Basic Health Access

Writing is a way of exploration, a way to compare ideas and concepts. Some authors demonstrate the ability to break through and focus on the most important areas succinctly. Dr. Bailony demonstrates this ability and offers the opportunity to consider The Great Health Care Debate of Our Time Rarely Mentioned  Will Health Care Continue to Embrace Humanity? "I sometimes honestly question whether we live in a society that allows for our doctors to be human. With humanity’s advances in medicine, science, and technology some of us no longer accept that bad things can happen. And if bad things happen we must find someone to blame. This environment is toxic to the health care field." "The most beautiful aspects of medicine are found in its humanity. Whether those moments come from a new birth or a conversation with a 6 year old, they enhance our days. As a physician I am grounded by my humanity; this means that no matter how hard I try, there will always b...

For forty years Americans have been convinced that cancer can be fixed. It fits with our quite impossible dream of living forever. We have constantly been told that all that we need is more of each of the following highly specialized and costly research,  highly specialized and costly tests,  highly specialized and costly scans,  highly specialized and costly physicians/staff/systems... Can this be done without collapsing health care or the national economy? Is this a good expenditure of dollars? Can our bodies endure the treatments? In more recent times we have a call for a cancer moonshot. Is this a fit with what can be done, what science dictates, and at reasonable value? What is highest probability - is that we will not be able to afford it. President Kennedy understood this with his original moonshot claim and indicated that we could not do this, unless we focused on keeping costs reasonable. Science, innovation, and discovery costs in health care have...

The minute the Senate calls your name, in this case about the alleged lack of family physician response to the opioid crisis . This is the response of a family physician We family physicians invite you Senator, to visit us in our practices. We ask you to explain to us how we will be able to address growing opioid and other addictions, mental health deficits, expanding geriatric demands for care plus screening for hepatitis, depression, suicide, nutrition, health literacy, resources, medication access, and other complex areas that we must integrate and coordinate. We would like you, Senator, to reflect upon th e impact of deteriorations in situations, income, jobs, education, housing, and other determinants of health and health outcomes.  We ask how we can do more with less since we are already paid least and CMS will pay us even less because we care for these more complex patients. Also we will be having to pay more for HIT, EHR, MU, MIPS, MACRA, PCMH - efforts t...