Pauline Chen on WIHI

A Legible Prescription for Health Care
Thursday, February 10, 2011, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time
Guest: Pauline W. Chen, MD, Columnist, The New York Times; Author, Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality

Have you heard the one about the backlash to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)? Actually, there’s no such thing...yet. But there could be, suggests Pauline Chen in her latest “Doctor and Patient” column, if ACOs take off without fully appreciating that patients have to buy into the concept. And that won’t happen if they’re not part of the discussion and the design, and offered more than legal lingo.

Anyone interested in a bridge between patients and practitioners and health care reform has no better voice these days in a major media outlet than Dr. Pauline Chen. WIHI host Madge Kaplan is pleased to welcome Dr. Chen to the program on Feb 10 to discuss the issues she brings to light with her writing, often drawing on her own day-to-day experiences seeing patients and conversations she has with other colleagues. On this edition of WIHI, Dr. Chen wants to spend some time talking about language, especially the words doctors use with one another when describing patients; the unintended barriers created the more doctors and nurses don protective, infection-protecting garb; the mounting weight of patient satisfaction surveys; and more.

Pauline Chen says the more she delves into tough topics, the more her own habits have changed. Perhaps that’s the effect her writing has had on you, too. Come join a timely discussion with someone who often reminds us that it’s human beings who either uphold the status quo or change the dynamics in health care, no matter how many good, prescriptive ideas are out there. We look forward to your participation on this next WIHI!

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