Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Patrick Hagan As doctors and hospitals enter an era of healthcare that will demand high quality at a competitive price, factory-style efficiency is an answer that's working, at Seattle Children's Hospital. The hospital's president, Patrick Hagan, tells host Bruce Japsen about how doctors and hospitals can replicate the kind of factory efficiency used at companies like Toy...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Max Brown Though tort reform has been an elusive goal for some state lawmakers and Congress, health reform will bring grants to come up with alternative medical liability reform initiatives. But meanwhile, some medical providers have developed their own answers. Max Brown, Vice President and General Counsel to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago tells host Bruce Jap...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Daniel Carlat, MD Is there a psychiatrist in the house? There is often attention to a shortage of doctors, particularly in primary care, but the specialty of psychiatry is also in crisis. Dr. Daniel Carlat, professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and editor-in-chief of The Carlat Psychiatry Report, tells host Bruce Japsen about how medical...

Host: Bruce Bloom, DDS, JD Guest: Berish Rubin, PhD Only a few years ago familial dysautonomia (FD) was a fatal disease, but some "Rediscovery Research" from the FD lab at Fordham University in Bronx, New York, is turning this killer into a chronic manageable disease. What have we learned from familial dysautonomia research, and how might this help patients with other diseases? Joining host Dr. Br...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Peter Carmel, MD Healthcare reform will bring health insurance benefits to more than 30 million uninsured Americans but the nation's largest doctor group and its new-president elect see more work to be done. Dr. Peter Carmel, elected in June as president-elect of the American Medical Association, tells host Bruce Japsen how he plans to lead the nation's doctors group into...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: J. Lyle Bootman, PhD Pharmaceutical sales representatives can have great impact on patient care but until now have not always been subject to rigorous certification standards. Dr. Lyle Bootman, chairman of the Medical Representatives Certification Commission and dean of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, tells host Bruce Japsen about a new initiative that will...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Mark Frohlich, MD The cancer treatment Provenge, known as a "therapeutic vaccine," was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in April, 2010 as a novel way to attack prostate tumors. But this is more than the story of a new treatment. Host Bruce Japsen learns about the long path to FDA approval for this unique therapy that some see as a watershed development in onco...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Steve Miller, MD Doctors know their patients often don't take their medications, whether because they simply forget or procrastinate on obtaining refills. But the lack of compliance with prescriptions has enormous financial ramifications. Dr. Steve Miller, senior vice president & chief medical officer, research and clinical sciences for Express Scripts, one of the nat...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Dennis Richling, MD Employers, insurers and providers are all increasingly focused on keeping patients healthy by encouraging prevention and wellness. Many wellness strategies revolve around behavioral issues, so what is the clinician's role in changing patient behavior, and how does the clinician become more tied to initiatives in the community? Dr. Dennis Richling, seni...

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Andrew Dennis, MD When our guest makes a house call, it's usually because a suspected criminal has barricaded himself, with or without hostages, inside the house. Dr. Andrew Dennis is a sworn police officer and medical director of two Chicago-area SWAT teams. Dr. Dennis is also an attending surgeon in the trauma and burn units at John H. Stroger Jr. Cook County Hos...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Daniel Sulmasy, Dr. While much of the nation's attention has been on expanding medical benefits to millions of Americans under health care reform, President Obama has also taken steps to ensure his medical care delivery is conducted in an "ethically responsible manner." The President does this with the help of a Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Dr. Daniel Su...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: James Heywood For over a decade, patients have been turning to the Internet for health information and support. At least one new online venture gives patients the opportunity to access data about medications and therapies and their effects and outcomes. But this isn't clinical trial data. This is detailed, highly quantified, "real-world" data that patients put on the soci...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: James Scheulen, PA-C In 1975, Jim Schuelen began his career working as a PA in an emergency room. Today he is the chief administrative officer for the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine and president of Johns Hopkins Emergency Medical Services. He joins host Lisa Dandrea Lenell to discuss the skill sets, preparation and challenges that...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Michael Prislin, MD A century after Abraham Flexner recommended medical schools be located within a university, new research indicates that this may have contributed to the proliferation of medical specialties and higher costs. Dr. Michael Prislin, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Vice Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Mark Kaplan, DrPH When talk of Canadian healthcare emerges in US political debate, the spin often turns to long lines and waits for medical care and short-changed quality. But there are also those, like Dr. Mark Kaplan, whose study indicates more equity and efficiency for our neighbors to the north than here in the US. Dr. Kaplan, professor of community health at Portland...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Elisabeth Howard, PhD, CNM Guest: Edie McConaughey, CNM, MS What can a medical student or resident learn from a midwife about childbirth? Dr. Elisabeth Howard and Edie McConaughey, both certified nurse midwives at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, recently completed research on midwives as educators to medical students. They...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Eric Holden PA Eric Holden hasn't had time to eat or sleep much since arriving in Haiti. He is one of two physician assistants on the team of NYC Medics, a medical volunteer organization treating the sick and injured following the January 12th earthquake in Haiti. In their first two days on the job, he and his team of medical professionals treated...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Eric Holden Medical professionals across the world have joined together to help treat the injured survivors of Haiti's devastating earthquake. Physician assistants are also part of this global effort. PA Eric Holden, a volunteer with NYC Medics didn't know what to expect when he arrived in Haiti. Holden and the rest of his team have teamed up with...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Robert Tennant, MA Financial incentives to implement electronic health records are a welcome payment to the nation's physicians. But the proposed rules and regulations to implement this system under the economic stimulus are creating complexities and challenges physicians may face in the coming years. Physicians might want to first listen to words of advice from Robert Te...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Wright Pinson, MD Healthcare reform may bring more medical care services to patients, which means more and complex business for the nation's physicians. But are doctors prepared to be the best business people now and in the future for their patients? Dr. Wright Pinson, deputy vice chancellor for health affairs and CEO of the Hospitals and Clinics at Vanderbilt University...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Jack Lasoski, PA-C How do employees working in large facilities know it's safe to return to work after being injured on the job? More than likely they must get clearance from one of the 2000 physician assistants working in occupational medicine across the country. Jack Lasoski, director of health services for the United States Enrichment Corporatio...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Krystie Lennox, PA-C More than 10 million surgical and non surgical cosmetic procedures were performed in the United States in 2008. Many of those procedures were performed by physician assistants. Krystie Lennox, the co-founder of the Aesthetic Extender Symposium, talks with host Lisa Dandrea Lenell about the state-by-state rules related to PAs pe...

Host: Lisa Dandrea Lenell, PA-C, MPAS, MBA Guest: Roderick Hooker, PhD, PA-C How does a doctor know when it's the right time to add a physician assistant to the office staff? There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when making the decision to add new employees. Dr. Roderick Hooker, co-author of the book Physician Assistant Policy and Practice, 3rd Edition , joins host Lisa Dandrea Le...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Julian Bailes, MD The National Football League has placed its strictest rules yet on managing concussions. What is the medical profession to make of such a policy and what are its broader implications for players' long-term health and for future medical research? Dr. Julian Bailes is a founding member of the Brain Injury Research Institute, which is affiliated with the Bl...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Michael Ong, MD In the healthcare debate, we've heard a lot about the equation between improving quality and cutting costs. But new research takes the opposite view that sometimes increased spending leads to better outcomes. Host Bruce Japsen, who also writes about healthcare for the Chicago Tribune , talks with Dr. Michael Ong, assistant professor of medicine in residenc...