Wellness & Health Care for the 21st Century

What You Need to Know About the Possible Health Risks of the Gulf Oil Spill

2010-07-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Elaina George

It has been almost three months since the oil spill in the Gulf, yet there has been little attention given to the health effects of exposure to the various components present in the spill or the chemical used to disperse the oil. The contents of the oil spill contain several components; each has the potential to cause health risks to those who are exposed to them. It is clear that the oil spill in the Gulf is a toxic mixture that has the potential to not only destroy the ecosystem of the Gulf, but to harm the short and long term health of both the residents of the Gulf and people living in neighboring states who can be adversely affected by toxins carried in the jet stream and rain carried from the Gulf. It makes one wonder how long it will be before we see a rise in illnesses from not only the workers and volunteers who are cleaning up the spill without proper protective equipment such as respirators and protective clothing, but also those in neighboring states. [more...]

The President’s Health Care Proposal: Trying to Get Blood From a Stone

2010-02-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

If the goal of the President’s proposal was to drive doctors into hospital-based practices or community health centers; or if it was to break the spirit of providers and bend them to the will of the government that holds the threat of criminal prosecution over their heads if they are found to be Medicare cheats; or if the goal was to dumb down the practice of medicine by ramping up the power of the HHS secretary and the evidence-based medicine posse, then the President’s proposal for health care reform was successful. However, we as physicians are individuals. There approximately 890,000 doctors currently practicing in the U.S. Those of us who want the autonomy to practice medicine the way we were trained, those of us who run a private practice who are entrepreneurs at heart, those who are tired of being pitted against our patients and other physicians, and those who are just sick and tired are NOT going to take this. Those of us who can will retire or leave medicine all together. Those within the system will simply opt out. [more…]

The Moral Compass of Health Care

2010-02-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

How do we define social morality within the context of political morality? Can we even mesh the two? How do we do what’s best for the greater good in the realm of health care? In an area of history, which will come to define us as a nation, health care is at the core of our heated debate. Many claim it’s partisanship at best. I see it as individual political agendas. After all, it would appear that good judgment would look at long-range implications of today’s decision and see that a complete overhaul of a system that is not without fault could be improved upon greatly by some honest politics, such as tort reform. Ah, but that makes the hair on the back of a lawmaker stand straight up. After all, many career bureaucrats and/or career politicians hail from the halls of institutions of higher learning in the area of law. Nepotism perhaps, or cover your back is at risk. But then again so is your seat at risk as a representative of your constituents. [more…]

Changing the Healthcare Paradigm: A Physician and Patient-Centered Approach

2010-02-18T06:56:00.001-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

We are at a crossroads. As a practicing physician, I am really concerned about the state of our healthcare system if the Congressional reform bill gets passed. Even if it is an amalgam of both the House and Senate bill, there are so many negatives that the basic tenets that are good, like coverage for pre-existing conditions and not being dropped from an insurance plan, will not make any significant difference in our healthcare overall. Some have said that the reform effort is a stepping-stone to a single payer system and I agree that is possible. What physician would want to enter a system where their freedom to practice medicine is controlled by government task forces, and where the final medical decision is made by a government administrator who will be all about cost savings, and NOT what is best for the individual patient? [more…]

Are High Health Care Costs Tied to Evidence-Based Medicine?

2010-02-16T07:19:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

Did you ever wonder exactly what evidence-based medicine is? The National Center for Clinical Excellence bases it in on the philosophy "that as much medical practice as possible ought to be carried out using proven algorithms based on empirically valid evidence from controlled scientific experiments, rather than individual clinical judgment." Congressional health care reform relies heavily on both 'evidence-based guidelines' and 'evidence-based individual decision making' to set the standards of care for medical treatment and outcomes. In fact, House bill 3962, in an effort to control costs, creates a new layer of government bureaucracy that inserts itself between the doctor and the patient. [more…]

Duality of the Heart and Washington

2010-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the U.S. The ridiculous part is that the largest killer is PREVENTABLE! And, by the way, we consider ourselves to be an educated, evolved society. Preventable, yet what we “prescribe” culturally as the answer is Big Pharma. The statin drug market is a $20 billion-a-year racket alone. In an industry that spends $50 billion on advertising alone, with an additional $20 billion on lobbying, the first action step requires an honest inventory of the relationship of Big Pharma and the politicians it gets elected to run “our” government. You can afford $50 billion in advertising when you make $20 billion just on statins. And, I would totally agree with the statin mentality if it solved the problem. We wouldn’t have a $500 billion tab for heart disease yearly if the stuff was the answer! [more…]

Why Are We Ignoring The Role of the Food Industry in Healthcare Reform?

