Customer Reviews

Medicare Matters: What Geriatric Medicine Can Teach American Health Care (California/Milbank Books on Health and the Public)

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A veteran frontline Geriatric physician ,Dr Christine Casell has given a clear incisive description of the role of geriatric medicine in managing Medicare patients and what it can teach the US health care system.She also shows how politics has complicated a non partisan issue such as Medicare compromising the care of millions of vulnerable elders.
She does compliment a few systems (most of them integrated )such as the VA, Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente in the way they coordinate care for the frail elderly.
It is a must read for all those policy wonks and politicians in Washington as well as those who influence policy in the AMA,AARP and the AGS.
Even though the book was written in 2005 most of her recommendations have yet to be accepted by Medicare in 2010.
It is also a wake up call for all Geriatric Medicine fellowship directors to revamp the way fellows are taught
As a frontline geriatric physician running a geriatric interdisciplinary team myself for over 20 years the care this nation provides our vulnerable seniors is fragmented ,costly and fraught with significant quality issues.
The back cover has glowing tributes written by Drs Berwick(CMS) and Halvorson (Kaiser)
It has been 5 years since the book was written and I hope the present health care crisis creates an impetus for Medicare and other Health care Insurance companies to implement her well thought out recommendations sooner rather than later