October 2009 - The Health Care Blog

Time to put aside the intellectual disputes for now

By Matthew Holt It’s always fun to see my friends beating each other up in public....and if you read down in the comments on the post published yesterday you’ll see a significant dispute between Maggie Mahar and the Klepper/Kibbe/Lazsweski/Enthoven team...

Published Sat, Oct 31 2009 3:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Robert Laszewski, Policy/Politics, Matthew Holt, Policy, Public Option, Maggie Mahar

Saving Health Care, Saving America

By BRIAN KLEPPER, DAVID C. KIBBE, ROBERT LASZEWSKI and ALAIN ENTHOVEN So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests...

Published Fri, Oct 30 2009 6:08 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Reform, Policy/Politics, Policy, Transparency, Current Affairs, Marketplace, primary care, Corruption, The Industry

CMS Reinstates Paying for Avastin Used Off-Label for Macular Degeneration

MERRILL GOOZNER Medicare has reinstated payment codes for eye specialists who use Genentech's Avastin to treat wet macular degeneration. A tiny amount of Avastin, which is sold for cancer treatments, successfully treats the condition at about $100...

Published Thu, Oct 29 2009 9:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

Atul Gofigure: Why McAllen Should Have Mattered in the Health Reform Debate

By JEFF GOLDSMITH Back in June, Atul Gawande, a Harvard trained surgeon, published a riveting article in the New Yorker about the physician community in McAllen Texas. If ever an article was strategically timed to influence the nation’s health policy...

Published Thu, Oct 29 2009 6:09 AM by The Health Care Blog

A Bill of Rights for Health Care Reform

By KIM BELLARD Our nation's Founders created a pretty good system of government by starting from what they wanted to achieve, exemplified by the Bill of Rights, so perhaps we would be wise to base health care reform on a... Read More...

Published Thu, Oct 29 2009 6:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Reform, Patients

A Message to America's Physicians: Purchasing EHR Technology A Shaky State of Affairs

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER Much of the conversation and debate about physician EHR adoption has centered on the single issue of the (high) cost of purchase. However, we'd like to suggest that the situation is much more... Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 28 2009 9:03 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, HITECH

Senate Health Care Reform: Two Huge Problems, One Giant Red Herring

By ROGER COLLIER Pity poor Senator Harry Reid. Not only is he facing an uphill reelection fight in Nevada, but as Majority Leader, he must reconcile the health care reform bills from the Finance and the Health, Education, Labor and... Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 28 2009 12:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: The Public Option, Roger Collier

Glen Tullman on EMRs, life, the universe and everything

By Matthew Holt A couple of weeks back Allscripts' CEO Glen Tullman was on the Cats & Dogs panel at Health 2.0 and he said some pretty controversial things about the state of EMR adoption (yes it was happening), certification... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 9:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

Putting Profit before Patients

By Dr. Anthony H. Horan During my 30+ years as a board-certified urologist I’ve seen quite a bit of suffering, much of it needless, in my opinion. In my work both in private practice and with the VA in Fresno,... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 8:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians

What's got lost in the public option kerfuffle

By Matthew Holt Not so long ago, July this year in fact, PhRMA boss and former Dem Blue Dog & Republican Billy Tauzin told the Aspen Health Forum that a straw poll of Democrats at dinner with him in DC... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 7:17 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, Matthew Holt, Policy

Commentology

Jeff Goldsmith writes: "As you may know if you've read my postings, I'm an outspoken advocate of tightening Medicare fraud and abuse laws. There will be a post on this in a day or two. It's actually the stuff that's... Read More....

Published Tue, Oct 27 2009 12:46 AM by The Health Care Blog

Is Healthcare IT Ready for its Big Coming Out Party?

By BOB WACHTER In 2001, when my colleagues and I ranked nearly 100 patient safety practices on the strength of their supporting evidence (for an AHRQ report), healthcare IT didn’t make the top 25. We took a lot of heat... Read More...

Published Sun, Oct 25 2009 11:35 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Bob Wachter

Health 2.0: Beneath the Hype, There's Cause for Real Hope

By MICHAEL MILLENSON Health 2.0 is a trend accompanied by both buzz and buzzwords. That worries some advocates for the poor, underserved and just plain old and sick. Will those groups be left behind in the latest information revolution? The... Read More...

Published Sat, Oct 24 2009 10:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Michael Millenson

Protest Music at AHIP meeting

By Matthew Holt This is much more fun and better sung than traditional protests! And given that AHIP would benefit from a public option, I suspect Karen Ignagni hired them. It looks like it happened in the closing session of... Read More...

Published Sat, Oct 24 2009 4:53 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, Policy, Health Plans

Regina Holliday: Fred's life & death at 73 cents a page

By Matthew Holt If you ever wonder why the efforts to make it easier for patients and families to get information and be treated as equals in their care by the medical care system matter.... If you need convincing that... Read More...

Published Sat, Oct 24 2009 9:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, e-patients