided
• Serious Medicare repair will start when enough doctors drop out

May 7

• AMNews edited out a resident's acknowledgement to her mentor
• Lay people -- and especially lawyers -- should not evaluate physicians
• Rhyming pay-for-performance plea

April 23/30

• Don't let IMG externships become a lucrative and exploitative business
• P4P not so simple a solution, proven by confusion over who gets the bonus

April 16

• As new certifications appear, they raise practical and legal issues
• DEA should allow marijuana studies
• Managed care wrong for Medicare
• Pay cut ahead; so is a plan for "graceful exit" from Medicare

April 9

• Physicians must take a stand over their right to set own fees
• Walter Reed scandal suggests what a single-payer system would be like
• Be sure to check with liability insurer about possible "free" tail coverage

April 2

• AMA brings medical and moral weight to quest for mental health parity
• Good-bye to drug rep gifts and unholy alliance with pharma companies

March 26

• Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement: We are committed to improving quality of care

March 19

• Living donor transplants underscore failures in obtaining cadaver organs

March 12

• Boards letting nonphysicians stray into areas beyond their qualifications
• To ease ED overcrowding, spend more on Medicare and Medicaid office visits
• "Underreported" conditions or common problems exaggerated?

March 5

• Take a break? Not likely, given the pressures of medicine today
• To take strain off EDs, put money into primary care, mental health services
• It's "childfree," not "childless"

Feb. 26

• Calif. provider tax idea is a bad idea that could spread across the country
• Spread the burden of paying for care
• Sleep deprivation among physicians is hardly limited to residents
• New board certifications beg question: What's an IM physician qualified to do?

Feb. 19

• Advice from Capitol Hill: How physicians can lobby effectively
• A break from this practice won't work without a vacation from expenses
• Court erred in expert witness ruling

Feb. 12

• Looking past pills, adherence efforts offer insights into being a physician
• ABIM chief: We will be working with three co-sponsors to create sleep medicine certification

Feb. 5

• ISDA: Our Lyme disease treatment guidelines were rigorously researched

Jan. 29

• PHRs, sure, but to cut care costs, target exorbitant plan profits
• Rising expenses outstrip the ability of part-time physicians to cover them

Jan. 22

• ACS: Our standards program was the prototype for the Joint Commission

Jan. 15

• IMG's knowledge of U.S. medicine and culture came by trial and error

Jan. 1/8

• Key votes on abortion rights and stem cell research were victories for science and physician autonomy
• Pay-for-performance is fine for factories, wrong for medicine

Last year's letters - Back to top.

Only 8% of the work force is enrolled in consumer-driven health plans. Read more

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