2010-02-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the epidemic rise in the number of Americans young and old who are either overweight or obese account for 67%. The number of obese people has more than doubled since 1980. When you take into account the number of diseases like breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes and osteoarthritis, to name a few that are linked to obesity, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the link between healthcare costs and obesity is strong, and changes can go a long way to both bringing down the costs and helping us live longer healthier lives. Over the past two decades we have gotten fatter and sicker, but there has been another change. Our food, by and large, is no longer produced by the small farmer; corporate farming has taken over our food supply. The farms have gotten larger and techniques to increase the amount of food while making it cheaper and produce it more quickly have been the goal of the food industry. The argument can be made that the changes in the way our food is produced has had a direct correlation with the rise in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and the ever increasing cancer rate. In addition, it can also be argued that government policies have empowered the food industry to adopt policies that are making us sick. [more…]

It’s Not Us Versus Them; We Are All in This Together

2010-01-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Washington is under the false impression that all it will take is a new tax, a new czar or a new bailout to fix health care in America - that the problem is US versus THEM. All eyes will be on Washington on Wednesday for the State of the Union to see and hear the new 'answer' to our health care ills. The problem is that the real solutions are not even on the drawing board. The problem is that we don’t have our problem defined. The problem is that we don’t have a health care crisis at all, but rather a problem in how we think about health care. The problem is that the administration wants a government-run bureaucracy that will dictate and define prevention and treatment. We are all in this together and we need to have positive solutions - positive for everyone, not a few. Positive solutions for what 'We the People' want to see. [more...]

Massachusetts Voters Decided to Make a Stand, But Is It Enough to Save American Healthcare?

2010-01-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

It has become clear that health care reform in its present state has nothing to do with delivering quality healthcare to the American people. The idea of universal coverage, with protection against insurance company wrongs (e.g., denying patients for pre-existing conditions and limiting the insurance company’s ability to deny coverage when you really need it) has been the sheep’s clothing cloaking a bill designed to destroy our healthcare system. In short, the proposed healthcare reform will doom us to a future that has the potential to make us sicker by limiting our access to screening exams such as mammograms, and limiting our access to physicians while making us pay more for the privilege. The vote in Massachusetts was a stand against those in the government who are bent on telling us that they know what is best for us. I have been astounded by the complete contempt in which those in power hold the American people. A majority of the people in this country think the healthcare reform effort is going in the wrong direction. Although the vote in Massachusetts made it clear that there was major opposition to the current bill, I have doubts that the voices of the majority will be heard and this debacle will be stopped. [more...]

Are Total Body Scanners Safe? The Jury Is Still Out

2010-01-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

A few weeks ago we were told that CT scans and mammograms can increase the risk of cancer. Since the rush to deploy the new total body scanners in our airports has been a topic of hot debate. There has been a burning question that has not been answered that needs to be. If CT scans and mammograms are no longer considered safe, what makes the total body scanners safe to use? The technology used in the full body scanners is either backscatter X-ray or millimeter waves both use a form of radiation call terahertz photons (T-rays). T-rays are a form of infrared energy that lies between radio waves at the low-end and microwaves at its higher end. It may be non-ionizing unlike X-rays; however, the energy is able to penetrate tissue, clothing, paper, plastic, wood and ceramics among other things. The TSA Web site represents the full body scanner as a safe method of screening. However, not only are we giving up our privacy, we are also playing Russian roulette with our safety. [more...]

Healthcare Reform: Bending the Cost Curve on the Backs of Patients

2010-01-04T06:02:00.002-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

After reading Bob Herbert’s column on how the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform bill is nothing but a tax hike that will adversely affect the middle class, it struck me how really awful this bill is for patients. Divide and conquer is a time honored technique used to advance an agenda especially when it is unpopular, and the Senate played into our worse instincts. It sounded great to tax the “fat cats” who have the best health insurance policies to pay for extending coverage to those without health insurance. The way it has been framed, it seems that the wealthy have somehow been gaming the system and denying precious pieces of the health care pie to those who cannot afford insurance. [more...]

Big Pharma Wins Again

2010-01-04T06:02:00.001-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

The stakes are high. In an industry that understands money prevails and common sense is a lost virtue, big pharma willingly spent $50 billion last year on advertising and over $20 billion on lobbying to make sure their interests remained untouched by the new administration. Today, it appears the industry continues to be brilliant and they played their cards just right, bought off the right people, and once again money prevails. Last October, the now President Barack Obama was campaigning hard to make his new home 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As he spoke to America, his tale sounded like this: “then we’ll tell the drug companies thanks, but no thanks for overpriced drugs” and “we’ll allow low cost drugs from places like Canada” referring to keeping everyone honest for a better country with a better health care system. We bought it - hook, line and sinker. Wow, was that the smoothest fairytale ever heard about health care and the making of fiscal responsibility for a better America. [more...]

Government is Cause of High Costs of Health Care

2009-12-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Elaina George

The reality about the health care bill is that the government's insertion into healthcare has led to the high costs that we are living with today. It began when the Medicare reimbursements to physicians were disconnected from the costs of delivering quality healthcare. For over 10 years the reimbursements for physicians has dropped every year while the cost of supplies, malpractice premiums and overhead expenses have continued to rise. This is the underlying engine for the cost shifting to both insured and self pay patients that we have seen over the years. It has become an untenable situation leading physicians to seek paid positions in hospitals, form large single and multi-specialty groups, opt out of the system and move towards a concierge model or leave the practice of medicine completely. Overall, this has led to a fracture in the doctor patient relationship, and a rise in the number and clinical expansion of providers such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners in an effort to fill the gap left by the physician's need to see an ever increasing patient load per day to keep the doors open. [more...]

Dr Elaina George is a Board certified Otolaryngologist. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Biology. She received her Masters degree in Medical Microbiology from Long Island University, and received her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr George completed her residency at Manhattan, Eye Ear & Throat Hospital.

