Sunday, December 27, 2009

The point of no return in Iran


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_yBgd88f50
For the past 7 months the Iranian regime seemed to think that by exercising extreme violence on the street they can avert a new revolution in Iran. They base this strategy on the false belief that the fall of the shah's regime in 1979 was a result of faint heartedness on his part when it came to the crackdown on demonstrators. The events on the ground today are proving them wrong as their heavy handed strategy has left the demonstrators with no choice but to fight back and defend themselves by use of force.
The demonstrators in Tehran today (Dec 27) responded to the sever beatings by the security forces by organizing and attacking those forces. They managed to overwhelm the security forces in some areas, a site that is likely to repeat itself in the days to come.
Just like in the 1979 revolution, the next stages are sure to come, public strikes and the defection of security officers to join the masses. History is more likely to repeat itself than not.
If I were an Iranian official I'd be packing my bags and sending some $ to switzerland.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Government inflexibility and Healthcare reform


At the peak of the national debate on healthcare reform a central fear of ordinary people and healthcare providers remain unaddressed and rarely discussed. Would bigger government role in healthcare make our government even more inflexible in correcting system failures that impact patient care?

I submit that the government’s past conduct in fixing existing issues is the barometer for things to come. Issues like the VA’s prior authorization for PCP visits in nursing homes (In some nursing home contracts the VA mandates that they pre-approve most, if not all, visits by the patients’ own PCP before they happen) that practically make veterans second class patients.

Another current unresolved issue is the DEA requirement that nursing home patients not receive medications ordered by doctors unless there is a hard script given to the nursing home, a process that has caused delays in patient care since its enforcement almost a year ago. All efforts by healthcare organizations such as the AMA and AMDA have been fruitless on this issue as no one in government wants to be the one responsible for changing the rules, even if it makes sense to do so.

We should pause and consider the root causes for this apparent trend of government inability to respond to concerns or to correct rules that are proven to endanger the well-being of patients.

Letters to government, including our representatives, are responded to with generic responses, and the big government systems remain unimpressed by the professionals' protest of government rules that hamper their effort to provide basic care for their patients.

Nursing home care is out of site and out of mind for most in healthcare and in government, but there is a growing movement to get attention to a variety of concerns that are the creation of the government's own, often obsolete, rules.

Going back to basics in trying to get the attention of our giant, unyielding, government, a petition was published 3 weeks and is so far signed by hundreds of doctors and other healthcare professionals protesting a specific government action in nursing homes. This petition was sent to many government officials in the executive and legislative branches and we await their response.

Link: http://www.gopetition.com/online/32305.html