 
.png?upscale=true&upscale=true&width=1120&height=78&name=Untitled%20(40).png) Lawmakers Seek Answers on Pfizer, Lilly Telehealth Moves
The move by pharmaceutical manufacturers into telehealth and direct-to-consumer sales of prescription drugs has attracted the attention of US Senators - Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Dick Durbin and Peter Welch. Pfizer and Lilly are on the hot seat, but pretty much every large manufacturer is working some sort of direct-to-consumer play using telehealth services now. From the looks of it, not much is going to come out of the inquiries - and they aren’t talking to Amazon, Walmart, Optum, Kroger or the dozens of others entering telehealth specifically for direct-to-consumer prescription sales.
Lawmakers Seek Answers on Pfizer, Lilly Telehealth Moves - Pharmaphorum
Excerpt from ‘Blind Spots’ by Marty Makary
The Harvard Gazette has bravely stepped into the allergy fray. We salute them (while hiding behind that tree way over there).
Dr. Marty Makary is a surgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins, with several books on healthcare systems and reform. His latest is Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health. This is an excerpt from a chapter on allergies and the history of their development.
Surgeon, Professor Marty Makary Examines Damage Wrought When Medicine Closes Ranks Around Inaccurate Dogma - Harvard Gazette
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Boarding Patients in Emergency Departments Nearly Doubles Daily Cost of Care, Study Finds
A study with 25 patients in a stroke center isn’t large, but it aligns with other studies in Annals of Emergency Medicine and Academic Emergency Medicine showing that boarding significantly increases mortality rates, doubles healthcare costs, exacerbates staffing problems, and decreases care availability for all ED patients.
Facility closures and patient rerouting, bed reductions as cost-cutting measures in hospitals, increased acuity due to primary care and specialist shortages, discharge delays, and post-acute care placement issues (such as a lack of skilled nursing and rehabilitation beds)—even poor maintenance and CNA staffing that causes delays in clearing rooms—all contribute to the problem.
These are well-known issues, but investing in adequate inpatient staffing, infrastructure, equipment, and staff development doesn’t tend toward short-term ROI. The front end is all cost, with rewards only in long-term ROI and brand improvement. So far, most solutions have been limited to suggestions about penalties and additional paperwork to track boarding times.
Boarding Patients in Emergency Departments Nearly Doubles Daily Cost of Care, Study Finds - EMS World
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 QUIZ QUESTION
35-year-old woman presents with edema, stage 1 HTNA
A 35-year-old woman presents with a history of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Her blood pressure is 135/86 mm Hg. You note the presence of trace edema on both extremities. Urinalysis is positive for 2+ protein and no blood. You obtain urinalysis for a spot protein/creatinine ratio, which is 0.3 g/g (normal < 0.2 g/g). Her serum creatinine level is 0.6 mg/dL (normal range, 0.6-1.2).
Which of the following statements is correct?
- She has stage 2 kidney disease.
- She has stage 3 kidney disease.
- She has stage 1 kidney disease.
- She does not have kidney disease
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