The ongoing saga… 

The Great – The results of the Primary Care First initiative by Medicare (SEE above) are very promising for increasing support of primary care practices BUT – will require a change in how we care for those patients.

The Good – 2022 is behind us and 2023 is looking better on the pandemic front!

The Bad – The increased targeting and hacking of health care organizations on the information technology front. We need to do a much better job of protecting and securing health care information moving forward.

The Ugly – The increasing disassociation in the global community with a significant number of nations moving towards autocracy…

The ongoing saga… 

The Great – The time set aside on an annual basis as we gather with family and friends for our Thanksgiving festivities. I hope your time was as good as ours! We celebrated this year at our house with two turkeys – one the traditional Kevy Turkey with a soy/butter/garlic basting on the grill and the other a traditional Mom’s Turkey basted with butter in the oven. Mom – at 92 – enjoyed a bit of both 😊.

The Good – Vaccinations work! I contracted COVID (again ☹) but the symptoms and infectivity lasted only 4 days. Paxlovid helped on the symptom side but it’s clear that the vaccinations were a key to a better outcome! 

The Bad – The continuing spread of COVID along with the evolving potential for a measles outbreak as a result of inadequate vaccinations – a troubling trend across the world.

The Ugly – The ongoing war in Ukraine with its incremental escalation and recalcitrance on the part of the Putin regime.

The Good – Slowly but surely, we seem to be moving in a direction of value-based care delivery. It’s a long slog. 

The Bad – We require seat belts for driving. We don’t allow inebriated driving (either alcohol or other drugs). We don’t allow smoking inside buildings at this point. BUT, we allow companies to solicit and sell vaping products to our youth. Argh!!

The Ugly – The final televised hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives January 6^th Committee hearing clearly showed the culpability of our last President in inciting and supporting the breach of the U.S. Capital. It’s actually not only “Ugly”, but it’s also “Very Sad” that this would happen in our democracy. However, I think we can remain hopeful and will learn from it by putting in place stopgaps to prevent such future incidents. Let’s all keep our eyes on the further developments…

The ongoing saga…

 The Great – On the personal side, Suzanne and I made it through 8 ½ weeks in an RV measuring 8’x24’ with two dogs (Toto and Lole) AND, we are still talking to one another and enjoying one another’s company. After years of often being ships passing in the night, it was a time of learning to live life together.

The Equally Great – On the professional side, the number of academic articles, opinion pieces and the like that are fully recognizing the value of “primary care” as an integral component of the care delivery process is exciting and, something that many of us knew all along… As the nation slowly moves toward “value-based care delivery,” my hope is that the payment system will also recognize the value of primary care!!

The Good – The more information and findings that are coming out of the Congressional hearings and through the subpoenas issued by the U.S. Justice Department – the more disturbing are the findings. And, while they are disturbing – they are seeing the light of day, which is “good”.

The Bad – If you want to get the hibby jibbies read, Ray Dalio’s new book, “The Changing World Order” [SEE above] where he examines the outcomes of dynasties, empires, great nation states and other approaches to state governance since the mid-1300s. From my perspective, it’s a VERY important read about the realities of state governance and where the USA is in the traditional cycle of “leads”. BTW – the USA has the track record of having had the longest running form of state governance among all such empires over time. There’s a message there as well…

The Ugly – The depth of “politics” versus need for effective “leadership” in the USA!