Opinion content from 2008
GO TO » Jan. - Feb. - March - April - May - June - July - Aug. - Sept. - Oct. - Nov. - Dec.
December
- » Discussion: Put the tobacco settlement money in smoking cessation - Dec. 29
- » Letter: Hard times spur sweeping changes - Dec. 29
- » Letter: Dr. Davis left us with an important lesson in rediscovering faith in God - Dec. 29
- » AMA makes sharing prescribing data a matter of choice - Dec. 29
- » Discussion: A green approach to public health - Dec. 22
- » Letter: Will small practices be able to compete for title of medical home? - Dec. 22
- » Letter: Medical home designation carries threat of more scut work - Dec. 22
- » Discussion: AMA's Strategic Plan: 6 core commitments for action - Dec. 15
- » Letter: Pa. needs liability reform to keep its doctors -- and their economic benefit - Dec. 15
- » Letter: Physician-assisted suicide will stir public mistrust of the profession - Dec. 15
- » Preparing for 2009: Lessons from a successful 2008 - Dec. 15
- » Discussion: The promise of the medical home - Dec. 8
- » Letter: Arthroscopic surgery has a role, which is more common than skeptics allow - Dec. 8
- » Discussion: Solving the uninsured crisis: Doctors' voices must be heard - Dec. 1
- » Letter: Thanksgiving should not mark the close of influenza vaccine season - Dec. 1
- » WMA shares common concerns of world's physicians - Dec. 1
November
- » Discussion: PQRI's own quality problem - Nov. 24
- » Letter: "Politics" represents the public's interest in stem cell debate - Nov. 24
- » Letter: Fair e-prescribing pay? Think double the primary care services rate - Nov. 24
- » Letter: Conscience law enforcement protects those making a crucial moral decision - Nov. 24
- » Discussion: A necessary pause on ID theft rules - Nov. 17
- » Letter: Doctor-patient relationship goes both ways when judgment is at issue - Nov. 17
- » Ronald M. Davis, MD: My colleague and my friend - Nov. 17
- » Discussion: Parity at last: Mental health, physical health get equal coverage - Nov. 10
- » Letter: Properly provided drug samples do not undermine generic prescriptions - Nov. 10
- » Letter: When considering organ donation approaches, look to Spain, not Iran - Nov. 10
- » Discussion: Start a healthy conversation - Nov. 3
- » Letter: Tobacco is harmful, but attacks on freedom to smoke also pose a threat - Nov. 3
- » AMA initiatives fight inequities of claims processing - Nov. 3
October
- » Discussion: Flu vaccine: Walk the talk, get the shot - Oct. 27
- » Letter: Government should do some more thinking on soundness of ICD-10 shift - Oct. 27
- » Letter: Drop third-party-payer contracts and be free from hassles and bondage - Oct. 27
- » Discussion: Stake your claim for accurate reimbursement - Oct. 20
- » Letter: Standard on curbing disruptive behavior could be misapplied easily - Oct. 20
- » Letter: Activist veto of abortions will result if conscience laws enforced as proposed - Oct. 20
- » Where does your candidate stand on medicine's issues? - Oct. 20
- » Discussion: Lawnwood ruling preserves medical staff role - Oct. 13
- » Letter: Let physicians decide individually how to decipher drug marketing - Oct. 13
- » Letter: Patients do benefit from DTC ads - Oct. 13
- » Discussion: Don't rush change to ICD-10 codes - Oct. 6
- » Letter: Recognize Center for the Intrepid's Dr. Menetrez is a physiatrist - Oct. 6
- » Letter: Ban direct-to-consumer drug ads - Oct. 6
- » Litigation Center fights for AMA members -- and wins - Oct. 6
September
- » Discussion: Tobacco control efforts: The case for persistence - Sept. 22
- » Letter: Two shortages, one poor solution - Sept. 22
- » Letter: Our society, not government, is key to achieving health care for all - Sept. 22
- » Letter: Pharma pen, pad bans demean "boots on the ground" doctors - Sept. 22
- » Discussion: 5 years of tort reform: Lone Star success story - Sept. 15
- » Letter: Standard "time out" alone not always enough to prevent surgical errors - Sept. 15
- » Voice for the Uninsured campaign growing stronger - Sept. 15
- » Discussion: Take the slow track on RAC program - Sept. 8
- » Letter: In-depth smoking history leads to proper selection of therapies - Sept. 8
- » Letter: Medical Justice: Our mutual privacy agreement will stand up when the patient is federally insured - Sept. 8
- » Discussion: More transparency for medical student debt - Sept. 1
