Well, finally the American Medical
Association decided they did not want this hung on their neck. I am
talking about the over-the-counter medications the FDA is
considering. Until recently, the AMA has been silent and it appeared
that they were in favor of this happening. Apparently, there has
been an up swell from within the ranks causing the AMA president to
take an official stand.
Recently, Peter W. Carmel, president of
the AMA published an article in USA Today and then repeated it in The
Health Care Blog on May 13, 2012. Better late than never is
apparently the motto of the AMA. Yet even this may not be enough as
more in the medical community are speaking out against the FDA
actions, both officially and in the news media and written word on
the internet.
The next item that may interest you is
a blog also on The Health Care Blog about our poor healthcare science
status. Marya Zilberberg, MD wrote the article and has her own
medical blog here. Dr. Zilberberg is not afraid of telling it like
it is. She pulls together several blogs sources of good information;
follow her links for additional good reading.
Dr. Zilberberg is refreshing in her
analysis of “fast science.” She describes some of the problems
science, especially medical science faces today. According to her,
fast science is the reason people will not publish a second study
that backs up a study that confirms a previous study and in many
cases the funding dries up once something is proven. She sees a
problem with the current trend of reputations and profits being the
driving force behind the studies of today. This race to the finish
line is ruining science and leaving much out of medical science that
affects the clinical value.
She has no immediate answers, but knows
that the future of medical use for clinicians is being damaged. She
wishes “fast science” would slow down and become more valuable
and maybe profitable in another way so that clinicians would find
more value in it.
In my blog here, I covered some of the
problems about studies not being published and Tom Ross covered the
topic of false or as he says it, “bullshit” studies that cannot
be replicated. This is some of the “fast science” that is
causing many of the problems of today.
The third topic is about unpublished
studies. It takes a slightly different tact than the one in my blog
link above. It does list the same website for clinicaltrials dot
gov. Unpublished trials are becoming a real problem and it is small
wonder that doctors are complaining about missing information that
could be vital in the treatment of patients.
The last item is about HSAs (health
savings accounts) and if you have one, be prepared to have it
invalidated. Three separate provisions in the new healthcare law
plus its regulations will reduce access the HSA plans. The current
healthcare law contains restrictions on deductibles and cost sharing.
The medical loss ratio will also impose new restrictions on HSA
plans and some cash contributions made under the new law will mean
that the plan no longer qualifies as government approved. Read about
the new snags that may make your HSA plan invalid.
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