Practicing Gratitude Daily

2009-11-23T09:37:00.001-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

November is a reflective time of year, one packed with beauty, splendour, wonder and tradition - a perfect time to ponder gratitude. Whether you are seasoned in the art of gratitude or a novice spending time developing this skill, you will reap huge benefits. The emotional and physiological benefits are numerous. Being thankful and holding that feeling for just 15-20 seconds can actually reduce the stress hormones in your body, relax the coronary arteries and increase the blood supply to your heart. Another bonus, which we are all concerned about today as we face the H1N1 swine flu is that being grateful can actually increase your immune system. Doesn't this sound like a skill that you should spend some time investing in? By contrast, the use of anti-depressant medication has nearly doubled over the last 10-year period from 1996-2005. Currently, 10 percent of the population over the age of 6 is taking some kind of psychotropic drug. Is being "medicated" the new normal? [more…]

A Great Big Public Health Experiment - At What Cost?

2009-09-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

The powerful topic from BusinessWeek, September 7, 2009 reads: Is Merck Overselling a Cancer Vaccine? This served as a very stimulating topic for my show last week as fresh controversies heat up over the marketing of products to "protect cervical cancer." Great debate exists over the topic of vaccinations in general; however, this particular vaccine is of concern because what is sold is a protection against cancer when in fact it is really a protection against some strains of HPV or the human papilloma virus. As both a doctor and mother myself, this leaves room for great discussion with real facts as well as honest science. I think of the majority of moms who wouldn't even think twice about saying "of course, let's vaccinate" if they were told by their physician this will protect your daughter from cervical cancer. After all, what mom wouldn't? ...based on a physician saying just that. Caution-there's more to the story. [more...]

Debunking the H1N1 Swine Flu

2009-09-09T07:35:00.001-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

The news media is beginning to create hysteria and fear surrounding the H1N1 Swine Flu. I must first say, this is very real and to be taken seriously. However, it is not different than any other health situation where people in poor health are at greater risk. This is always the case! Everyone needs to be aware of building and strengthening their immune system. Infants, babies, toddlers and the elderly have a natural weakened immunity. Obviously, respect the importance of sleep, water, limit alcohol and smoking. Be aware of your body's reaction to stress and limit wherever possible. I suggest everyone watch a very important 60 Minutes video on my Web site and listen to the podcast of my show. You'll also find the suggested quality supplements you'll need. Please before you make any decisions educate yourself. [more...]

We Don't Have a Health Care Crisis - We Have a Crisis in How We Think About Health Care

2009-08-13T09:59:00.001-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

As I sicken myself glossing over the 1,000+ page document supposedly created to “reform” our troubled health care system, the thought of my illness turns from acute to chronic. I become nauseous at the thought of the expense we continue to incur with government-ease attorney writings, which have absolutely nothing to do with health and everything to do with creating more expense with the likes of “judicial review” and so-called “Health Choices Commissioner” as well as the “Health Care Exchange.” Benjamin Rush, MD, a founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence said over 200 years ago: “Unless we put medical freedom into The Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers.” The words I read in this 2009 document certainly sound like an undercover dictatorship - one that was envisioned by a very wise man. [more…]

Unhealthy Bed Partners

2009-06-23T03:25:00.001-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

As promised, this is the first week of the action steps to reverse our current health care crisis. In an industry that spends $50 billion on advertising alone, this first action step requires an honest inventory of the relationship of 'Big Pharma' and the politicians it gets elected to run our government. Unless we get Big Pharma out of medical schools we will never change our present mentality, which has us stuck in a revolving door. The revolving door presents room for the disease model only. Allow me to explain. In our current system, we use a disease model rather than a wellness model for health care. We therefore spend all our time and resources on disease. We look to a pill and/or surgery as the answer to every health problem. Don't get me wrong; we need both pharmaceuticals and surgery. The fact of the matter is that both save lives. The problem is that we abuse them rather than use them. Such faulty thinking eliminates the personal responsibility of the individual. Lack of freedom creates lack of responsibility. This allegiance presents misguided judgments from even the best-intended thoughts. [more...]

America's Health Care Crisis

2009-06-09T06:57:00.001-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

Benjamin Rush MD, a Founding Father and Declaration of Independence signer, stated: "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privilege to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are UN-American and despotic and have no place in a republic. The Constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom."

Over 200 years later, we are living what Dr. Rush envisioned. We must adhere to a dictatorship - a failing one at that. The answers to our health care conundrum lie in freedom of choice - freedom, which rewards all of us personally as well as nationally. The answers are there; however, they require honest politics, dissemination of information free of censorship, closing of the revolving door between the FDA and Big Pharma, education, and the rewarding of positive lifestyle behaviors by each and every American who are willing to restore health to the USA. Over the next several months, I will be proposing an action item a week to reverse our current health care crisis. Stay tuned... [more...]

Food Safety Bill?

