On 28-Mar-05 Roy Poses wrote:
> It's been a few weeks since I created any trouble,
You should do it mroe often, Roy.
>> so I thought it might be interesting to transfer a
>> discussion we have been having on the "health care
>> renewal" email list. ;-)
>> A health policy expert posted this statement on our list:
>> A better measure of the inefficiency of our system is
>> to look at geographic variation in rates of utilization.
>> If you look at patients in the last six months of life at
>> a hospital like UCSF or Stanford, they spend on average
>> 4 days in the ICU, on the order of ten days in the hospital,
>> versus NYU and Mt. Sinai, where the last six months of life
>> mean weeks in the hospital, huge numbers of phyisician
>> visits -- and you still die at the end of the six months
>> -- it seems reasonable to argue that there's a great deal
>> of utilization that is not adding to health.
I will read the article:--
> This statement was based on the article: Wennberg JE et al.
> Use of hospitals, physician visits, and hospice care during
> last six months of life among cohorts loyal to highly
> respected hospitals in the United States. Brit Med J 2004;
> 328: 607.
> On the web
> <http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7440/607>
> here.
later, but cannot resist an immediate response to the argument
(as argument) above.
I've been around a number of years, and have had some medical
treatments and care.
In the fewish years remaining, I may get more, possibly
much more.
At the end of it all, I shall die.
Waste of time and effort, really. Wouldn't add a whit to health,
in the long run.
Best wishes,
Ted.
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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
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Date: 29-Mar-05 Time: 00:37:38
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