A thousand apologies - since the Society for Medical Decision Making meeting in London, we have been traveling in the UK, and I have been unable to find the time to post on the blog. But in exchange we have caught up with good old friends, met lovely people, and seen fabulous sights and beautiful country. I plan to return very soon, and then after much catching up, will then resume normal activity.
But a reminder - a comment on our latest post suggested that Health Care Renewal does good work, but requires more effort.
Yet, all our blog posts are written by volunteers who have day jobs or are retired. At the moment, we have no real budget, no paid staff, no investigators, no researchers, no paid legal counsel, much less communications and public relations specialists. If more effort is required, it may have to come from YOU, dear readers. If you think that casting light on the issues we discuss is important, and taking action to improve health care dysfunction is more important, YOU also need to do something.
Of course, we would greatly appreciate contributions to FIRM - the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine, the tiny non-profit organization which we formed to provide support to the blog and similar dissemination, education and advocacy efforts to address health care dysfunction. FIRM is a US 501(c)3 non-profit and so contributions are deductible in the US to the extent provided by law. You can send contributions to FIRM at 16 Cutler St, Suite 104, Warren, RI, 02885, USA. Or email me (info at firmfound dot org) with questions.
If FIRM had real money, maybe we could develop a staff and do a lot more to shine light on the dark side. However, what is really required is effort by more than one organization and a few volunteer bloggers. Consider doing something yourself. Write a guest blog post for us, start your own blog, write a letter to the editor, an op-ed, or a journal article. Write your legislator. Meet with your legislator's staff. Organize a group of like minded people and do something organized. If you are a health professional, try to do your work in a way that will address health care dysfunction.
Howwever, do not expect it to be easy. There are many people personally enriching themselves through the current system. They will do all they can to preserve the status quo. They may command vast marketing, public relations, lobbying, and legal resources (all ultimately paid using other peoples' - often your - money) to maintain the status quo.
Saying something to combat the anechoic effect is hard. Doing something is harder. But if we don't do something, it will all get worse.
A Plea from a Traveling Blogger
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