2009-03-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

If Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro has her way, H.R. 875 ("Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009") will be a reality. She introduced this bill February 4, 2009 while the nation was in deep debate over passage of President Obama's "Stimulus Bill." Smart move. DeLauro's bill is supposed to protect the U.S. food supply; however, it leaves a lot of wiggle room. It leaves small farmers, especially organic farmers, at a great disadvantage to the corporate giants. Enter the world of politics. As we all know by now, in politics, everything is premeditated, nothing is by accident. This bill masquerades itself as a food safety bill while cutting the legs out from under the farmers - the blood, sweat and tears behind the family farm in America. You would think we are finally waking up; we are going green (even Washington tells us to go green) but you're wrong. It's only on the terms specified by the giants. So what mega giant business would benefit from knocking out any competition? Monsanto, the giant of genetically engineered food - the same folks that brought us the excitotoxin aspartame, which literally translates to exciting your neurons to death. That one was snuck in under the guise of helping you to lose weight, so of course it's good for you. Interestingly enough Congresswoman DeLauro's husband , Stanley Greenberg, a political strategist, has Monsanto as a client. Change? Where is the change? [more...]

OTC Antibiotics: A Bad Idea

2009-03-16T08:38:00.001-07:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

The health care crisis stems from the bottom up. That is the foundation of our thinking. We are entrenched by the thoughts that the pill is the answer to every health problem. Let's trace the roots of that origin. We use a disease model for health care in this country - backed by a $50 billion pharmaceutical marketing budget. Given those two facts, why would any citizen think any differently than this: live as though your health was a given, wait to get sick, take a pill, wait to get better, and the best part is that there is no personal responsibility involved. We even give out FREE antibiotics in our stores as incentives to get shoppers. We even have the budget to have the free antibiotic commercials to play during prime time television advertising slots - free and they still have a budget for it.

The reality of free antibiotics is a serious mistake. It has been called "well-intentioned but obviously ill-advised." Well-intentioned by whom? The disease specialists at the CDC are painfully aware of the damage being done by antibiotics abuse. Serious problems for all of society arise when the dispensing of free antibiotics creates drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Such a situation alarms infectious disease specialists who say they have been fighting for years to reduce the demand for antibiotics. Years of physicians' education coupled with public education.

Look at the big picture here. If we never offer an alternative, the demand will never be reduced. Doctors have even said they prescribe them for patients with a cold, where antibiotics are not the drug of choice, simply because they don't work on viruses just to "shut a patient up" because they went to the doctor to obtain a prescription, plain and simple. But of course they do. We tell them they need it. We bombard them with advertising. Health care crisis, indeed! How will we ever rise from our current economic situation if we never change the fundamentals of our problem: prescription reliance? If we continue to prescribe unnecessary drugs to patients who ask their doctors for them, there will always be a budget deficit in the health care sector. [more...]

The True Pathology of America

2009-02-25T06:52:00.001-08:00

By Evelyn Higgins

If you look at the $50 billion dollar marketing budget that the pharmaceutical industry spends to convince us that drugs, pharmaceutical drugs, are the only resolution to our self proclaimed "pathologies," you would easily understand that this is the why we think the way we do. It has become a part of our culture. It would also lend itself to figuring out why we are sitting right smack in the middle of a looming health care crisis. We have little to no conceptual idea of what wellness and prevention means when our answer to every medical problem or imperfection of humanness is met through pharmaceutical routes. Unless we start revving up our engines for wellness and prevention and see health as more than simply the absence of disease, we will never come out of this crisis. Our imperfections lie in our mindset! You would also believe that each and every one of us, in our humanness, actually have "pathologies" that must be treated with medications. In reality, the situation is that every day we have human experiences, which can result in occasional anxiety for a given social situation, perhaps one that even left you baffled because it never happened before nor again. The pushing of drugs for our "illnesses" has come to an all time high - or low depending on how you look at it. The new "drugs for everything" approach to life, has left us bankrupt in the lifestyle changes department - bankrupt in the area of those situations or complications which actually make us grow in wisdom and character and develop us physically, emotionally, intellectually as well as spiritually. We have come to the societal conclusion that for one to be healthy and happy, requires medication. What a crutch we choose to stand on, which takes away our most valuable lessons as a result. [more...]

Obesity Tax... At What Cost?

2009-02-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

New York Governor Paterson proposed an 18 percent sales tax on non-diet soda and juice drinks in an effort to reduce the state's budget deficit. The tax would not affect bottled water, diet soda, coffee, tea or milk and is estimated to raise more than $400 million in its first year. So we had the usual complaints from the people. First, government should not be involved with personal behavior such as what people eat. The beverage industry also says the proposal would harm industry jobs in New York. New York sees an easy way to raise money and other states will follow. New York is far from the most obese state, so this could raise considerable revenue for other states. In reality, government has already been intimately involved in what we eat in negative ways. For instance, by allowing sugar laden beverages to be promoted in schools or by failing to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods to children. To me, the issue is deeper than the obvious. It is the risks associated with the diet sodas. The water is a wonderful idea! Aspartame is considered to be about 200 times as sweet as sugar. It is calorie free. Aspartame in reality is a poison... [more...]

The CEO and Healthcare By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-10-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

We've heard Obama say, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." The question is: are these 47 million people Americans citizens? We need to take a hard, realistic look at this question, not in theory but in reality - the reality of running a business we call The United States of America. The 47 million includes, yes, illegal immigrants. Most all of illegal immigrants do not have health insurance. The numbers game tells us that every one in four needing insurance is an illegal. Three quarters of the illegal immigrant population is concentrated in California, Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois. Go to any emergency room in the country and you will be amazed at the number of illegals receiving care for life-threatening conditions. So, before you jump on what is and what isn't, I suggest a field trip to your local ER and see how the United States provides for those who have nothing. Another fact is that this population needs health care more than any other group. How do you fund that? [more...]

