While attending the Lexington Medical Society’s meeting in October, I heard Dr. Ardis Hoven, president of the AMA emphatically state that the solution to providing care to the millions of new patients now included in the Affordable Care Act was “physician-led health care teams using practice extenders to their highest level of education, expertise and training.”
Hoven’s words echoed the same message spoken a month earlier by Fred A. Williams, MD, president of the Kentucky Medical Association in his interview with M.D. Update editor-in-chief Jennifer Newton. (M.D. Update # 81, pg 4, Headlines) “In an attempt to get our arms around the access problem, we recognize that physicians by themselves are not going to be the sole answer.”
Enter Senior Health. Geriatric Medicine. Palliative Medicine. Hospice Care. Long-term Acute Care.
Home Health. Durable Medical Equipment. Mental Health of Aging. You get the picture.
As Dr. Robert Taylor, Medical Director of Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital’s Home Health program told me, “Eventually, almost all of us will have a stay in a rehabilitation hospital, and if we’re fortunate, we’ll end our time in home health care.”
This issue of M.D. Update, our Senior Health issue, introduces some of the physicians and physician-led team members in Kentucky who work every day with patients who are called “elderly, senior, geriatric, or older.” I invite you to read their stories.
Contact me if you have a story to tell.
All the BestGil DunnPublisher, M.D. Update
PUBLISHER NOTE:
We regret a case of mistaken identity in last month’s cover story on members of the Markey Cancer Center. We incorrectly identified Daret St. Clair, PhD and Heidi Weiss, PhD. We apologize. Here are the correct photos and captions.
SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR TO JENNIFER S. NEWTON AT JNEWTON@MD-UPDATE.COM