DermHelpCentral

Access to Our Medical Records

The Cures Act has a provision governing access to patient records. It mandates that patients must have access to their own health information. Thus, when you have a test done, you will get a link to the results whether you want to see them or not. It may be called your Portal, MyChart or something similar.

This topic was covered in a fine NY Times article on October 3, 2022.

Some of us may like this. Personally, I find it intrusive, annoying and potentially anxiety provoking.

See Times article: Download Your Medical Test Results Are Available. But Do You Want to View Them - The New York Times

Acne Basics- Mike Evans

Dr. Mike Evans, a Canadian family physician and health care educator has created and posted an educational video on acne for teens and young adults.  It's a great introduction for any young person with acne as well as his/her parents.

Click here to view video

Click Here to View Video

Other health videos by Mike Evans.

Price of Care in the U.S.

The NY Times had a recent article on the cost of medical care.  The price of care (especially in hospitals) can vary tremendously for the same procedure. In the case below the cost of a procedure varied by a factor of 122!!

"Hospital charges are all over the map: according to the report published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, fees for a routine appendectomy in California can range from $1,500 to — in one extreme case — $182,955. Researchers found wide variations in charges even among appendectomy patients treated at the same hospital."  See: "Confusion of Hospital Pricing" by Roni Caryn Rabin   

Something is definitely wrong, brah!  This is one CRAZY situation!

For the original article, see:

Hsia RY, et. al. Health Care as a "Market Good"? Appendicitis as a Case Study. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Apr 23

Fragmented Medical Care

I saw a young woman recently who is on isotretinoin for cystic acne and noticed a bandage on her left great toe.  I asked about this and was told that a podiatrist had removed part of the nail because it was ingrown.  Isotretinon can cause paronychia and excess granulation tissue in the nail folds and nail removal is not usually indicated in these cases.  I asked if the podiatrist knew she was on isotretinoin and both the patient and her mother said "No."

"The more complicated your medical problems, the more fragmented your care will be. The average Medicare patient sees two physicians and five specialists a year.  Those with a chronic illness see an average of 13 physicians a year. A Medicare patient with coronary artery disease sees ten physicians in six distinct practices annually. Indeed, the more physicians following someone after a heart attack, the lower the survival rates."

It is up to the patient to make sure his primary doctor (and other prescribing physicians) have all pertinent records from other providers.

An article on KevinMD summarizes this topic well:  How to Fix Your Fragmented Medical Care.

Here is a full text article that addresses hypergranulation tissue and nail problems in patients on isotretinoin.