Back To Basics By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-09-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Call me "old fashioned," but there are some things in life, which just stand the test of time and consistently prove to be habits of winners. As a country, we are looking at some very tough economic times. Our leaders are calling us to get back to basics. That is because basics work. Habits are developed at a very early age, and some habits are very good for us and prove beneficial in our life and some habits are negative, extremely negative. A habit as simple as a family dinner can have major lifelong effects. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has consistently found that children who have frequent family dinners are less likely to use marijuana, tobacco and drink alcohol. Personally, and professionally, I have found that to be true as well. At a time when our nation is in need of some serious back to basics in every aspect of our culture, nothing could resonate more clearly to the family unit that the need, that's right, the need for children to have dinner with their family. [more...]

A Nation of Overly Medicated Consumers By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-09-04T08:47:00.001-07:00

Consumer Reports has some new information in their October issue advising people who suffer from frequent headaches to talk to their doctors before reaching into their medicine cabinets. Overuse of prescription and over-the-counter pain medications can in fact make headaches worse. They go on to say that consumers inadvertently create their own headaches. CR tells us that people tend not to think of headaches remedies, especially those they can buy without a prescription, as "serious" drugs. It even says that the headache can even be made worse and result in "medication overuse headaches," which affect up to two thirds of patients who seek help in headache treatment centers. Why is it that we are willing to spend unlimited amounts of money and lives on drugs but prevention is a foreign thought process? We truly are a nation of consumers, but at what cost? [more...]

Is Anyone in Washington Listening? By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-08-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

According to a study published in the journal Obesity, by the year 2030, 86 percent of American adults will be overweight. By 2048 the study suggests that all U.S. adults will be at least mildly overweight. Frightening? I do hope so! This affects each and every citizen both directly as well as indirectly. It is time to take this epidemic seriously and make some timely changes before it's too late. It seems during our present presidential campaign season the word "change" is often heard, yet in the reality of our nation, we pay for very few health care services that have to do with prevention and wellness, no less education. Such a link to lack of preventative services is going to skyrocket our healthcare costs; and many of the lifestyle diseases - cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain cancers - have already been linked to obesity or weight related problems, yet we simply prescribe a pill and hope for the best. Wouldn't it make more sense to allocate educational funds for media campaigns to explain the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and maintaining a healthy weight, and how that can help each and every American? [more...]

The Medicare Debacle By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-07-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

On July 1 the government slashed Medicare physician payments by 10.6 percent. Has the cost of overhead gone down? The answer is no. So how can this be? What will this do to an already burdened, dysfunctional system? Let's start with the fact that the Medicare system is not doing business with other parts of healthcare in the same manner. Only the physicians - those who actually treat the patients - are being unjustly harmed. Medicare, in fact, gives payment increases to the insurance industry, nursing homes and hospitals. The reality of this disastrous decision is that approximately 60 percent of Medicare doctors would be forced to limit the number of new Medicare patients they would accept and treat. More than half of the doctors said they would need to cut staff as a result, and 14 percent say they would quit practice all together due to the inability to profit. A bill that would buy time for a realistic long-term solution to the problem between Washington and the medical community has been passed by Congress. Now it's time for the Senate to act swiftly to consider the same legislation. [more...]

ER Docs as Primary Care Physicians By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-06-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Picture this scene with me if you will for one minute because it just might affect you. You are rushed to the hospital due to chest pain, an obvious emergency situation where you are literally facing life or death due to a heart attack. You get to the ER and cannot be treated in time due to the lack of beds available because a bed was actually taken by a "fake patient" - a patient who is there to see how the doctor and staff do their job. Sounds like an overcrowded urban facility, and sounds like it is an impossible scenario. Well at this point, it is all fictional but may soon become a reality for us all, not just due to the situation of patients using the ER doctor as a primary care physician, but there is actually an ethics committee for the American Medical Association that is pressing for "undercover patients" to evaluate doctors and their staff. Such a situation could have disastrous consequences as doctors and hospitals are currently overburdened to begin with. We are faced with a system that wants to spy on the physicians and judge their performance at a time when physicians are working harder with more hoops to jump through due to a healthcare system that has more middlemen than actual doctors. Just try to have a procedure approved and you will see exactly what I am writing about. [more..]

The Virtues of Age and its Wisdom By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-06-11T08:03:00.001-07:00

Now that we are left with our two candidates for this seemingly unprecedented presidential election, we have already heard the Obama camp trying to use age as a derogatory characteristic about McCain. While that really shouldn't surprise me that in 2008 we look at 71 as old, it does. It is no secret that as a society we do not respect the aged. If we look at what I would suggest to be the model society when it comes to age, wellness, and wisdom, all eyes would be on the Japanese Island of Okinawa where the elder citizens of the community are sought after because of the wisdom they can impart on the rest of their society. They are the cornerstones of the community. They also have more centenarians than any other culture in the world. Let's take a hard look at our country, the good ol' USA, which is so caught up in materialistic beauty that we may just cast a ballot based on how attractive someone looks, based on their age, and "hip-ness." Scary as that is, many voters put no more effort into their decision than just that.

