THIS WEEK, TOURISTS STEPPED ONTO THE LEDGE, A GLASS OBSERVATION DECK 103 STORIES ABOVE CHICAGO, AND THE FLOOR SPLINTERED BENEATH THEIR FEET. MATERIAL EXPERTS HELP EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED.
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Saturday, May 31, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Medicine’s Top Earners Are Not the M.D.s
THOUGH the recent release of Medicare’s physician payments cast a spotlight on the millions of dollars paid to some specialists, there is a startling secret behind America’s health care hierarchy: Physicians, the most highly trained members in the industry’s work force, are on average right in the middle of the compensation pack.
That is because the biggest bucks are currently earned not through the delivery of care, but from overseeing the business of medicine.
The base pay of insurance executives, hospital executives and even hospital administrators often far outstrips doctors’ salaries, according to an analysis performed for The New York Times by Compdata Surveys: $584,000 on average for an insurance chief executive officer, $386,000 for a hospital C.E.O. and $237,000 for a hospital administrator, compared with $306,000 for a surgeon and $185,000 for a general doctor.
And those numbers almost certainly understate the payment gap, since top executives frequently earn the bulk of their income in nonsalary compensation. In a deal that is not unusual in the industry, Mark T. Bertolini, the chief executive of Aetna, earned a salary of about $977,000 in 2012 but a total compensation package of over $36 million, the bulk of it from stocks vested and options he exercised that year. Likewise, Ronald J. Del Mauro, a former president of Barnabas Health, a midsize health system in New Jersey, earned a salary of just $28,000 in 2012, the year he retired, but total compensation of $21.7 million.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Where Does It Hurt? Log On. The Doctor Is In
Telemedicine Sector Attracts Funding, But Some Physician Groups Worry About Quality of Care
Investors are betting that more Americans will like getting medical care 24/7 without leaving home or work. The telehealth sector has attracted $272 million in venture-capital funding since 2010—including $79 million in the last quarter, according to Mercom Capital Group, a health IT research firm.
"Politicians and lobbyists can't solve health care. It's quite simple: Empower consumers with patient-in-control solutions," says John Sculley, former Apple CEO and vice chairman of MDLIVE, which netted $24 million in new funding this year.
Doctor on Demand launched in December with $3 million in seed funding from Google Ventures and other investors. Its co-founder is Jay McGraw, executive producer of the talk show "The Doctors," and son of psychologist Dr. Phil.
Many health plans think such services will provide savings, and cover most or all of the cost for their members. As of last year, 11% of large employers offered telemedicine services to their employees and 28% were considering it, according to consulting firm Mercer.
But some physician groups and state medical boards worry that such e-visits are undermining the doctor-patient relationship and lowering the quality of care.
"Most physicians would never accept a phone call from a patient they haven't met and diagnose and prescribe medication for that patient. Yet that is a common practice for many 24/7 health-care services," says Greg Billings, executive director of the Robert J. Waters Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law, a nonprofit research group, also known as CTel.
'Barefoot' Running Heads Into the Sunset
"Barefoot" running may be going the way of the caveman.
The much-hyped running style that had weekend warriors ditching sneakers to jog with little or nothing on their feet, as humans had for millennia before the advent of footwear, is falling out of favor.
Health claims that had helped drive the trend are coming under attack. Vibram, which makes the FiveFingers shoes that look like gloves for the feet, has offered to settle a class-action suit that contends the company profited from unsubstantiated claims the shoes strengthen muscles and prevent injury
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Thursday, May 08, 2014
Honoring the Missing Schoolgirls
Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and, by all means, let’s use it to celebrate the moms in our lives with flowers and brunches. But let’s also use the occasion to honor the girls still missing in Nigeria.
One way is a donation to support girls going to school around Africa through the Campaign for Female Education, Camfed.org; a $40 gift pays for a girl’s school uniform.
Another way to empower women is to support Edna Adan, an extraordinary Somali woman who has started her own maternity hospital, midwife training program and private university, saving lives, providing family planning and fighting female genital mutilation. AtEdnaHospital.org, a $50 donation pays for a safe hospital delivery.
Or there’s the Mothers’ Day Movement, mothersdaymovement.org, which is supporting a clean water initiative in Uganda. With access to water, some girls will no longer have to drop out of school to haul water.
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
Artist Creates Mini Paintings on Eyelids. This Will Blow You Away!
An Israeli makeup artist, Tal Peleg, makes miniature paintings on eyelids and shows that a little eyeshadow and some eyeliner can go a long way. The entire eye and face becomes an unbelievable portrait that displays some amazing feeling and detail!
Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Can Your Eyes Change Color?
Some people say the color of their eyes has changed with age or can change with their moods. One expert, Ivan Schwab, a professor of ophthalmology at University of California, Davis, and a clinical spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, takes a closer look.
Settle Down
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Monday, May 05, 2014
From Volunteers, a DNA Database
Abigail Wark wants to see your areolas.
But only if you are a participant in the Personal Genome Project, a research effort to find 100,000 volunteers as research subjects in the public domain — contributing data from their genomes, microbiomes, health records, tissues and more.
Sunday, May 04, 2014
An About-Face on a Risky Transplant
When the world’s first face transplant was performed in France in 2005, it pushed medical boundaries and made headlines. Yet the procedure’s future was very much in doubt.
The surgeons, operating on a 38-year-old Frenchwoman whose face had been mauled by her pet Labrador, had to surmount the opposition of prestigious medical societies, which declared the procedure unethical and immoral. Critics, including surgeons who had lost out in competing to do the first face transplant, said the pioneering team did not follow ethical and legal guidelines.
But the first comprehensive review of every face transplant reported since then — 28 in seven countries, counting the French case but not two done in Turkey since the review was completed — has removed many of those early doubts.
The report, published online by The Lancet on Sunday, says the procedure is generally safe and feasible, and should be offered to more patients.
Thursday, May 01, 2014
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