Tag: health care policy

Amy Ho Amy Ho (2 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

University of Texas Southwestern Medical School

Amy is a Class of 2014 medical student at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX going into Emergency Medicine with a strong interest in health policy. She is on the AMPAC Board of Directors, TEXPAC Board of Directors, and a contributing writer for Motley Fool.




Match Magic: Why the NRMP Match Needs to Disappear

Published by Amy Ho

Becoming a doctor takes time, but those outside of medicine do not always realize how convoluted the process can be. Central to the perversion is the National Resident Matching Program (or “the Match”). After college and the two years of classroom-based training in medical school, students are ushered into clinical training through third year core rotations in predetermined specialties. In the spring of their third year, students must decide on their career specialty, often without …

What We Mean When We Say “Not Even” in Abortion Legislation

Published by Larissa Mattei

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there have been more anti-choice bills passed in the past two years than in the past decade. Ninety-three up from to 22, to be exact. The majority of these restrictions target abortion providers in an effort to close clinics and limit public access. Specifically, these are known as “TRAP” laws: “Targeted Restrictions on Abortion Providers.” Others limit insurance coverage while the ones that often garner the loudest public outcry seek …

medical cannabis

Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics (Part 3/3)

Published by Arielle Gerard

Please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series “Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics.” Organizational Support for Medical Cannabis Legalization Many organizations, including some of the most prestigious in the country, support the legalization of medical cannabis. Here is a partial list with their takes on the issue: New England Journal of Medicine 1997 “Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill …

How to Sell Your Kidney: A Brief Overview of the Iranian Model for Kidney Transplantation

Published by Bobak Zonnoor

Let’s imagine that you are one of the 115,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list in the United States. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could go on Craigslist and type in “kidney” under the sales section? Well if you are a law-abiding citizen and your life is dependent on a kidney, you have only one legal option: travel to Iran, the only country where buying (and selling) kidneys is legal. Kidney transplant is …

Baseball, Blue Buttons, and Legitimately Beautiful Health Records: An Interview with Adam Wong at the ONC for Health IT

Published by Seth Einterz

Adam Wong works at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, all of which, thankfully, can be abbreviated: ONC for Health IT.  The development of health IT — which includes everything from electronic medical records to smartphone apps — is at its best a populist project, involving techies, patients, students and health care professionals. I spoke with Adam about some of the recent developments in health IT and how medical students can …

medical cannabis

Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics (Part 2/3)

Published by Arielle Gerard

Please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series “Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics.” Cannabis as Medicine The health benefits of medical cannabis have been reported since 2737 B.C., when Chinese Emperor Shen Nung began to record its uses. These possible medical uses include the following: assists in decreasing nausea, vomiting, and pain, increases appetite, assists patients with insomnia, produces short-term reduction of intraocular eye pressure, has anti-anxiety properties, …

SaveGME: Graduate Medical Education is Imperative for Physician Training, Patient Care and Public Health

Published by Manik Aggarwal

Every current fourth-year medical student in the country marked March 17, 2014 and March 21, 2014 on their calendars a long time ago. The first date tells students if they matched into residency and if they will begin their training program this July. The second date tells students where they will ultimately live, breathe and work for the next three to seven years as a member of the hospital’s housestaff. My personal journey to March …

medical cannabis

Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics (Part 1/3)

Published by Arielle Gerard

Please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series “Medical Cannabis: A Matter of Patients, Not Politics.” Due to the potential of medical cannabis to provide relief to millions of patients in the United States, the need for state and federal governments to immediately increase research and legalize medical cannabis prescription is imperative. In this three-part series of articles, I will outline (1) the history of medical cannabis law in the United …

Medicare SGR Repeal and What It Means for Our Future

Published by Ryan Denu

Here’s the problem: Medicare’s physician payment formula has not been working. Since 1992, Medicare has reimbursed physicians on a fee-for-service basis. In 1997, Congress implemented the sustainable growth rate (SGR) to control Medicare spending and make sure that growth in physician reimbursement does not exceed growth in the gross domestic product (GDP). This is problematic because the cost of medical care in the United States has increased faster than its GDP. In fact, health care …

The SGR: What Happens in Washington, D.C. Now Could Affect the Rest of Your Career

Published by Mark Kashtan

If you’ve happened across any political news outlets in the past month or two you may have seen some headlines about something called “SGR.” Perhaps more likely, you may remember in years past hearing political pundits or reporters talking about a “doc fix.” In fact, both of these are the same thing, and if you’ve heard those terms thrown about more than once it might be because the issue has come up at least once a year …

Beyond the Walls of Hospitals: Life as a Physician-Congressman

Published by Corey Meador

Currently, 20 physicians hold seats in the US Congress. Their training in the medical profession has instilled within them a unique skill among politicians—the capacity to listen. Not unlike the diagnostic process, a congressman must listen to those citizens that he or she represents and establish the main concern and the plan to address that concern. In speaking with two of the current physician-congressmen, I learned that listening to citizens as a US congressman very …

Medical Students: The Anti-Millionaires

Published by Daniel Coleman

A few months ago, CBS Moneywatch published an article entitled “$1 million mistake: Becoming a doctor.” Aside from the possibility that devoting one’s life to helping others might be considered a mistake, I was struck by the “$1 million” figure. Was it actually that much? I mean, $1 million is a lot of money. When I was younger, millionaires seemed a rarefied breed. They drove expensive cars and had houses with names like “Le Troquet” or “Brandywine Vale.” The …

Daniel Coleman Daniel Coleman (5 Posts)

Medical Student Editor

Georgetown University School of Medicine

Daniel graduated from Tufts University in 2004. His subsequent pursuits included everything from cell cycle research to manufacturing shampoo. Medically, his interests lie in emergency and wilderness medicine, infectious disease, and health care sustainability. Daniel is medical student at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Class of 2017.