Should Patient Safety Best Practices Be Legislated?

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Should Patient Safety Best Practices Be Legislated?

That’s the question that I have been asking myself ever since the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety was asked to support the Inpatient Opioid Safety Act of 2021(Bill # HR5932) introduced by Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Tom Emmer (R-MN). This bi-partisan supported legislation seeks to address the national addiction and opioid epidemic by requiring hospitals to continuously monitor all Medicare or Medicaid patients who are administered an opioid regardless of route of administration. Continuous monitoring of such a patient would be required unless such monitoring is contraindicated by the attending physician.

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Individualism Fails in the Face of Public Health Crisis Like the COVID-19 Pandemic:

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

COVID has Exposed Weaknesses in the US Healthcare System

Individualism is much prized in the United States.

Most Americans believe that they have the best healthcare system in the world. The title to an article published November 4, 2020, probably expresses this sentiment the best – “Pandemic Or Not, America Has The Best Health Care In The World.”

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Enjoy the Holidays – Keep Yourself and Your Community Safe!

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Happy Holidays – Keep Safe!

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) wishes you and your family a safe and happy holiday.

As 2021 comes to a close, much in the world seems to not have changed. When the first COVID vaccine was approved by the FDA on December 11, 2020, many people believed (or hoped) that this would signal the beginning of the end of the COVID pandemic.

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CVS Caremark Formulary Exclusion of Eliquis is a Patient Safety Risk

Editor’s note: The recent CVS Caremark decision to exclude Eliquis® (apixaban) from its Preferred Drug List raises critical patient safety issues about whether CVS is illegally practicing medicine and whether CVS actually cares about the patients it professes to serve. In this opinion piece, Michael Wong, JD (Founder & Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) discusses these critical patient safety issues and asks patients and clinicians to let CVS know how they feel through two online petitions.

For an update on this issue and how you can voice your concerns to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), please go to the PPAHS blog for March 22.

PPAHS understands that as of July 1, 2022, CVS Caremark will add apixaban (Eliquis®) back to its formulary, reversing its decision to non-medically switch thousands of patients using direct oral anticoagulants. Please follow our blog for updates on this issue.

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder & Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Is CVS Caremark Illegally Practicing Medicine?

Beginning in 2022, CVS Caremark (part of CVS Health) has excluded Eliquis® (apixaban) from the CVS Caremark Preferred Drug List. Eliquis is “indicated to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with NVAF. Eliquis is indicated for the treatment of DVT [deep vein thrombosis] and PE [pulmonary embolism], and to reduce the risk of recurrent DVT and PE following initial therapy.” Eliquis is a Factor Xa inhibitor and is a Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC).

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Delayed Diagnosis is a Patient Safety Issue

Dangers of Delayed Diagnosis: A Patient Safety & Malpractice Issue

Medical and legal experts warned of health and malpractice issues related to delayed diagnosis arising from the COVID-19 pandemic at the recent Crittenden Medical Insurance Conference held in Miami from September 26-28, 2021. The Crittenden Medical Insurance Conference is an event for insurance professionals, which is attended by healthcare insurers, clinicians, and risk managers.

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Don’t Delay Making Sure Your Lungs are Healthy Today!

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) is pleased to release this lung function checklist to help you determine whether you should have a lung function test.

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Does the elderly patient you’re caring for have a gambling problem?

Editor’s note: In this guest post, Anna Preston, a consultant with Live-In Care Hub, a UK non-profit organization, discusses how we can identify gambling issues in the elderly and how we can help those who have a gambling problem.

By Anna Preston (Live-In Care Hub, a UK non-profit)

Gambling has, in recent years, infiltrated all levels of society. Far from being the preserve of largely older men hanging around the racecourse or bookies, or indeed older women spending their money in the bingo halls, the rise in online gambling in particular has become a massive problem for people from all walks of life and all ages.

There are now more than ever numerous ways for people to gamble away their money from betting on races and other sporting events to lotteries and online games. Advertising for these is everywhere which draws more and more people in to the world of gambling. A recent YouGov survey estimated that there were some 1.4 million problem gamblers in the UK with around 5 million people affected in some way by gambling.

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Helping the elderly understand the internet

Editor’s note: In this guest post, Anna Preston, a consultant with Live-In Care Hub, a UK non-profit organization, discusses how we can help the elderly better understand the Internet.

By Anna Preston (Live-In Care Hub, a UK non-profit)

The internet and all its wonders hold no fear for the younger generation, but for older people, computers can be very hard to comprehend. Those who grew up in the analog world can find it difficult learning to use something which must seem like science fiction.

As frightening and confusing as new technology can be, any fears are far outweighed by the potential benefits and enjoyment which can be derived once you learn how to use it. Older people who may be feeling isolated from friends and family can find new worlds of communication opening up through Skype, facetime, TikTok or Facebook.

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Modern Healthcare Delivery

Editor’s note: In this guest post, Dr. Michael J. Zema challenges us to deliver a healthcare system that “can facilitate the timely, efficient, and appropriate access to healthcare for those in need at a cost which is sustainable.” With more than 40 years of experience working inside healthcare, Dr. Zema offers an assessment and a path to deliverance in his recently published book, “Modern Healthcare Delivery, Deliverance or Debacle: A Glimpse From the Inside Out.”

By Michael J. Zema, MD, FACP, FACC, CPE, CSSG

With the explosive growth that has taken place in modern medical technology, coupled with the now palpable ability to unharness the inherent potential of artificial intelligence, deliverance from the illnesses that have plagued mankind may finally be within reach. Continue reading “Modern Healthcare Delivery” →