- » Letter: APA: Decision to review industry funding came before outside attention - Sept. 1
- » Medicare is bad, but Medicaid has even more problems - Sept. 1
August
- » Discussion: Vigilance key in fighting foodborne illness - Aug. 25
- » Letter: E-prescribing cost should be borne by companies who will reap the benefit - Aug. 25
- » Letter: Drug industry gifts: Congress should practice what it preaches - Aug. 25
- » Letter: Direct-to-patients ads, not free pens, are the real problem - Aug. 25
- » Discussion: Making medicine more diverse - Aug. 18
- » Letter: Nurses taking NBME exam want to boost skills, not act as physicians - Aug. 18
- » House of Medicine's Medicare win aids doctors and patients - Aug. 18
- » Discussion: Victory on Medicare physician pay - Aug. 11
- » Letter: Doctor of nursing degree is just another entitlement - Aug. 11
- » Letter: Solution for health plan CEOs' outrageous pay: Let doctors decide the salaries - Aug. 11
- » Discussion: Setting the standards for medical tourism - Aug. 4
- » Letter: CMS no-pay list call to action - Aug. 4
- » Letter: A salute to medical students who are choosing military service - Aug. 4
- » Advocacy, facing the past, strengthens the profession - Aug. 4
July
- » Discussion: Taking action toward prevention of elder mistreatment - July 28
- » Letter: A test is in order for nurses who want to expand their scope of practice - July 28
- » Let's move from awareness to action on the uninsured - July 21
- » Discussion: Rating insurers will help fix inefficient claims system - July 21
- » Letter: Want to be a doctor? Go to med school - July 21
- » Letter: Direct-to-consumer ads are "a profit wolf dressed in an altruistic sheepskin" - July 21
- » Discussion: Medicare's no-pay conditions: Not always preventable - July 14
- » Letter: Safety tips an acknowledgment that some practices choose to be armed - July 14
- » Letter: Don't limit liability reform to crises - July 14
- » Letter: Gifts and trips are given to physicians with the expectation of a return - July 14
- » Letter: A scribe, not an EHR, for efficiency - July 14
- » Letter: Titles should convey clarity, but "doctor of nursing" will confuse public - July 14
- » Discussion: Removing health IT barriers - July 7
- » Letter: Beeper on, cell phone off - July 7
- » Letter: AOA president: DOs are responding to the need for more rural care - July 7
June
- » Discussion: Childhood obesity: A glimmer of hope, but a long way to go - June 23
- » Letter: When looking for villains, start with major insurers -- not drug reps - June 23
- » Letter: CMS says it wants quality reports, but isn't so good at its own reporting - June 23
- » Letter: EHR sent this physician back to efficiency of handwritten records - June 23
- » Discussion: Liability shield in times of disaster - June 16
- » Letter: There is no "unholy alliance" between doctors and drug, medical firms - June 16
- » Letter: Health threat from climate change is not supported by the evidence - June 16
- » Discussion: More oversight needed on direct-to-consumer ads - June 9
- » Letter: Insurance industry taking resources out of our health care system - June 9
- » Letter: Abolish for-profit health plans - June 9
- » Letter: Tobacco use places a quarter of adult population within addictive disorder - June 9
- » Discussion: Enforcing the Blues settlement - June 2
- » Letter: P4P? Let's have C4C instead - June 2
- » Letter: EMR article was too positive - June 2
- » Letter: Single-payer support doesn't fit with what's known to dissatisfy doctors - June 2
- » Scope of practice: Need for continuing dialogue - June 2
May
- » Discussion: Closing the gap on childhood immunization - May 26
- » Letter: Appreciation for AMA's Dr. Davis - May 26
- » Letter: EHRs must be made irresistible, but for now are clearly inadequate - May 26
- » Discussion: Improvements on patient safety rules - May 19
- » Letter: In law-abiding hands, a gun is no more sinister than a fire extinguisher - May 19
- » Letter: Physicians should be more realistic on national health insurance -- they have already experienced Medicare - May 19
- » Addressing the epidemic of video game overuse - May 19
- » Discussion: Readying for the senior surge - May 12
- » Letter: 5 things needed to make EMRs practical - May 12
- » Discussion: Ohio lifts the veil on insurer contracts - May 5
- » Letter: EMRs have 2 strikes against them - May 5