The latest research coming out of Harvard, Duke, UCLA and many other gold standard institutions of data tells us that wisdom, while being a difficult word to define, has been biologically uncovered. The research has shown that the prefrontal cortex of the brain has decreased activity in the older brain. This decreased activity allows for a broader attention span and the brain has the ability to assimilate data and put it in its proper place. The elder brain takes longer to absorb the information, but the trade-off is that it is better at understanding the data with all the qualities which define wisdom such as knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion and the capacity to use all. The largest age discrepancy in all of history for U.S. presidential candidates exists today. Think about what the 25-year difference means to the qualities that define the virtue of wisdom. The questions become: is Obama mature and ready and is McCain sharp and vigorous? It is in America that we get to decide!

The Wisdom of the Ages By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-06-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

While you might be concerned that you may have the beginnings of the dreaded Alzheimer's Disease when you couldn't remember a name or address, for example, a new work published by Harvard research psychologist Shelley Carson tells us that for most of the adults 65 years of age and older, the thought that our brain power is declining is not always the case. While 13 percent of Americans 65 and older have Alzheimer's Disease, the healthy 87 percent of the brains are actually taking more time to sift through the mounting data and then combine that with the vast storage of knowledge. The research has shown that the prefrontal cortex of the brain has decreased activity. This also allows for a broader attention span and the brain has the ability to assimilate data and put it in its proper place. That certainly is a great deal of work... no wonder it takes a moment! The elder brain takes longer to absorb the information but then is better adept at understanding the data with all the qualities I spoke of such as experience, discretion, and then the capacity to utilize the newfound information with understanding. That I believe is a key link, combining the data and understanding it collectively. Research has also shown that people with an injury or disease to the prefrontal cortex of the brain had the ability to pursue new creative interests. Very interesting as that may be why we can see our parents or our aging friends and neighbors become new people with new hobbies and interests that we never knew they had an interest in before. So while the elusive term wisdom has been so sought after and revered by all of mankind from the beginning of time we may finally have put together the pieces of how and why it all works. Now that really is wisdom! [more on Dr. Higgins...]

Healthcare: Political Wind and House of Cards

2008-05-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

By Mark Tumblin, CEO ASCENT Integrated Medical Solutions

The winds of change are blowing through healthcare and in the last few years many states have taken the initiative to build a foundation for reform. Presidential hopefuls have jumped on board thrusting healthcare into one of the hot issues for political debate. The state of healthcare has been in the dark ages and reform seems to be passing through a slow burn into the 20th century much less the 21st. Will politicians create a healthcare house of cards only to blow it over with the winds of change?

How Sick is our Healthcare System?

We continue to lead the world in lifesaving technology. We see 15,000 new drugs hit the market each year. Lifesaving protocols and procedures are created daily yet we continue to operate the business of healthcare in the dark ages. Visit your physician and you will trigger a chain of events that will take up to 90 days to complete. This is the same process that Wal-Mart can complete in seconds. We pay out billions of dollars yearly in false claims and support every illegal alien with free healthcare. This happens because our current healthcare system cannot track a patient from one doctor to the next, one pharmacy to the next or bill it properly in a 90-day period of time. Your bank will record an ATM transaction before you get back to your car, yet our healthcare system lies comatose to 21st century technology.

Sensing that our healthcare system might remain forever on life support, President Bush passed legislation for reform. In the last 7 years hundreds of millions of dollars have been granted to states to begin the process of building an IT network for exchange of data. States have constructed regional health information organizations as a conduit for transporting information from physician to pharmacy to diagnostic and insurance provider. This foundation is important in constructing layers of technology supporting exchange at every level of healthcare.

House of Cards

The immediate danger that lies within healthcare is to completely ignore the symptoms. Senator Clinton would have you believe that 47 million Americans are without healthcare because of the irresponsibility of the current administration. Analysis of this number will show only about 10 million do not have insurance and an issue easily remedied by the proper addition of technology. Senator Clinton would reform our healthcare system by mandating healthcare to every citizen. This solution would require a minimum of $500 billion in new funds just to finance the 47 million, not to mention billions of dollars to correct the failing IT system currently lacking in Medicare and Medicaid.

Senator Obama would also require mandates for those Americans under the age of 19 or roughly 35% of the aforementioned noninsured. This solution does not address any of the actual problems in healthcare, not to mention address reform needed to change our technology systems, tort reform or government aid programs. While claiming there has been no leadership from President Bush, Obama promotes sending money to the states so that they can continue to experiment with technology reform.

The democratic wannabes would have you believe they have the solution to healthcare reform when as a matter of fact neither addresses the current issues, which have gotten us into a terminal state. The failure to recognize that we lose $75 billion per year on false claims to Medicare because we have not implemented the technology to track insurance is at best irresponsible. To suggest the solution to healthcare is a single payer system this week and next week suggest a multi-tiered single payer system is the solution is nothing short of democratic. In other words, if what I say this week doesn't work, wait until next week and it will change with the wind.

Reform that is Concrete

An analysis of the waste within our current healthcare system reveals hundreds of billions of dollars in misfiled claims, illegal payments, and an open system of delivery without controls. Information technology built at the state, local, then physician and patient level will create enough efficiency within healthcare to reform it as well as support it. The cost is less than one year of illegal aliens receiving healthcare in the U.S. Shall we choose the construction of a house of cards that will quickly add to the waste or continue on a path of reform by building on the stable foundation currently under construction?

