Two members of the UCD faculty recently published an article about preferential admissions in the October 8 issue of JAMA. Profs Robert Davidson and Ernest Lewis reported that their 20-year study proved that preferential admission policies are harmless–that they do not affect the quality of the doctors who graduate. Gail Heriot, a law professor at […]

Sen Paul Wellstone, former Carleton College professor who represents Minnesota has been promoting his image by courting groups such as the Children’s Defense Fund. However, he gutted the proposal by Sen Jeff Sessions who represents Alabama to limit attorney fees in the tobacco settlement to $250 per hour with leftover billions going for research on […]

The theater has been called the fabulous invalid because for a least half a century it has been described as dying. Broadway, the legendary “great white way” of the state, was labeled as doomed when talking picture came upon the scene. When television developed into the nation’s most popular theatrical form, the prophets of doom […]

Health organizations have been extremely successful in their drive to increase the taxes on cigarettes in order to pay for various health-related programs. Cautioned that this amounts to a “sin tax,” these organizations were warned that this could back fire some day should folks decide “not to smoke.” If the significant revenue stopped would we […]

The California Department of Social Services computer project, designed to track deadbeat parents who owe child support, is reported to be on “life support.” Although the initial cost was projected to be $99 million, current costs are at $260 million. This comes on the heels of the DMV disaster in which the California government pulled […]

A prospective juror in an insurance case was asked if he had ever done business with the insurance company in question, and what he thought of insurance agents. He replied that he placed them “just a notch above lawyers.” We may think of this as just another way ploy to avoid serving on a lengthy […]

Aetna’s CEO & COB (Chairman of the Board) received a 23% raise in cash compensation to $2.6 million. This Hartford, Conn., health-care benefits and insurance company, which last July acquired US Healthcare Inc, also increased the pay of its President by 66%. The CEO also received $3.2 million in bonuses for exceeding company performance goals […]

The government is now paying some hospitals “not” to train resident physicians. Uncle Sam has the uncanny ability to pay the same amount of money for providing a service as for not providing one. Some time ago a family physician mentioned to me that he always had an internist or surgeon take care of his […]

National Public Radio had a report on the success of HMOs. They suggested that there were other things that were expensive and we might apply HMO techniques to bring down their costs. I didn’t have my recorder in the car and so am describing this 100% from recall. My apologies to the author inasmuch as […]

Organized medicine is our topic of the month as we re-organize our organized medicine structure with new leaders via our own political process. Looking at the cross references between just those three terms yields some interesting insights. We trust they give us pause for reflection… concern… and enlightenment. Organize: to routinize, normalize, standardize, harmonize, or […]