ISSSEEM: eSEEM Community TouchPoints

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News from ISSSEEM Board of Directors & Members

Interesting

Connection

Millions of Americans along with people all over the world are filled with hope and good things to come with the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency. And as it turns

out, Christine Hibbard, Past-President of ISSSEEM and current Director, taught "Barry" Obama when he was 14 years old at Punahau High School in Hawaii. Chris was a part time Biology teacher for one semester in Honolulu, before moving on for her PhD in Clinical Psychology. We really are all connected in so many interesting ways!

CSUDH Students and Alumni Recognized for Mural Project at Watts Health Center
Submitted by GilahYelin Hirsch
ISSSEEM Director

On Feb. 6, student and alumni artists from California State University, Dominguez Hills were recognized by executives, physicians and staff at the Watts Health Center (WHC) in appreciation for their yearlong project of creating murals to brighten reception areas in the facility's pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology departments. The murals, "A Day at the Beach" and "Bridge of Life" were completed and installed last semester.
William Hobson, Jr., president and CEO, Watts Healthcare Corporation, noted that CSU Dominguez Hills is "a part of our extended family of organizations collaborating with us in our efforts to improve health care in the community."

"Art is healing," said Hobson to the assembled guests, which included the artists, faculty and administrators from the

university, and professor of art Gilah Yelin Hirsch, who led the project with WHC's Patricia Brown. "I think that's why art has been prioritized by people since the beginning of time. Your murals have really contributed to increasing what I feel is the hospitality quotient... that we think is so important in a facility dedicated to providing health care services."

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE

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Universal Health Care
By David Hibbard, MD, MPH

As an American who has been a GP for 40 years, and is still actively practicing medicine, I was recently invited to speak at the October NHS Alliance Conference in Bournemouth. My charge was to address 3 questions. 1) Is your NHS a better system than what we have in the U.S.? 2) Is it sustainable, and 3) Is your NHS getting too close to the U.S. way of operating or not close enough?

Yes, absolutely you have a better health care system than what we have. You all know the statistics. Your NHS provides far more comprehensive health care, including mental health, optical, dental care and community based services to all of your citizens, free, at a fraction of the cost of what we in the U.S. pay, and your health care outcomes are far better.

I personally would love to practice medicine in the UK, or in America if we had a system similar to your NHS where I wasn't tempted to do needless tests, procedures and surgeries because in our current U.S. system the more you "DO" the more you get paid.

In the U.S. there are 47 million people who must pay out-of-pocket for health care, which is exorbitant in cost. And if you are poor, you can't access care, and physicians will refuse to see you. Did you know that fully half of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are due to the inability of Americans to pay their staggering medical bills?

Repeated surveys of the American public show that two thirds are in favor of a health care system whose benefits to patients match those of your NHS. Many professional physician groups in the U.S. have endorsed a system of universal health care. These groups include the 125,000-member American College of Physicians, the American Women's Medical Association, the National Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, etc. President-Elect Barack Obama has made universal health care coverage of the American people a top priority of his new administration.

I often wonder, sometimes incredulously, if you Brits know how absolutely fortunate and blessed you are to have your NHS. Sure there are some problems that need to be worked on---as there will be in any health care system. But stop complaining and start truly appreciating that your NHS is ranked by the WHO, the Commonwealth Fund, and other watch dog agencies as one of the best health care systems in the world.

The question of sustainability is a matter of will. If you as a nation really want to continue your excellent health care system, your NHS, you will.

Is the NHS getting too close to the U.S. way of health care, or not close enough? I know there is rhetoric at the Center in favor of more competition, and there is pressure to invite Private For-Profit, investor owned companies to take over certain aspects of health care within the NHS.

I strongly advise you to be very careful and very vigilant about allowing the involvement of For-Profit companies or corporations in the provision of health care within the NHS. REMEMBER that For-Profit, investor owned companies such as the United Health Group, Virgin, Assura and others, are just what they say they are---they are FOR PROFIT. They exist to make a profit for their shareholders, and whatever money goes to the investors----this is money that is not going to the care of patients.

The practice of medicine is a profession, it is not primarily a business, and as such, its main focus above all else is the care of patients, not making money for investors.

Our experience in the U.S. where health care is thoroughly dominated by for-profit, investor owned companies has been a disaster. Medicine in the U.S. is now referred to as "Money Driven Medicine."

Take the example of the United Health Group in the U.S. Bill McGuire, their former CEO, became a billionaire, I repeat, a billionaire before he was forced the resign. In 2005 his salary was $125 million. This is money that patients or employers paid in premiums, expecting it to go toward their own health care.

Doctors are paid not by a fixed salary; they are paid "Fee-for-Service." The more services they provide, the more they get paid, so the temptation is constantly to do more. The Rand Corporation has done studies that show that up to 40% of what the U.S. spends on health care each year is not needed and/or does not help the patients.

Way too many American physicians have been lured into becoming entrepreneurs where personal profit has been placed ahead of the care and welfare of their patients. The current meltdown of the financial markets is another example of what happens when human beings are put in the position where they can make unlimited amounts of money at the expense of the people they are supposedly serving. Your NHS, by its design and intent, prevents that from happening.

And when For-Profit corporations provide services in the U.S. health care model, the clinical outcome is often inferior to care provided by Not-For-Profit companies.

Take the example of kidney dialysis units. Two thirds of all dialysis units are owned be For-Profit chains. Over 200,000 patients receive dialysis each year at a cost of over $1.3 billion. A 1999 study in our New England Journal of Medicine found that the mortality rate in For-Profit dialysis units was 23% higher compared to Not-for-Profit units and your chances of being referred for kidney transplantation were 26% less because if you were referred for a transplant, the For-Profit unit would lose the money that they got from dialyzing you.

I could go on and on with more, well documented studies in the medical literature comparing the adverse outcome of care in For-Profit versus Not-For-Profit settings. The point is that we have had a bad experience in the U.S. with For-Profit companies providing care to our people

In conclusion, I think all of you, doctors, nurses, managers, administrators and especially your patients should thank God and your lucky stars that you have your NHS, and be grateful to be working for it---in the best interests of your patients.

Published in the UK trade magazine PRACTICEBUSINESS+, Inspiring Business Solutions for Practice Managers, January 2009, pp. 12-13.

David Hibbard, MD, MPH, is the Co-founder and Senior Physician at the Family Medical Associates of Lafayette, Colorado, USA, a group with 11 physicians and his wife, Dr. Christine Hibbard, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and Co-founder. He is also on the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine

He has experienced first hand the birth, growth, promise and ultimate failure of "Managed Care" by private, investor owned companies in the U.S.

Dr. Hibbard is a long time member of the PNHP, the Physicians for a National Health Program that advocates for universal health care in the U.S. and a Single Payer system.

He travels widely advocating for dramatic change in the U.S. health care system and is available for consultation and speaking engagements about these topics.

Harmonies for Health:
The Heart Drone
By Dr Harold Moses

This array of harmonics carries many complex streams of bundled frequencies across localized and broad spectrums. Listeners to this music have claimed these harmonic overtones have lowered their blood pressure, reduced their stress, enhanced their immune system and even reduced pain.

A rich blend of harmonic overtones tuned to the note which naturally resonates with the heart.

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Harmonies for Health:The Heart DroneBy Dr Harold Moses

Harmonies for Health:
The Heart Drone
By Dr Harold Moses