Best hospitals according to the Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group has named the best hospitals in the United States for 2009. It's no surprise that some of the best hospitals are those recognized as national research centers. This year, they also added a new category called "Top Rural Hospitals." If you've ever lived in a rural area, then you know how scarce medical resources can get sometimes. I did a medical rotation in a small rural town during medical school and my eyes were opened to the reality of rural medical care in the United States.

Well, if you're curious, you can view the Leapfrog Group's list of top hospitals in 2009 by clicking here.

Baby is 1 week old and life is good (picture)

Our baby is a week old and life has never been better. This baby is a sleeper! She just eats and sleeps. I've been told that I was like that when I was a baby. Eat and sleep, eat and sleep. Don't you wish that all babies were so easy? Our newborn is the easiest baby we've ever had!

So, although we're more sleep deprived that usual, we're not nearly as deprived as before. I'm still able to keep up with some blogging (albeit not as much as before) and my wife is enjoying her maternity leave. It's so great to have friends and family around to help with things around the house. Here's a picture of our baby being held by her older sister.

Another Dr. Joseph Kim has a medical blog

There's another Dr. Joseph Kim out there who has a medical blog. There are probably hundreds of people named Joseph Kim in the United States who are called "Dr. Kim." Well, according to this Dr. Kim's profile, he appears to be a primary care doctor in Delaware. His blog is titled, "Life of a family physician" and you can visit his blog here: http://jkimdo.blogspot.com/

Inspirational weight loss story on CNN

You don't hear about these types of weight loss stories every day. It's great to see that some people out there are being very intentional about weight loss. This story on CNN is about Becky Griggs who lost 200 pounds over six years by exercising at the gym. If you do the math, that equates to roughly 2.8 pounds per month. Imagine how much you'd weight if you gained 2.8 pounds each month (that's over 30 pounds per year!)

At her heaviest, Becky was 352 pounds. (Can you guess her BMI?) She's 43 and she works as a fitness trainer. Now that's inspiration! Are you planning on making some major life changes in 2010? I haven't been to the gym in a while. I'll definitely have to go this weekend!

Increasing confusion about mammograms

Everyone is getting confused about mammogram guidelines. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently came out with new guidelines and these cancer screening recommendations are quite different from those published by the American Cancer Society (ACS). Now, the Senate is dealing with amendments of amendments. What do I mean by that? There was an amendment by Mikulski. Then, there was one by Vitter. Then the Murkowski amendment got rejected (I'm not sure if all this chronology is correct, but I think you get the picture). Soon, we won't remember what the original amendment said.

So what's with all these amendments? One key question is: how will insurance plans (including a possible public option) pay for screening mammograms? Who will need to pay a copay? What is the appropriate age to start breast cancer screening? 40? 50? How often should women get a mammogram?

I've heard some people argue that the USPSTF came up with these revised guidelines to reduce the number of mammograms the government would need to cover under the proposed public option. Does this make sense? Well, if the government can find a way to reduce health care costs, it would be to eliminate expensive tests. A mammogram isn't super expensive, but if you could stop all those women who are ages 40-49 from getting a mammogram, you would save a huge amount of money.

Are screening guidelines published to save costs or save lives? Where do you draw the line to declare that a screening test is indeed "cost effective?" How is that term even defined? At this point, I think that most of us have more questions than answers.

My pregnant wife had swine flu

Many of you know that we have a newborn at home. (Baby Kim and mom now at home) My wife delivered last week after Thanksgiving and we've been enjoying more sleep deprivation than normal.

What I didn't share was that my wife had confirmed H1N1 a few weeks ago. During her last trimester of pregnancy, she came down with the swine flu. Since she's a family physician, it's not a surprise that she would get sick because of her frequent interactions with sick patients. Now that she's on maternity leave, she has a little break from seeing sick patients in a busy primary care office.

Well, our baby's bilirubin levels came down, so we no longer need to make any additional trips to the hospital this week. Wow, soon baby Kim will be a week old!

Sidewiki and pharma

Google Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that lets anyone contribute and read information alongside any web page. Now the issue for pharma is that anyone can post information on a pharma website. That information may be good, bad, accurate, inaccurate, on-label, off-label, etc. So you get the picture. No one can effectively control and monitor this type of user-generated content. You can try to block Sidewiki, but consider that a temporary measure since developers will continue to find ways to get Sidewiki to show up on your website. Here's a little video that further explains Sidewiki.

Cancer survivor climber inspires others

I'm an avid climber. I love the feeling of being on the summit. However, I'm not a two-time cancer survivor. Watch this inspirational video of Sean Swarner, a cancer survivor who inspires others with his story.

World AIDS Day

Today is December 1 and is World AIDS Day. Here are some staggering statistics:

• More than two million AIDS related deaths reported globally in 2008 - two million children under the age of 15 now live with HIV.
• New figures released by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS estimate the number of new HIV infections have declined each year by about 17% from 2001 to 2008, but for every five people infected, only two start treatment.

The World AIDS Campaign is a global coalition of national, regional and international civil society groups united by the call for governments to honor their AIDS commitments under the slogan “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” The campaign is governed by a steering committee of global constituency-based networks and supported by a team of support staff based primarily in Cape Town, South Africa and partially in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

To learn more about World AIDS Day and the World AIDS Campaign, visit: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org

Should obese students be forced to take a special class?

According to this story on CNN, students at Lincoln University who have a body mass index (BMI) that is greater than 30 are being forced to take a fitness course that meets three hours each week. Those who do not complete this course can't graduate from college.

Is this fair? Is this right? Is this legal?

One student writes that she thinks all students should need to take the fitness course.

When I was a college student at MIT, we had to pass a swimming test (or successfully complete a swimming course) in order to graduate. This was a mandatory swim requirement. If you're attending a college that's next to a river like the Charles River, then you really ought to know how to swim.

So, returning to Lincoln University - what's going to happen? I think this new rule will upset some people, but personally, I think they should reconsider their BMI numbers. Instead of setting the bar at 30 (obesity), they should set it at 25 (overweight). Furthermore, those who have a low BMI (less than 18.5) should take a course on eating disorders, healthy eating, etc. BMI has its limitations, so I'm glad to see that they're also using waist circumference as a measure.