December 2009 - The Health Care Blog

Senate Compromise on Health Care Reform: Political Genius?

By JOE FLOWER Democrat Roland Burris, the sudden senator who replaced Barack Obama in that august body, has now joined those who are pledging to filibuster any bill that does not have a "public option" – joining of course those,... Read More...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2009 9:29 AM by The Health Care Blog

Convergence and Death of the Public Option

By Tim Greaney So maybe the two parties are coming together on health reform after all. Last night we learned that after days of “secret talks” among the “gang of ten” the Democrats have reached agreement to restructure their health... Read More...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2009 7:58 AM by The Health Care Blog

Convergence and the Death of the Public Option

By Tim Greaney So maybe the two parties are coming together on health reform after all. Last night we learned that after days of “secret talks” among the “gang of ten” the Democrats have reached agreement to restructure their health... Read More...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2009 5:31 AM by The Health Care Blog

Making (sh)it up as they go along

By Matthew Holt So today’s news is the the gang of ten have come up with something. (If you haven’t been following along, the gang of ten are the five “liberal” Democrats and the five DINOs asked by Harry Reid... Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 09 2009 8:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, Matthew Holt, Policy, Jeff Goldsmith

Pelosi’s Hidden Tort Bomb -- an Alternative View

by Charles Silver & David A. Hyman We once thought Democrats would accept tort reform to win Republicans’ support for national health care legislation. Now, however, Democrats have dispensed with bipartisanship. Perhaps they think they can ram health...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 1:03 PM by The Health Care Blog

Abortion Should Not Imperil Health Care Reform

By Melissa Reed The House vote to establish near-universal health-care coverage came at a steep cost to women. That cost, issued as an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), eliminates abortion coverage by private insurance companies even when women...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 5:49 AM by The Health Care Blog

Genetic Testing, Fact or Fiction: You Be the Judge

By MICHAEL MILLENSON Which of these two events is fact and which is fiction? Organizations representing employers and health plans call for a moratorium on implementation of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, asserting that the new rules could...

Published Tue, Dec 08 2009 12:45 AM by The Health Care Blog

Spotlight on Health 2.0: Clinical Groupware from SF '09

Every week we bring you a video from the world of Health 2.0. This week we're featuring a clip focusing on Clinical Groupware and the Next Generation of Clinician-Patient Interaction tools, as seen on stage at our latest conference in... Read More...

Published Mon, Dec 07 2009 10:50 AM by The Health Care Blog

2009: A Year of Surprises and Change for the EHR Technology Market

By by DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER "Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises; and oft it hits Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits." All's Well That Ends Well (II, i, 145-147) 2009 began with... Read More...

Published Sun, Dec 06 2009 9:49 PM by The Health Care Blog

Four grumpy lefties with Laura Flanders

By Matthew Holt Maggie Mahar, Jon Cohn, Jon Nichols and Olga Pierce hang out with Laura Flanders on the amusingly titled GRITtv and discuss how screwed up the politics of health care are in the Senate. Twenty minutes of amusing... Read More...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2009 12:19 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt, Policy

Health Journos Protest FDA Interview Rules

By MERRILL GOOZNER The Association of Health Care Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists and 9 other scribbler groups have asked the Food and Drug Administration to lift its requirement that agency officials first get permission from the...

Published Fri, Dec 04 2009 12:19 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Annals of Journalism

Pink Glove Dance

By Matthew Holt (Stolen direct from and Hat-tip to MrHIStalk) this is fabulous. It’s a fund raiser for Breat Cancer awareness done by more than 200 doctors, nurses, lab technicians, administrators and kitchen and janitorial staff from the Providence St...

Published Thu, Dec 03 2009 7:40 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt

Why Wait Four Years?

By PAUL LEVY I was struck during President Obama's health care speech before Congress several months ago that the reforms he advocates would not go into effect for four years, until 2014. This timetable, too, is written into both the... Read More...

Published Wed, Dec 02 2009 6:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Patient Safety Movement Turns Ten

By BOB WACHTER On December 1, 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a report entitled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Although its authors hoped to spark a national movement, they had little cause for optimism. After... Read More....

Published Wed, Dec 02 2009 3:33 AM by The Health Care Blog