October 2009 - The Health Care Blog

Obama administration CTO Aneesh Chopra at Health 2.0

Silly Season: Monty Python Policy Making

By IAN MORRISON Editor's Note: Ian Morrison today makes his first contribution to THCB. Ian was President of Institute for the Future where I learned my health care consulting trade in the 1990s. A more amusing boss one couldn't have... Read More...

Published Mon, Oct 19 2009 7:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Reform

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

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

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

Last Chance to Fix the Exchanges

By BILL KRAMER We all know that well-designed health insurance exchanges are a critical element for good health reform, right? And we also hear that exchanges are part of all five reform bills in Congress, so we should be satisfied,... Read More...

Published Tue, Oct 20 2009 7:16 PM 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

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

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

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

Health Internet - The New Consumer-Friendly NHIN

By Adrian Gropper Consumer directed HIE will become the most visible aspect of health IT stimulus and could lead a shift to consumer-directed health plans, increased interest in wellness programs and family-centered collaboration for the young, old and...

Published Fri, Oct 09 2009 10:40 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Information Therapy

Op-Ed: Our Misplaced Faith in High-Tech Medicine

By MERRILL GOOZNER The following essay appeared on the website of the Hastings Center, which is running a colloquium on the values behind health care reform. "One could make a good case that improvements in education and job creation could... Read...

Published Mon, Oct 12 2009 2:15 PM by The Health Care Blog

Cool Technology of the Week

By JOHN HALAMKA In many crime solving police procedural programs (NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds etc), the perpetrator has used an untraceable, disposable cell phone. But what is a disposable cell phone and where do you buy one? I've never seen... Read...

Published Mon, Oct 12 2009 6:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

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

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