October 2009 - The Health Care Blog

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

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

Shutting Down Social Media? Not Here.

By PAUL LEVY Paul Levy is the President and CEO of Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center in Boston. He blogs about his experiences at Running a Hospital, one of the few blogs we know of maintained by a senior hospital... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2009 8:13 AM by The Health Care Blog

Physician Accountability for Violation of Safety Rules: The Time For Excuses Has Passed

By BOB WACHTER In a recent New England Journal, Peter Pronovost and I make the case for striking a new balance between “no blame” and accountability. Come on folks, it’s time. At most hospitals, hand hygiene rates hover between 30-70%,... Read More.....

Published Wed, Oct 14 2009 7:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Bob Wachter

Health Care Reform Lite

By J.D. Kleinke “The only constant in health care is change.” It’s one of those shop-worn things you hear too often on health care’s rubber-chicken circuit; and not only is it not true, but it is exactly untrue. The only... Read More...

Published Fri, Oct 16 2009 6:27 AM by The Health Care Blog

Change The Rules and Get Your Labs

By Phil Marshall In 1999 Caresoft developed a consumer web portal called the Daily Apple. The Daily Apple wasn’t all that unique or different than other health portals, until in May of 2000 they began helping consumers download their lab... Read More...

Published Mon, Oct 19 2009 1:04 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Policy/Politics, Policy, Consumers

Who should tell your MD what to do?

By PAUL LEVY In this Wall Street Journal op-ed, Norbert Gleicher suggests that expert panels won't improve health care because the the quality of the research on which they would base their physician practice guidelines is not reliable. Instead, he...

Published Wed, Oct 21 2009 6:40 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Paul Levy

The Republican health care argument

By Matthew Holt Just in case you thought we’d gone soft by featuring Sarah Palin, here’s what Tom Toles thinks (from the WaPo) Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 21 2009 4:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, Policy

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

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

Why Standards Matter 2: Health IT Enters a New Era of Regulatory Control

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER The recent history of electronic medical records in ambulatory care, or what we now call EHR (electronic health record) technology, can be divided roughly into three phases. Phase I, which lasted approximately 20.....

Published Thu, Oct 08 2009 8:27 AM by The Health Care Blog

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

The Long Tail of the EMR

By Margalit Gur-Arie In the fall of 2008 I had the opportunity to do some research on the, then dormant, EMR marketplace. The results came as no surprise. Most physicians did not have an EMR and were not interested in... Read More...

Published Wed, Oct 07 2009 12:21 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HITECH, Electronic Medical Records

Health 2.0 a-Go-Go: A Revolution By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

By J.D. KLEINKE During the standard what’re-you-doing-this-week segment of a Sunday barbecue, I told a neighbor who works in the real world that I was “going to the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco,” a sort of random zeitgeist check... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 06 2009 8:36 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0

Let’s Not Lose Sight of the Goals

By BILL KRAMER I love Daniel Schorr. I’ve never met him in person, but I love his voice and his insights about politics on NPR’s Weekend Edition. But this morning I was disappointed. After listening to his comments on the... Read More...

Published Sun, Oct 04 2009 10:24 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Reform, Policy/Politics, Obama

Two big deals in Health 2.0

By Matthew Holt John Halamka writes about the small but important meeting this week at Harvard Medical School hosted by Zak Kohane and Ken Mandl. Because of the impending arrival of about 1,000 of my best friends next week at... Read More...

Published Fri, Oct 02 2009 12:37 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Health 2.0