Is a tick's bark worse that its bite? Formulating an answer with decision analysis

Article Abstract:

Decision analysis can be used successfully to evaluate the need to treat patients for Lyme disease who have been bitten by a tick. Inference or intuition does not give consistent decisions and cannot incorporate all the factors to be considered before starting treatment. Decision analysis can help determine the statistics and other information physicians need from epidemiologists to make more accurate treatment decisions. Physicians must know if the tick is the ixodes dammini species, the species which can carry the Lyme disease spirochete, and also know if the ixodes ticks in their area carry the spirochete. If the area is endemic for the disease, as in the East Coast, antibiotics should be prescribed without evaluation of the probability that the tick is of the ixodes species or if it carries the spirochete.

Diagnosis, Lyme disease

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Federal foolishness and marijuana

Article Abstract:

Federal government officials should not dictate policy regarding medical use of marijuana. They put bureaucratic ideology in conflict with compassion. If physicians can prescribe narcotics, which have far graver potential adverse effects, then prescribing marijuana should be left to their discretion. Research to "prove" efficacy is unnecessary. A drug as safe as marijuana requires only that seriously ill patients experience symptom relief. The public through state legislation has given physicians the freedom to prescribe. Marijuana should be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug, that is, a drug that is potentially addictive but has medical use.

Health aspects, Medical marijuana

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Managing managed care's tarnished image

Article Abstract:

The Putting Patients First plan proposed by the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) appears to be an attempt to forestall efforts to regulate managed care plans. AAHP is the primary organization representing managed care plans and has over 1,000 members. Managed care plans have come under fire and about 1,000 bills to regulate them have been introduced in state legislatures and Congress. Putting Patients First includes recommendations for improving patient care, but none has the force of a requirement and there is no evidence that AAHP plans to measure compliance with the plan.

Standards, Managed care plans (Medical care), American Association of Health Plans

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