False equivalency. They. Are. Not. The. Same.
Do both parties have some issues in common? Sure. Does our system need reform? Absolutely. But just because there is some overlap in the Venn diagram that is our political system does not make them the same. At least the democrats are trying to govern.
Everything the man does is transactional. Support me and I’ll support you (for a little while anyway). Fuck me and I fuck you
The wheels of democracy turn slowly, but they do turn. Should it have gotten anywhere close to this far? Hell no. But this does bring me some very very cautious optimism.
Hear me out: If the GOP could just, I don’t know, at least talk to the other 49% of the House, they may be able to get at least some of the things they want.
Apparently I’m really optimistic today.
Up until a couple years ago, the Pacifica was the only hybrid available. The Sienna has a hybrid now. But that’s it.
True, but this is House bullshit, not the Senate
Want to find the money? Increase the ability of the IRS to perform more audits. The richest folks are already not paying the taxes they should be. $688 billion per year!
Tek-knight has entered the chat
Deep cut! I first heard of and saw that show in college. It’s great!
You are correct. But what Austin Powers was referencing was this scene from The Prisoner. Top notch 60’s TV!
History major here. Man, this one hurts.
In the context of insurance, absolutely.
When it comes to health care delivery (clinics, hospitals, etc), you have to define more of what you mean. These places need to make a little money on the care they provide because they need to buy new equipment when the old stuff dies, fix the roof, repair stuff, etc. If those places are not making a profit, they will eventually die.
Now if you mean a profit that goes to anything but maintaining the ability to deliver care (e.g. shareholders), that is despicable. There is no place for shareholders in a healthcare company.
That is why Medicare can administer funds cheaper than an insurance company. No shareholders!
Grifters gunna grift
For those wondering about nuclear options, Wired did a nice write up recently.
One of the issues you are touching on is what we refer to as Medication Reconciliation. At least in the US, the standard of care is to verify the current medications a patient is taking at every visit - whether it be an office visit, ED visit, or a hospitalization. Our local pharmacies also play a part in checking for medication interaction. This does not extend to over the counter medications however.
The US is the same in that the patient owns their own information. However, private entities are charged with the responsibility with holding and securing that data. Unfortunately, there is no central repository for it here.
More advanced systems in the US do allow for data access via phone. But it is not uniformly available or applied.
The issues you bring up are well known and I couldn’t agree more. Interoperability needs to be better. See my comment further up.
Right now US privacy laws aren’t compatible with one overarching centralized healthcare record.
Short of that, however, would be an interoperable system. Epic, which is the largest US medical record system, allows for different facilities on the same platform to share information. It is up to the specific facility if a records release is required. Most systems in a given region will have that worked out ahead of time and build it into their general consent for treatment (a form everyone signs). It works quite well. Where I practice, I am able to get all the information I need from across the country, assuming they are on the same platform at the time I am seeing the patient.
For other platforms, it’s more mixed. Federal law requires certain interoperability, but it is fairly limited and not real time. Generally it involves a flash drive with the info on it.
As for the comment about changing platforms in a similar system, that is a struggle. Hospitals are required to keep patient information forever. When they first started going up on electronic systems, they only went back so many years as the scanning costs were huge. As time has moved forward, many systems are bringing all the information over to the new system so they don’t have to maintain more than one electronic system for archive purposes.
Source: I am a physician and chief medical officer.
We use Fluency Direct, but you are correct. Dragon is quite popular too.
Watch him be the one that starts the electoral schism of the Republican party