There's a million ways to make medicine better and we want to hear them all. From the political arena of health care reform, to the personal world of what you want and need medicine to be, Share Your Ideas is where you talk and we listen. So, if you have an idea, a question, or advice on what the world of medicine needs to do in order to be better, please share it. And check back often to see if it becomes reality.
I am hopeful that you have addressed the following areas:
1)Given multiple studies showing medication compliance rates of 50% have you included a methodology for tracking compliance? This area results in massive waste of costs for unused medications as well as diminished quality of care.
2)I hope that you have required a justification for polypharmacy often utilized in psychiatry, especially as it results in enormous costs, increase in complexity and non compliance, and increased adverse effects of medication.
3)Have you provided incentives (for physicians!) to utilize generic medications, especially when the efficacy of newer brand medications have not been clearly demonstrated?
4)There is a need for treatment effectiveness to be demonstrated, especially in cases of disability, else patients will lose their employment and disability benefits.
5)A rationale, in terms of loss of occupational capacity, needs to be provided by any physician recommending a period of disability. A request by the patient is not sufficient.
Thank you for your consideration.
Leonard Kessler, MD
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