Shams Anwar

ID Attending. Northwell Health

[IDSA @IDSAInfo]

Congratulations to the 11 newly designated Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence 🎉:

-King Salman bin Abdulaziz Medical City
-Cohen Children's Medical Center (@NorthwellHealth)
-Staten Island University Hospital (@NorthwellHealth)
-East Jefferson General Hospital (@EJHospital)
-Le Bonheur Children's Hospital (@LeBonheurChild)
-Mosaic Life Care (@Mosaic_LifeCare)
-Tampa General Hospital (@TGHCares)
-Emory University Hospital Midtown
-New York City Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst (@NYCHealthSystem)
-University Hospital (@UnivHospNewark)
-Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital

Learn more: https://t.co/WDrfQsNDVB

[Antibiotic Steward Bassam Ghanem 🅱️C🆔🅿️🌟 @ABsteward]

@DrToddLee: “The urine is innocent until proven guilty.”
@BradSpellberg: “The urine should file a class action lawsuit against the medical community for widespread slander.”
🌟 #IDQuotes 🌟
Others ID, medical quotes? #IDXposts

[Shams Anwar @Shaggonline]

@GermHunterMD @NorthwellHealth @jobadd @martinhoenigl Thank you for the amazing talk today!

[Robert Oubre, MD | The Doctor of Documentation @Dr_Oubre]

• United Health will PROFIT about $22.3 billion this year.
• 50% of hospitals will lose money this year.
• 47% of US healthcare workers plan to leave within the next 3 years.

That is the current state of US healthcare, and it should terrify everyone.

[Michael Calderwood, MD, MPH @CalderwoodMD]

SABATO trial - Non-inferior outcomes switching to oral therapy after 5-7 days of IV therapy in treatment of low-risk S aureus bloodstream infection (see exclusions). https://t.co/dSoizi7F0g

[Brad Langford @BRxAD]

Dr. Nick Daneman presents the much-awaited BALANCE trial presented at #IDWeek2024. Of 3608 randomized, 90-day mortality occurred in 261 (14.5%) patients receiving 7-day and in 286 (16.1%) receiving 14-day treatment (absolute difference -1.6% [95.7% CI -4.0 to 0.8])

[Levy CIMAR @LevyCIMAR]

New from past CIMAR Scholarship recipients, faculty @IDDoc1978 @ShiraDoronMD @RxIDMo, and others: Widespread antibiotics prescribing contributes to globally emerging AMR. There is a notable gap between community and carceral healthcare. Learn more:
https://t.co/77oMQZ3ZzV

[Alysse Wurcel MD MS FIDSA @IDDoc1978]

@CIDJournal @tara_vijayan

Thank you for the opportunity to write about delusional infestation!
https://t.co/gMo2cmEmEc

[Dan McQuillen @McQHoya81]

#WeAreID

[Camille Nelson Kotton @KottonNelson]

We just voted 11-0 in favor of RSV vaccine for all (universal) >=75yo & risk based for those 60-74yo. If approved by @CDCDirector we will have no more recommendation for shared clinical decision making. We have more safety data & believe this is a good path forward.

[Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken]

This is the health insurance playbook. Blame physicians.

"Hey we don't want to make exponentially more money by delaying your health care and floating your premiums. The greedy physicians are making us!"

[Shams Anwar @Shaggonline]

@PicturesFoIder @Bornmann_CR :p

[Shams Anwar @Shaggonline]

@BradSpellberg @BDubbMD @JonathanRyderMD @Infected_Terran @IdVilchez Why monotherapy with cephalexin or dicloxacillin be not preferred as compared to LZD ?
Thanks for all the deep insights.

[Shams Anwar @Shaggonline]

@TBrnaughtTB Either Linezolid or Celphalexin.

[Shams Anwar @Shaggonline]

#WeAreID Great work of my Cofellow and soon to be ID attending, Ankita Subedi MD
https://t.co/mV3MVyWLZ6 via @IDSAInfo

[Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken]

A lot of people are dragging this person. The knee jerk reaction of “92% coverage?! That’s amazing! Why are you complaining. Leave the country.” This shows how low the bar has been set for health insurance coverage in the US. Let’s put on our empathy hats for a moment.

Imagine paying a ~$1k per month premium for the privilege of having health insurance. It was $750 last year, but the company you work for had a lot of employees use their health insurance in 2023, so Blue Cross decided to hike up the premiums to defray the cost of actually paying for their customer’s healthcare. You’re annoyed but fortunately, are still able to pay the monthly premium.

Over the course of the year, you seek preventative medical care like you’re supposed to, paying a $20 co pay for every visit. Maybe you have a few extra visits to your PCP or the emergency room. These bills go entirely to your deductible, which means you pay for 100%. The high deductible plan was all you could afford due to the rising premiums. Again, you’re annoyed but you can manage.

Finally you reach your deductible, thinking “great, I won’t have to pay anything the rest of the year.” At least that’s what it sounded like from the intro pamphlet you received from HR at the beginning of the year. It was all pretty confusing.

With your deductible met, you finally schedule that procedure your doctor has been nagging you to get that will prevent further health care issues down the road. However, you didn’t realize co-insurance charges still apply until you reach your out of pocket maximum (~$12,000 for the plan you chose. Again, the only plan you could afford). You are frustrated, but fortunately still able to cover the estimated cost.

Then, while recovering from major surgery, you receive a bill for $4,457 that you can’t pay. This is more than you were quoted by your doctor’s medical office. Turns out Blue Cross thought some of the medication you received during the procedure was unneccesary, so they refused to pay for it.

You’re angry. You have done everything right. You paid your premiums, you did everything your doctors suggested to keep yourself as healthy as possible, and yet, you still end up with a bill that will take months, if not years, to pay off. If you don’t, you will be sent to collections, wrecking your credit, and making life an even harder uphill climb. Does all of this apply to the OP here? Maybe, maybe not. But it does apply to millions of other people in the US every year.

Does this person not have a right to be angry? Should we just be ok with a health care system that is death by a thousand cuts? Or should we strive for a system in which a person can access health care without risk of financial distress? Unfortunately, many people can’t understand this point of view until they are on the receiving end of those medical bills. Health insurance companies don’t care about you. They are evil. Don’t settle for slightly less evil.

[Cefazolin @EmpiricGame]

Enterobacter cloacae after a dose of a ceftriaxone

[Paul Sax @PaulSaxMD]

Excellent summary of a clinical trial likely to change clinical practice.

Can't wait to see the full study.

[Alysse Wurcel MD MS FIDSA @IDDoc1978]

It takes a village! 11 States. 25 Authors. Fueled by the spirit of collaboration and a joint interest in increasing opportunities for HIV & HCV testing for PWID

https://t.co/DDf5afdj1C

@DrEllenEaton @MightKnot @LauraMarks5 @AyeshaAppaMD @KinnaThakarar @MatthewAkiyama

[Brad Spellberg @BradSpellberg]

Time for regular reminder (every year when salaries are released) that this problem is not new; solutions are known but they won't happen until US ID docs decide to either start a new specialty society, or force the current one to do its job. https://t.co/n7yXbcNYA9