Health Information Technology Reforms Healthcare

2008-05-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

By Mark Tumblin, CEO ASCENT Integrated Medical Solutions

The business of healthcare at the physician/patient level is 10-20 years behind in technology. All patient records are recorded on paper. Comparing lab results and the diagnosis of the physician is a manual operation and takes several days to process. The insurance company charging premiums gets a claim that has been handled by not less than four pairs of hands who each stake a claim to the financial outcome of the office visit. Combine all this inefficiency and it is no wonder physicians collect $0.63 on the dollar and are satisfied. This is unacceptable to every other business in the U.S., so why do we accept it in healthcare? [more...]

Knowledge is Power By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-05-19T10:44:00.001-07:00

Knowledge is power, but only if we use it! That certainly is the case when it comes to genome mapping. Within five years we will all have access to this incredible test, that potentially can change your fate tremendously, at about the cost of an MRI or CT scan. In discovering the genetic sequence, we have learned that the number of genes was actually far less than we originally believed. So now, armed with your personal roadmap of genes, you and your doctors will be able to predict and prevent a multitude of diseases. The genome is comprised of chemical units strung together in a type of biological code. While no two individuals are alike, no two genomes are identical. With this test, you can learn where your ancestors are from, what genetic diseases you may carry, your risk for developing a new specific disease, what diseases you should be screened for more frequently, which treatments would be most effective for you, and which medicines you should avoid. [more...]

Facts on Cardiovascular Disease By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

Did you know that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the United States? Did you also know that it is the most chronic preventable disease? Does that make any sense at all - that is, to be chronic and preventable but still be the number one killer? If you are a thinking person the answer would be a resounding No!

The fact of the matter is that cardiovascular disease strikes more women than men. Shocking for many people to hear. It was once stated that our health is a gift- a largely controllable gift. We can control this gift through lifestyle choices that we have the power to make. These choices include the foods we eat, or don't eat and the exercise we do, or don't do. Are you starting to see the picture? [more...]

A Nation on Drugs By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-04-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), nearly 7 million Americans are abusing prescription drugs - more than the number who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, ecstasy and inhalants combined. Today's 7 million was just 3.8 million in 2000 - an 80 percent increase in just six years. Prescription pain relievers are the new users' drug of choice versus marijuana or cocaine. Opiod painkillers now cause more overdose deaths than cocaine and heroin combined. Shockingly, 40 percent of teens and almost an equal number of their parents think abusing prescription painkillers is safer than abusing 'street' drugs. 25 percent of drug-related emergency room visits are associated with the abuse of prescription drugs. So, armed with those stats, where are these kids getting their drugs? From your medicine cabinet, from illicitly acquiring prescriptions drugs on the Internet, theft from pharmacies or homes and friends and relatives? YES is the answer according to the DEA. As a nation, we take more prescription drugs than any other country. If the theory is that drugs make us well, why aren't we number one in health and longevity in the world? We aren't even close. Of course, drugs have benefits - they can save lives - but what we are learning is that many people use drugs for purposes other than saving lives. [more...]

Cuban Fiascos By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-04-15T07:34:00.001-07:00

The Bay of Pigs, The Cuban Missile Crisis and following Cuba's healthcare model are all American bad ideas! The Cuban system of healthcare has been touted by many critics of our current healthcare delivery system as a master plan for us to follow. These critics of the U.S. system have tried to copy and tell us how wonderful the system works in Cuba, and use it as a guide for 'universal healthcare' in the United States. Currently, Cuba is undergoing a major overhauling due basically to a system that worked in theory but not in reality - in the long run.

I as an American look to the log run; short term is also short sighted. We are neophytes in the history of the world and need to remember that as we take on major overhauling of systems, which impact our citizens greatly. Cuba has changed hands and now with Raul Castro taking over as President after his brother Fidel, we see a healthcare system, which in reality is in very poor condition and greatly understaffed with physicians. The system started with great theoretical plans, which in reality failed miserably. [more...]

Power to the Patient By Mark Tumblin

2008-04-15T07:32:00.001-07:00

The current Democratic presidential candidates would have you believe a National Healthcare Program is the solution for dramatic increases in healthcare and in health insurance premiums. One-third of Americans - even those with health insurance - say high costs force them to skip needed medical care. It is a fact we are spending more on healthcare but let's take a closer look at the reason behind the increase. Maybe it is time we focused on wellness and prevention. When it comes to reforming American Healthcare, do the costs outweigh the benefits or is the cost as prohibitive as some would have you think. A healthy lifestyle of diet, exercise and prevention will increase quality of life and longevity and decrease the need for costly healthcare expenditures. We can remove the threat of chronic disease by having the discipline to control our own lives. I would propose the answer to healthcare reform is not in electing officials who will take our most precious of resources but rather taking control of our own lives and returning the power to the patient. [more...]

