Eugene Richards, who handled the photography and interviews for the ACEP 50th anniversary book, Bring ’em All, put together a video in honor of the medical workers. Richards said it was hard to see the headlines about frontline workers treating those dealing with COVID-19 without thinking of the people he profiled in the video, which he said reflects their shared experience.   View this post on Instagram Apologies for reposting, but the first time we shared this we accidentally omitted the names of the careworkers interviewed who deserve personal recognition ..read more

This week: Facility coding and virtual monopoly blamed for extreme ED bills; Should docs trust tattooed medical instructions?; Popping zit with woodworking blade = bad idea. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– In an analysis of over 70 million ED bills, the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) and Vox have determined that facility fees rose 89 percent between 2009 and 2015, which is twice as fast as the price of outpatient health care and four times as fast as overall health care spending Moreover, overall ER spending increased by $3 billion despite a 2 percent decrease ..read more

This week: Toyota tune ups ER discharge process, making it 40% quicker; ERs may stop ushering loved ones into “the other room”; There’s several reasons why ERs get a 5-15% increase around the holidays. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– Toyota likes to help make nonprofits more efficient, so when the company came to Plano, Texas, Parkland Memorial Hospital CEO Fred Cerise got first-rate consulting that would have cost hundreds of thousands. The consulting enabled its exceedingly busy ER to reduce average discharge time from 52 minutes to 31. Toyota’s team worked with ..read more

This week: GOP lawmaker Diane Black wants EMTALA changed to allow ERs to turn people away to cut costs; People avoided hospitals until ERs revolutionized them; New survey says 59 percent of docs have quietly suffered offensive remarks about their physical characteristics. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), an emergency room nurse, told MSNBC host Chuck Todd she’d like to see ERs be able turn away patients according to their discretion to help keep health care costs down. She takes issue with Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act ..read more

This week: ACEP says “Prudent Laypersons” at risk with Anthem Inc ED policy, study finds lack of follow-up after ED visits; California nurse’s house burns as she evacuates patients in Intensive Care. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– ACEP has stepped up its opposition to Anthem Inc’s policy of rejecting ED claims it feels may not have been necessary after a visit, which ACEP says Anthem inhibits the “prudent layperson” from seeking care for issues that may be urgent or deadly. Nearly 70% of respondents polled by ACEP say they oppose company’s policy for emergency ca ..read more

This week: NPR on a Houston ER during Harvey; Hospitals preparing for Irma; Health records among Harvey losses; Supervised drug injection in Canada. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– Downtown Houston’s only hospital is just blocks from a convention center where thousands of Harvey evacuees are staying. As NPR reports, 600 patients were seen in the first five days, and many staff who have been working 15-16 hour shifts, haven’t been home since Harvey hit—and some may be underwater. Nurse Araron Pardon says he’s never seen such emotion in staff. “People that you work ..read more

This week: Digital records need redesign to avoid physician burnout; Asian American ER doc refused by white nationalists in Oregon; Two-way video calling tablets already saving lives in England. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– While Electronic Media Records (EMRs) should make health care better, they are a major cause of frustration cited by doctors and overhauling them is at the top of the list of ways to transform healthcare in a December 2016 STAT survey They take too much time and focus attention on billing codes instead of the patient, notes Stanford School o ..read more

This week: Trump may declare opioid epidemic an official emergency; Survey says more nurses appreciate knowledgeable patients than doctors; The common impulse to “move on” after deaths in the ED. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– With 63% of 2015’s 52,000 American overdose deaths due to opioids, urgent federal intervention has been recommended by President Trump’s commission on the epidemic, and Trump has indicated he plans to make it official soon Doing so may allow funds and other aid to reach hard hit areas mor ..read more

This week: NomadHealth aims to reduce staffing shortages; One company behind many out-of-network charges; Why human trafficking needs an ICD code. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects a shortage of 40,800-104,900 physicians relative to need by the year 2030 An offshoot of telemedicine, Nomad Health, describes itself as the “Airbnb” system of medical staffing, matching doctors—and soon to be nurses—with hospitals looking for freelancers. Original Article by Fortune. E. Paul DeKoning, MD, MS: Sounds awful, even ..read more

This week: Physicians openly discuss mistakes; Why the term “dry drowning” needs to go under; NaloxBox’s solution for ODs may be worth a shot. Join in as our editors discuss the week’s headlines. ———————– A surgical resident at University of North Carolina says physicians need to talk more openly about their mistakes, advocating for debriefings in addition to the standard M&M conferences She says trainees often fail to realize errors aren’t usually the failure of a single person but the failing of a system of safeguards and points to the 2013 National Healthcare Quality Report, which says ..read more