Medical Practice Guidelines

Three Falsehoods Refuted

The health care reform debate is littered with false statements. Truth is hard to come by. However, several recent news stories counter a whole series of mistruths and half-truths. Here are just three falsehoods -- there are many more, including one countered in our news release below -- and the new facts and findings that counter the false claims:

Fraud, Waste & Abuse in Medicare, Lack of Definitions Will Create Denials of Care

CCHF Urges States to Protect Citizens’ Health Information

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced earlier this month it will not regulate the nationwide health information network, or NHIN, through formal rule-making, instead offering “a framework of principles and good practice models” to help guide deployment without hindering the implementation. The NHIN is designed to share patient health data among insurers and all types of health providers that an individual may seek treatment from. The nationwide network will interact with all state and individual provider networks, to....

Standardized Care Hurts Patient Experience - New Study

CCHC Opposes Rescission of Practitioner Freedom of Conscience Clause

No patient, no government official, no policymaker should be able to require a practitioner to do what is viewed as unethical, morally objectionable or a violation of the religious beliefs of that practitioner. 

CCHF Letter to Gov. Pawlenty Opposing Government-Issued Treatment Protocols

After our delivery in May 2004, citizen petitions continued to arrive at our office. We include these because we believe they were not part of the petitions you received last year. And like those delivered last year, we have placed them in a red binder.

Proposed Federal Guidance Threatens Patient Access to Medication

Importantly, in the drive to limits federal payments for pharmaceuticals, the guidance may lead to limited access to medication for all citizens, not just those patients in federal programs.

HMO Guidelines or New Mandates?

The key to cost-containment is consumer control over health care dollars. Personal financial incentives, such as medical savings accounts and federal health care tax deductions, will drive health care costs down by encouraging individual cost-consciousness. Although HMOs want their enrollees to believe treatment guidelines will provide safer and better medical care, patients should be cautious about embracing an initiative that may use words on a page to limit health care services.

Evidence-Based Medicine

EXIT INTERVIEW: David C. Anderson, M.D.

Certainly the reason to go to Arizona is not to make more money. My income will drop--maybe 30-40%. On the same hand the income factors in Minnesota are so driven by non-patient oriented mechanisms that my idealistic mind doesn't allow me to continue to practice that way.