From Mangled Care to Direct Health CarING©

The process of health carING© is almost insurmountable in its multifaceted complexity, thus according to the rules of non-linear dynamics it simply can not be “managed”.

What can be managed, meaning rationed, are the ever-rising costs of such carING©.

“Managed care” is a primary oxymoron by default; in its present form is best described as mangled care.

When originally introduced to our naive country and promoted by then ,and still, misguided and ill qualified Mrs. Clinton and her Jackson Hole Task Force, mangled care was, defined as:

" A prepaid risk-based system of integrated health care delivery, having appropriate capabilities to improve quality of care and manage utilization and cost of a given population.” (Thomas Morrow, MD., at NMHCC/IT Fall 1998, Los Angeles, CA)

These for-profit extremely profitable mangled care companies have embraced, and function under divergent and practically mutually exclusive core values.

On one hand, these companies are obligated to provide rather than ration health care services.

On the other, their entire existence hinges on their obligation and ability to generate consistent profits for their executives and shareholders.

More often than not, provision of appropriate health carING© and profit margins of mangled care companies come into direct conflict.

This conflict fuels a “double explosion” of the system: while availability and quality of health services goes down; costs of services to purchasers and profits of mangled care companies go up.

This abominable situation creates significant financial “counter-incentives” to provision of appropriate, accessible, affordable health carING© which can be gauged by the divergence coefficient.

Such counter-incentives further negatively effect already financially squeezed powerless and frequently frustrated health providers.

In addition to divergent and conflicting core values, double explosion, financial counter-incentives and overall patient and provider frustration there is, what I coined, business disconnect.

Entire purpose for insurance, companies, HMOs and other "mangled" health care organizations existence is to grab as many pennies from consumer’s health care dollar as they are allowed to by the workers.

Business disconnects exist due to interlined logistical, financial, physical and ethical aspects of mangled health care:

•The recipient usually does not request, does not order, or pay for the service.

•The payor never requests, does not receive, nor order the service.

•The orderer does not pay, nor receive the service.

In order to achieve their business objectives, here are some of the strategies used:

•If someone is already paying a lot, let him or her continue.

•Even if a lot of people complain about managed care quality, it won’t contain cost.

•Never provide coverage unless the treatment is unpleasant.

•Quality is being in a waiting room with people who earn more money than you do.

Please visit www.workingamerica.org/healthcarehustle maintained by AFL-CIO for real life stories.

Despite such an unorthodox business model, they do grab a sizable chunk: 17 cents out of every healthcare dollar without actually working, being sick, or providing services.

Here are three of many “secrets” in health carING © that health insurance companies do not want health consumers to know:

• Health consumers can request and receive health carING© from doctors, nurses,

pharmacists, hospitals, labs, pharmaceutical companies, and others without mangled care.

• Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, labs, pharmaceutical companies, and others can

provide health carING© without mangled care.

• Healthcare consumers can pay for health carING© without mangled care companies.

Only complete elimination of mangled care as the middle man, can generate enough money to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable health carING©.

Patient-driven health care model promoted by mangled care must give way to direct health consumer-administered health carING ©.

I, for one, am willing to make a difference and show the way.

We are making a difference (MAD), you decide!

Milestone achievement by the NEW™ Institute is a victory for health consumers.

Yesterday, September 23 2008 FDA finally launched a long awaited crackdown against companies marketing prescription medications without government approval.

The NEW™ Institute involvement with the skin cream containing papain, derived from the tropical papaya plant, provided evidence that manufacturers were selling it without federal validation of their safety and efficacy.

The cream is being touted by about a dozen of manufacturers for treatment of chronic (non-healing) skin ulcers from diabetes and other causes.

As of today, there is no single approved version of such cream in a "business" worth about $50 million a year.

The adverse reporting noted that frequently the cream was of no help to patients and caused life-threatening allergiс reactions.

Companies making this unapproved cream have till November 24 to file for FDA approval or cease production in lieu of FDA seizures and other legal actions.

Be Well!

Prof V.S. Dorodny to re-enter clinical practice

Having dedicated most of my professional activities since 2006 to pursuit of Academic and Research endeavors, I am happy to announce that I will be returning to Clinical Practice before the end of 2008.

A dully licensed California Physician & Surgeon with over 30 years of traditional medical experience, I am also a Naturopathic Doctor with over 10 years of experience of convergent, and, frequently, symbiotic approach to the management of all chronic and multi-systemic disease states.

My areas of expertise encompass traditional medical practice and naturopathy with a focus on nutrition, botanical medicine, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, physical manipulation, pharmacology and psychology.

Naturopathy is a philosophy which encompasses a view of life, a model for living a full life. The word naturopathy is a Latin-Greek hybrid which can be defined as 'being close to or benefiting from nature.'" - Stewart Mitchell, Naturopathy: Understanding the Healing Power of Nature.

Naturopathic Medicine is the practice of assisting in the health of patients through the application of natural remedies. Most naturopaths consider their care complementary, not supplementary, to the care a traditional medical professional.

However, the field and its practitioners remain mostly unregulated even in a progressive State of California with only few, at least for know, that can formally called themselves Doctors of Naturopathy. (N.D.)

There are tens of thousands of natural bio-active food supplements and preparations that are being marketed to the general public. Clearly, there is an expressed need for an orderly, studied and unbiased assessment of the benefits and risks of this burgeoning marketplace.

The recent (2007) shutdown by the FTC/FDA of the $250-million-a-year liquid vitamin manufacturer SeaSilver sent shock waves through the booming food supplement market.

While there are a number of lessons to be learned by long overdue and clearly warranted enforcement action, the most important message is probably this: A whole lot of people spent a great deal of money on a product which, as far as regulators were concerned, was marketed in wholly inappropriate and perhaps misleading fashion.

When family health and well-being are at stake, we all want the best information available. We all want the correct information.

We want unbiased information. The National Institute of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other agencies that we traditionally rely upon to serve as vanguards of medical authenticity are experiencing funding and manpower shortages, as well as conflicts of interest.

While these agencies are without doubt the most capable sources of evaluating legitimate health-benefit claims, they are buried by the sheer volume of their mandates, and have difficulty coping.

Having served as a Consumer Representative on the FDA’s general Scientific Advisory Board (1998-2002), the need was clear.

In July 2003, the FDA set forth the conditions under which it will exercise enforcement discretion for qualified health claims: "…when it determines, based on the totality of publicly available scientific evidence (including evidence from well-designed studies conducted in a manner which is consistent with generally recognized scientific procedures and principles), that there is significant scientific agreement, among experts qualified by scientific training and experience to evaluate such claims, that the claim is supported by such evidence".

To provide a repository for scientific data about naturopathic supplements that empowers health consumers and providers to make good, safe decisions; and serves as an additional resource for the regulatory community, I founded the Naturopathic Evidence-based Wellness Institute (NEW™) in May of 2003 in Malibu, California.

Finally, the NEW™ Institute provides an authoritative resource for the manufacturers of food supplements to educate their markets about the true benefits of their products through compelling and compliant advertising and marketing.

Over the past 2 years we were inundated by requests for information, consultation and direct care. Responding to the needs of health care consumers I will be announcing the new physical location and contact information in mid-October 2008

Be Well!