Juvan's Health Law Recap--January 28, 2007
It's hard to believe that January is already coming to a close. I immediately realized that we are full speed ahead into 2007 when I arrived at the gym this week, only to find that the parking lot was half full and that many of the good intentioned New Years resolutioners had dropped off!
President Bush's State of the Union address occupied the media last week. I covered President Bush's proposed solution to the health care insurance crisis a week ago, so I will not delve too deeply into these issues again. The Washington Post has followed the fall-out of Bush's proposal in two articles, one of which discusses the winners and losers in the plan (those who would buy individual insurance plans and those with employer-sponsored plans, respectively), and another of which states that the President's proposal received a "frosty reception from the Democrats." Bush's proposal may be falling on deaf ears, as his support is waning. As the bid for the White House looms closer, Juvan's Health Law Update will follow objectively (to the greatest extent possible) each of the candidate's views on health care.
Last week I also had the most sincere pleasure of meeting Rita Schwab, author of the popular health care blog known as the MSSPNexus Blog, which I highly recommend. For those of you who are unfamiliar, "MSSP" stands for medical staff service professional. Rita currently works in provider credentialing at the Cleveland Clinic. In addition to hosting the Health Wonk Review in the past (and receiving many accolades for her incredible coverage, I might add), Rita also covers provider credentialing, Joint Commission accreditation and patient safety concerns on her blog.
Rita and I had a wonderful conversation over lunch at the "Blog Cafe," as she calls it. We discussed issues affecting physicians and patients such as malpractice concerns and how the patient and physician communities might be brought more closely together. We also discussed our love for blogging and how incredible it is to connect to new found friends from all over the globe. I feel extremely fortunate to have met Rita, and so many other friends, through blogging!
