The World Health Organization (WHO) defines chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as “a lung disease characterized by chronic obstruction of lung airflow that interferes with normal breathing and is not fully reversible.”1 A COPD diagnosis is confirmed by a test…
The Marketing and Outreach Restoration to Empower Health (MORE) Health Education Act was introduced in the Senate as bill S. 455 and in the House of Representatives as H.R. 987 in early February 2019 [1, 2]. In the House, the…
Though the purpose of medicine is primarily to heal patients,1 the medical field also provides careers to numerous physicians, nurses, technicians and more. Because so many earn their livelihoods from health professions, it is important to acknowledge health care providers’…
General anesthesia is administered either through intravenous or inhalation methods.1 Anesthesiologists give inhalation anesthesia, which has been common for over 80 years,2 through a laryngeal mask airway, anesthesia mask or tracheal tube connected to an anesthetic vaporizer and an anesthetic…
General anesthesia, which is usually administered as a combination of intravenous (IV) drugs and inhaled gases, is used to put patients in a sleep-like, pain-free state before a surgery or medical procedure.1 Medical procedures that warrant general anesthesia include those…
The model of supply and demand is the basis of the ideal, free market. According to this model, buyers are good judges of what they receive from sellers, and pay them directly for the goods and services being exchanged. Most…
In recent decades, the healthcare industry has been largely consolidated under the management of fewer and larger entities [1]. The rapid rise of health-maintenance organizations (H.M.O.s)—with only three million patients enrolled in 1970 to eighty million represented by 1999—is attributed,…
Officially declared a public health emergency in October 2017, the Opioid Crisis has claimed nearly 100,000 lives from 2017 to 2018, accounting for the vast majority of U.S. drug overdoses in those years. In 2017 alone, an estimated 1.8 million…
Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDRs) are organizations that adhere to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) standards for health care quality improvement through the collection and reporting of clinical data.1 CMS, established in 1965 and part of the…
In private practice, physician-lead practice groups, and academic medical centers alike, there is often an emphasis placed on productivity. How many cases are completed per day, what is the turnover time, and how has patient census changed over time? In…