Dr. Reece’s Pieces, 24/7, Saturday, May 1, 2010

Key Words – medical home, clinical improvement, protocols, evidence-based medicine, health reform, state medical societies, tort reform, malpractice, defensive medicine, health consumers, physician shortages, office design, electronic health records, office design, academic medical center

Mayday Interviews

Daily Report: Today I describe interviews I conducted for Modern Medicine with 12 national thought leaders. Because these leaders are sending out distress signals about the health systems and prospects for health reform, I call these Mayday Interviews. To read them in full, go to www. modernmedicine.com and enter the last name of those being interviewed in the search box.

• The Medical Home: How It's Transforming Health Care Delivery

Dr. Paul Grundy, Director of Health Care Transformation of IBM Corporation, and President of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Consortium, describes how empowered primary care physicians will change the US health system for the better.

• The Future of Medical Practice as Seen by an Activist in Minnesota

Dr Kent Bottles, President of the Institute of Clinical Improvement in St. Paul-Minneapolis. shares his perspectives and solutions to the problems facing physicians today..
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• Impact of Health Reform Bill on Physicians

Timothy Norbeck, Executive Director of the Physicians Foundation, a nonprofit organization representing physicians in America’s state medical societies, describes the shortcomings and impacts, of the health reform bill on practicing physicians across America.

• Health Care and Medical Liability Reform: Perspectives from a Doctor-Lawyer

Dr. Donald Palmisano, former AMA president and Founder of Intrepid Resources, a risk management and patient safety firm, discusses health care reform in America and how independent physicians in small practices can succeed.

• What 115,000 Doctors Are Saying About Modern Practice

Dr Daniel Palestrant, founder and CEO of Sermo, discusses health care reform and the state of medical practice today in this interview.

• Physician Working Conditions and Its Effects on Medical Practice

Philip Miller, Vice-President of Communications for Merritt Hawkins Associates, the nation’s largest physician recruiting firm, discusses the reasons behind the projected shortage of physicians in the United States in this interview.

• Considering the Future of Medicine from the Trenches

Dr Gregg Alexander, a pediatrician in London, Ohio, talks optimistically about the realities as a small community practitioner and shares his thoughts on office design and medical information technology.

• Keeping the "Private" in Private Medicine: The View from Tucson

Dr Jane Orient, Executive Director of the Association of Physicians and Surgeons, discusses how physicians can become independent of government and third-party arrangements.

• The State of Medicine in Texas—and the Work of the Physicians' Foundation
Dr. Louis Goodman, CEO and President of Texas Medical Association and President of the Physicians Foundation, speaks about the benefits of tort reform in Texas, in lowering malpractice premiums and attracting more doctors to Texas.

• Health Reform and the Medical Academic Complex

Dr. John Connolly, Co-Founder and President of Castle-Connolly Medical Ltd, a consumer-oriented company that publishes America’s Top Doctors and has close relationships with the nation’s 125 academic medical centers, discusses the impact of health reform on academic hospitals.


• Health Care Reform, Doctor Shortage, and the Importance of Market Forces

Dr. Tom Coburn, Republican Senator from Oklahoma and an opponent of Obamacare, discusses the implications of health reform, why the doctor shortage is growing, and how market forces offer practical solutions to problems of health reform.


12) The Internet Will Lift All Clinical Boats

Ron Pion, MD, a professor of OB/GYN. consultant, entrepreneur, and chairman of Telemedicine Associates in Los Angeles, discusses the role of Internet and telecommunications, in improving the lot of doctors in small practices.