- » Letter: It's up to the woman if a pregnancy creates 1 patient or 2 - May 5
- » Letter: Number doesn't tell whole story of how psychiatrists view health plans - May 5
- » Convenient care clinics merit a closer look by physicians - May 5
April
- » Discussion: House call on Congress - April 28
- » Letter: For a couple facing the match, a couple of services spells trouble - April 28
- » Letter: There is a strong case to be made for postpartum depression screening - April 28
- » Discussion: Legal muscle in the doctor's corner - April 21
- » Letter: Hippocratic oath does not apply to issue of doctors pitching products - April 21
- » Letter: Insurers misuse wellness programs - April 21
- » Letter: To get more empathy, focus more on character of med school applicants - April 21
- » Discussion: Breathing room on Medicare payment - April 14
- » Letter: In medicine, emphasis should be on compassion and less so on empathy - April 14
- » Letter: ADA: There can be even more collaboration between dentists and physicians - April 14
- » Discussion: Keeping an eye on United - April 7
- » Letter: Amid debate on prostate cancer care, one physician relates his experience - April 7
- » Consider e-prescribing as one step in climb to health IT - April 7
March
- » Discussion: Question for patients: What's in your medicine chest? - March 24
- » Letter: Motherhood is daunting but should not be recast as a disease - March 24
- » Letter: Predominance of hospitalists has quality assurance implications - March 24
- » Looking for service opportunities? Focus on global health - March 24
- » Discussion: Making the case for caps in tort reform - March 17
- » Letter: There were airport clinics in the '70s - March 17
- » Letter: Address patient safety with pay levels that cover time needed for good care - March 17
- » Discussion: Cuomo's reasonable investigation into health plan pricing - March 10
- » Letter: Adults forgo vaccinations because of poor coverage, limited reimbursement - March 10
- » Letter: Insurers are using an overly broad definition of "preexisting condition" - March 10
- » Discussion: Growing pains for UnitedHealth Group - March 3
- » Letter: Physician's duty to unborn patient precludes an abortion referral - March 3
- » Letter: How high is the stack of rules and regulations that apply to physicians? - March 3
- » Close-up look at carrying and caring for wounded warriors - March 3
February
- » Discussion: Matters of the heart - Feb. 25
- » Letter: Turnabout is fair play when medicine meets anonymous online venting - Feb. 25
- » Letter: Financial transparency is essential to creating best possible health system - Feb. 25
- » Letter: Less work for ethics committees as consensus replaced controversies - Feb. 25
- » Discussion: Path to better relations between medical staffs and hospitals - Feb. 18
- » Letter: Set health costs apart by use of dedicated credit card - Feb. 18
- » Letter: Consumer-directed health care just the latest risk-shifting scheme - Feb. 18
- » Carrying the torch for physicians and patients: What are the key ingredients of leadership? - Feb. 18
- » Discussion: AMA campaigns for the uninsured - Feb. 11
- » Letter: Lawmakers should read doctor's letter on being forced from practice - Feb. 11
- » Letter: It's understandable that a practice would drop a litigious patient - Feb. 11
- » Discussion: Stronger action needed against tobacco - Feb. 4
- » Letter: If FSMB wants better care, it should raise doctor morale and lower hassles - Feb. 4
- » AMPAC: A voice for America's patients and physicians - Feb. 4
January
- » Discussion: The health literacy deficit - Jan. 28
- » Letter: Physicians doing what's right need shield from money-minded litigation - Jan. 28
- » Letter: Medicine is not well served when it is blurred with religion - Jan. 28
- » Extinguishing inequities in health care - Jan. 21
- » Discussion: Looking beyond the Medicare pay patch - Jan. 21
- » Letter: Reliance on primary care may explain early cancer diagnosis in rural areas - Jan. 21
- » Discussion: Time to pinch off the salt - Jan. 14
- » Letter: Balance billing will come too late for this doctor but may save others - Jan. 14
- » Discussion: Spreading the risk - Jan. 7
- » Letter: "Primary care physicians do not have a corner on the market of altruism" - Jan. 7
- » Embrace your team: Small efforts can yield big results - Jan. 7