Dr. Niran Al-Agba

Is the Marital Status of a 5 year old Child Important?

Doctors have spent decades honing their clinical skills and should be entitled to choose the documentation method they find most effective and efficient. Some physicians find electronic records helpful and should be encouraged to use them. My pediatric practice will keep surviving on a shoestring, a prayer, and good old-fashioned paper. It warms my heart to know each chart note contains helpful information and not one human being leaves with NONE as their diagnosis.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T02:14:29+00:00January 16, 2018|Categories: Policy, Practice|Tags: Burnout, EHR, Electronic Records, EMR, Government Medicine, Health Policy, MACRA, Physician Autonomy|

Life Expectancy Declined Again… No Surprise

Primary care physicians in the U.S. have been relegated to the back room. As a result, people are dying younger than before. One year ago, I asked whether declining life expectancy was just the tip of the iceberg, suggesting we should turn our attention to the dwindling supply of primary care physicians. What will it take for those in charge sit up and pay attention? How low will life expectancy have to go? Stay tuned…

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T02:16:01+00:00January 9, 2018|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: ACA, Government Medicine, Health Policy, Life Expectancy|

Dr. Noseworthy and the AHCA: A Tipping Point

The CEO of the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Noseworthy, was last heard recommending patients fire their physicians suffering from burnout. While he does not have truckloads of compassion or empathy for colleagues; he is, at least, honest. Dr. Noseworthy recently confessed “We’re asking…if the patient has commercial insurance, or they’re Medicaid or Medicare patients and they’re equal that we prioritize the commercial insured patients enough so… We can be financially strong at the end of the year to continue to advance our mission.” The ‘ailing’ nonprofit generated a paltry $475 million last year.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-14T03:32:56+00:00March 28, 2017|Categories: Policy|Tags: ACA, Affordable Care, Corporatization, Government Medicine, Hospitals, Obamacare, Transparency|

Does Life Expectancy Matter?

Health policy experts, IT executives, and politicians jumped on the ACA, HITECH, and MACRA bandwagon while clinging tightly to their misguided belief that more electronic records, ACO’s, care coordinators, administrators, pay for performance schemes, and other fads or gimmicks would improve health outcomes; it turns out one of the most fundamental measures of healthcare quality, our life expectancy, is no better than before.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-04T01:38:47+00:00December 20, 2016|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Government Medicine, Health Policy, Life Expectancy, Metrics|

Rural Care: A Primer For Washington Officials, Columnists and Economists.

I am not convinced time and money spent implementing new technology does anything to improve patient care; I am fairly certain, however, conversations with my patients provide considerable value.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-03T22:59:10+00:00July 27, 2016|Categories: Policy, Practice|Tags: Corporatization, EHR, EMR, Government Medicine, MACRA, MIPS, Rural Care|

For the Love of Whole Milk

In 2010, the President put together a Task Force on Child Obesity. These so-called “experts” who reformed school lunch guidelines decided to offer only low-fat milk or skim chocolate milk (with its added sugars) at school and removed whole milk from the menu. Guess what? Not ONE member of the Obesity task force was an MD, let alone a pediatrician. Five of the 9 members were lawyers!

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-03T16:17:52+00:00May 10, 2016|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Government Medicine, Obesity|