Pelzman’s Picks: Racial Bias and Patient Experience

• Kenneth G. Poole, Jr., MD, MBA, discusses the challenges of interpreting data on patient experience given variables such as race ~ Patient-Experience Data and Bias — What Ratings Don’t Tell Us (New England Journal of Medicine)
• How effective is the FDA’s oversight of prescription drugs? Ameet Sarpatwari, JD, PhD, and Gregory Curfman, MD, explore the usefulness of the FDA’s process ~ Mitigating Health Risks of Prescription Drugs (JAMA)
• Medicare will penalize 800 hospitals for having high rates of infections and patient injuries, Jordan Rau writes ~ Medicare Trims Payments To 800 Hospitals, Citing Patient Safety Incidents (Kaiser Health News)
• “Our society’s approach to supporting new parents is antiquated, falling far behind that of other developed nations,” writes Rebekah Diamond, MD, on how she navigates her roles as mother and physician ~ Promoting Sensible Parenting Policies (JAMA)
• Raza Awan, MD, MHSc, and Edward R. Laskowski, MD, discuss the growing popularity of yoga and its health benefits ~ Yoga: Safe for All? (Mayo Clinic Proceedings)
• Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH, reveals why her transition from practicing critical care to palliative care has been challenging ~ Being Relevant (Annals of Internal Medicine)
• “Neither medicine nor society is prepared for the eventuality that most of us will outlive our driving life expectancy,” Louise Aronson, MD, writes ~ Don’t Ruin My Life — Aging and Driving in the 21st Century (New England Journal of Medicine)

Fred N. Pelzman, MD, of Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates and weekly blogger for MedPage Today, follows what’s going on in the world of primary care medicine. Pelzman’s Picks is a compilation of links to blogs, articles, tweets, journal studies, opinion pieces, and news briefs related to primary care that caught his eye.