Show 960: Mastering the Maze of Health Care Bureaucracy

Most of us have experienced the frustration of a phone tree that seems designed to keep us from speaking to the person who could actually do what needs to be done. Have you ever considered the impact of an insurance pre-authorization requirement on a physician’s work day? We speak with Dr. Danielle Ofri about a particularly difficult experience. How have you been able to manage the maze of insurance or other bureaucratic details to get the health care you need?

Low-carb diets and low-fat diets have been tested head to head in a recent small trial. Which one came out ahead? Let us know what diet plan you prefer.

Doctors have found a novel technology to help surgeons visualize tumors so they can be completely removed. It is based on a compound in scorpion poison. Dr. Jim Olson tells us about this tumor paint and the citizen science funding that makes it possible.

Guests: Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, practices medicine at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Bellevue Literary Review. Her books include Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients; Incidental Findings: Lessons from my Patients in the Art of Medicine; and Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue.

James Olson, MD, PhD, holds the Sarah Hughes Chair for Pediatric Oncology and is Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington. He is attending physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital and member of the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. His website is www.projectviolet.org