Physicians aren’t often known for blogging but Dr. Janice Boughton of Moscow is using it as a way to speak out about what is happening in American health care.
Boughton started her blog “Why is American Health Care So Expensive” in 2009. She is now published in the online version of the Journal of the American College of Physicians as well as on the popular multi-author health care blog KevinMD.com.
After graduating from Stanford, Boughton received her medical degree at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. She spent 17 years as a private internal medicine doctor in Moscow. In 2011, she went into locum tenens service as a hospitalist in Oregon, Washington, Alaska and California, as well at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow and occasionally at rural clinics in Latah County. Locum tenens is a Latin phrase that means “to substitute for or hold the place of.” Her experiences at these places fuel her blog, where headlines include: “3 scientific breakthroughs plagued by uncoolness,” “What are the health risks of marijuana legalization?” “Hospitals are still awful: The movement toward patient-centered care.”
She writes frankly of her experiences and problems like “perverse” payment systems that have created a process that is inefficient, too expensive and often perpetuates poor health, something she’ll address at a public talk at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the 1912 Center in Moscow.
The talk is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Moscow and the Moscow organization My Own Home.
When the league last invited Boughton to speak, the room was overflowing, says member Elizabeth Sullivan. They’ve invited her back for an update, and she’ll talk about good and bad things happening and what people can do to change the system.
If you go What: Dr. Janice Boughton on “Health Care Today: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out of It” When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 Where: Great Room, 1912 Center, 412 E. Third St., Moscow Cost: Free
