Insider Archives - Page 2 of 2

Conspicuous Caring

Mar 26, 2019

In an interesting article on Medscape.com, “Have We Missed the Hidden Cause of Medical Overuse,” the author raises a provocative issue about medical overuse. He cites the story of when a mother kisses the scrape of a toddler, "No healing takes place, yet both parties appreciate the ritual." Continuing, he states, "The ritual shows how we might be programmed to both seek and offer healthcare even when it isn't medically useful.” He believes this is "Conspicuous Caring". The provocative conclusion is that healthcare isn't just about health; it's also a grand signaling exercise called conspicuous caring. If healthcare was only a transaction about getting well,...

Powerful Positive Health

Dec 26, 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, we think about "taking stock" of the year that is ending. The real opportunity is to look forward to the upcoming year and its potential for us. On the internet I came upon an article from Harvard Medical School, which opened with the these three powerful phrases - Positive Mind, Positive Vibes, and Positive Life. Dr. Laura Kubzansky, a professor of social & behavioral sciences at Harvard, and her colleagues have analyzed data on emotional vitality and health outcomes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES). According to the article, "In 2007, her team reported...

Caught in “too big to care”?

Nov 29, 2018

There have been two compelling articles in the “New York Times” over the past few weeks focused on healthcare. The first article dated Tuesday, October 30, 2018, is entitled “A Sense of Alarm as Rural Hospitals Keep Closing”1 and the second article dated November 14, 2018, entitled “When Hospitals Merge to Save Money, Patients Often Pay More”2. These two articles are really bookends of the same set of issues emerging in our healthcare delivery system. "Since 2010, nearly 90 rural hospitals have shut their doors. By one estimate, hundreds of other rural hospitals are at risk of doing so." 1 In many communities...

Curus mourns the loss of its Chief Medical Officer Emeritus

Nov 27, 2018

This past month our Chief Medical Officer Emeritus, Stuart Rosenthal, M.D., passed away. He was a unique man with an overpowering intellect and personality. He spoke seven languages and his interests were wide and varied from literature, to art, to travel to sailing. By training, Dr. Rosenthal was a rheumatologist. However, as many have said, he was the best diagnostician they ever encountered and he was referred to as a doctor’s doctor in Houston where he practiced medicine for over 35 years. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Rosenthal was board certified in Internal Medicine and a Diplomat (Emeritus)...

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Concierge Medicine Pros and Cons and a Little History

Aug 30, 2018

If you remember the time when physicians made house calls it was a period in American healthcare where the relationship between doctor and patient was both medical and economic. During the era of house-calls you received your services directly from your doctor and you paid for those services directly to your doctor. Along came the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson and his “Great Society”. This aspirational vision began the disconnect on payments for physician services t patient and doctor. In this new emerging aspirational society, everyone was going to have comparable healthcare and both the government and private insurance would be...

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Conspicuous Caring

Powerful Positive Health

Caught in “too big to care”?

Curus mourns the loss of its Chief Medical Officer Emeritus

Concierge Medicine Pros and Cons and a Little History

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