Which Tail is Wagging the Healthcare Dog? By Mark Tumblin

2008-04-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

The single most important part of health and therefore healthcare is the patient. As a patient, when was the last time you felt you had the most influence over your healthcare delivery? We spend more household income on healthcare than on cars and gasoline combined. Healthcare spending is 4.3 times higher than what we spend on the national defense. Health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers. Unless something changes dramatically, health insurance costs will overtake profits by 2008. We spend 80% of every healthcare dollar on chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and emphysema. We must reform healthcare beginning with the patient or have the "chronic disease tail" wag the healthcare dog. Many commercial insurers use Medicare's fee schedule in developing their own fees. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a 5% decrease in payments to physicians in 2007 with more to follow in the following nine years. In fact, projected cuts would equal 37% in that period while the increase in the cost to treat a patient will increase 22%. Pay scales established by private insurance companies will then be expected to follow suit and the patient will feel the "physician influenced tail" wag the dog. [more...]

American Healthcare: Bracing for the Perfect Storm By Mark Tumblin

2008-04-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

Our American Healthcare System has long been in disarray. As we approach yet another election, the debate on Healthcare falls, in some opinions, second behind the economy or third behind the war in Iraq. As critical as the economy and the war are, it is obvious Americans have had enough of the current state of Healthcare.It seems we are headed for the perfect storm. We as consumers have reached our limit on what we can spend on quality healthcare. Our physicians have reached their limit on a fee for service system that not only dictates how medicine will be practiced but randomly decides what will and will not be reimbursed by insurance companies. Our government has begun the monumental task of reforming the healthcare infrastructure but many of the obstacles to reform are too political for effectiveness. Last but not least, several of our choices for the upcoming presidential election would have you believe universal healthcare is the only solution. We are forced into healthcare's perfect storm as reform one way or another will happen. We must decide to influence the storm toward true reform or depend on our government to protect us from levy system straining at the pressure. [more...]

Marijuana Back in the News By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-04-01T07:28:00.001-07:00

Several weeks ago, I wrote about Oaksterdam University in Los Angeles offering a medicinal marijuana course, which prepares students to enter the lucrative multibillion-dollar industry - on the legal side, that is. Well, a new study just released this week may have an effect on enrollment due to the fact that it has been suggested that marijuana users may have a shorter life expectancy after suffering a heart attack than people who do not use the drug. When we target a specific generation - the baby boomers that have many long time marijuana users to claim - it gets very interesting. A 2002 national study found that the number of 45 to 64-year-olds who reported marijuana use was three times higher than it had been earlier! Wow, three times higher! This same age group is also increasing their risk for the number one killer in America, which is cardiovascular disease. Regular marijuana smokers are two to four times as likely to die from a heart attack within four years of having the attack compared to non-marijuana smokers. Obviously the study raises concern, which needs to be studied further, but let's see what the Valedictorian from Oaksterdam has to say.... [more...]

Death and Taxes By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-03-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

Should the government be involved in patients' end-of-life decision-making? Ask a person that question and you are assured a big gulp, then a pause, followed by a cocked head like that of a dog approach to answering the question. Tough as it is, it does need answering. After all, none of us wish a terminal illness with a painful death on ourselves. In jest, people have uttered perhaps an enemy but certainly not ourselves or a loved one. We have advanced our brains so far technologically, but have we advanced them morally or ethically? Is the real issue of euthanasia about the ultimate power of a government? Or is it that which is a decision for God and family? [more...]

The Politics of Water By Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-03-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

So, one week has passed since the Associated Press report was released describing the pharmaceutical drugs found in the drinking water of at least 41 million Americans. Drugs such as sex hormones, anti-consultants, antibiotics, mood stabilizers - to name just a few - were found. Over-the-counter drugs such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen are also included in the tainted drinking water.

What we do know is that this is real. What we don't know is how these small concentrations of drugs will affect our bodies. What happens when we don't need the particular medications, or even say your body does need them, but in different doses? What are the long-term effects, given that we are all being prescribed medications -infants, children, teenagers, adults and the elderly, alike?

While the Environmental Protection Agency admits to recognizing the growing concern regarding the state of our drinking water, the agency says it is taking the situation seriously - so seriously, that nothing has appeared in the media since the story broke. [more...]

The Reverse Pyramid Scheme by Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-03-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

March 10, 2008--Health care in America is in the shape of a pyramid; however, it is a reverse pyramid. Everyone who graduated from kindergarten knows what happens when your building blocks don't start at the bottom - eventually they fall down because the load becomes too heavy for the design of the system. The design of our current system has physician specialists at the bottom of the pyramid being the most utilized group within the triangle, or pyramid, being formed, with the doctors who prescribe wellness and prevention at the top creating the smallest section of the pyramid. The obvious question, then, would be - even to the kindergartner who is looking at the faulty design of the pyramid - who built this pyramid?

[more...]

Beyond High School by Dr. Evelyn Higgins

2008-03-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2008--I recently learned of a new program being offered at Oaksterdam University, a curriculum offering courses in marijuana usage for medicinal purposes. The school prepares its students for careers in the very lucrative multi billion-dollar industry. So, I ask, is there any federal aid and what type of pay scale could be expected with this type of training? I am told after a weekend course costing $200 plus books, I am prepared to make a $50,000 salary dispensing marijuana. Now for the serious note! In Los Angeles, several vending machines have been made available to dispense marijuana with "proper documentation and a fingerprint." While marijuana is legal in California for medicinal purposes, the federal government does not feel the same way. But to date they have done nothing.

[more...]