Blog Category: Letters from the Foundation

A recent article challenged the Choosing Wisely recommendations around routine stress testing before low-risk surgeries. The article, “Stress Testing Before Low-Risk Surgery: So Many Recommendations, So Little Overuse” suggested the campaign’s partners focus on services with “high baseline rates of inappropriate care.” In her Editor’s Note in the same issue, Rita Redberg, MD, called for… Read more »

A section of the tabloid, US Magazine, called “Stars – They’re Just Like Us”, shows pictures of celebrities doing mundane activities like walking the dog or taking out the garbage. This helps to remind us that, just like the average Joe, they walk their dogs and take out the garbage and— because they are people,… Read more »

Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MS, MPH, a general internist and researcher from VA’s Center for Clinical Management Research and the University of Michigan Medical School has a method for implementing Choosing Wisely® recommendations. He relies on a behavioral economics technique referred to as “precommitment” which, in this instance, calls upon physicians to make choices rooted in… Read more »

As a physician, is it possible to remain professional and market yourself? While it is understandable that physicians and physician researchers need to promote themselves to get jobs, patients, research grants etc., it should never come at the cost of patient care or trust.need to be able to trust that their physician is competent and… Read more »

I recently met with former CEOs of prepaid group practices (PGPs) that were part of the early years (1984-2000) of the HMO Group—now the Alliance of Community Health Plans—a coalition of not-for-profit, pre-paid group practices. (I was the first president and CEO.) One of the most notable accomplishments of this alliance back then was the… Read more »