January 2010 - The Health Care Blog

Beyond Massachusetts

By MERRILL GOOZNER One in six Americans at some point during this year will go without health insurance. Most of them at any given point in time do not need it. One in ten working Americans are without gainful employment... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 22 2010 3:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Reform, Merrill Goozner, Massachusetts

The Union "Cadillac" Tax Sweetheart Deal

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Just when you thought you couldn’t be more cynical about the health care bill. As I have said before, there wasn’t a lot of hope the same administration that ignored the rule of law in granting unions... Read More...

Published Sat, Jan 16 2010 3:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Info-Button Standard: Bringing Meaningful Use to the Patient

By DON KEMPER, CEO HEALTHWISE Regardless of the U.S. administration’s “meaningful use” requirements, if health information technology (HIT) is to become meaningful for patients, it must include the prescription of information and tools to help each patient...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 7:52 AM by The Health Care Blog

Plan B, Mr. President?

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI As the State of the Union approaches Democrats are considering their health care policy options. There are lots of reports about “Plan B”—pushing through the Senate bill with a parallel corrections bill that could be passed in... Read...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 10:26 AM by The Health Care Blog

Update: Surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel needed to help in Haiti

By PARTNERS IN HEALTH We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical assistance. At this time, while we wish we could use all of the support so generously offered, we are... Read More...

Published Sat, Jan 16 2010 9:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

MS-HUG Awards; let's see you, Health 2.0 gang!

By Matthew Holt Last year I was a judge in the MS-HUG award for the HealthVault applications category. The quantity and standard of the entries was pitiful. I think that a few sales reps rounded up a few entries at... Read More...

Published Thu, Jan 14 2010 4:49 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

Nancy Turret, Edelman: "Health is the new Green"

By Matthew Holt Late last year PR/Communications giant Edelman released a survey called the Health Engagement Pulse. (Here’s the press release and here are the charts) This is separate from both Edelman’s Engagement Barometer which has looked at consumer...

Published Mon, Jan 11 2010 1:19 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, Consumers, The Industry

Why America Needs a Patient-in-Chief

By e-Patient Dave deBronkart “These are exciting and very promising times for the widespread application of information technology to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, while also reducing costs, but there is much yet to do, and in my comments...

Published Mon, Jan 18 2010 6:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Health 2.0 Show, today, 11am PST; special guest Thomas Goetz

By Matthew Holt Today is the day that Indu Subaiya and I kick off our new series of Health 2.0 webinars. We've cutely called it the Health 2.0 Show, with Indu & Matthew. Almost a riff on the Tonight Show... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 19 2010 1:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0

Why health insurance reform really matters

By CF Mother Just occasionally we get a really heartfelt comment on THCB that is passionate and rational, and reminds us why for all the bile spewed about the topic the essential part of the health care bill—making insurance available... Read More...

Published Sun, Jan 17 2010 5:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, Matthew Holt, Policy

An Open Letter to Speaker Pelosi from C-SPAN Founder Brian Lamb

Dear Speaker Pelosi: As your respective chambers work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care bills, C-SPAN requests that you open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media...

Published Wed, Jan 06 2010 9:12 AM by The Health Care Blog

EHRs for a Small Planet

by DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER Right now, American health care information technology is undergoing two enormous leaps. First, it is moving onto Web-based and mobile platforms - which are less expensive and facilitate information exchange - and away...

Published Tue, Jan 05 2010 6:04 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Filibuster, Supermajority and the Constitution

By MICHAEL RICCIARDELLI Ezra Klein has published an engaging series of interviews regarding the filibuster, and the prospects and shape of reform for the Senate’s much maligned rule of procedure. The prospects for reform don’t look particularly bright...

Published Fri, Jan 01 2010 7:11 AM by The Health Care Blog

PharmaSecure, using SMS to detect counterfeit drugs

By Matthew Holt In developing countries, (and here too) counterfeit drugs are a mega-big problem. Essentially fraudulently labeled drugs in the supply chain are often not what they say they are, with potentially devastating consequences. But there’s no...

Published Fri, Jan 15 2010 1:24 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

The Dog's OAuth

By Adrian Gropper, MD A simple technology for linking EHRs will have a major impact on health care. We've all heard the one about what does the barking dog do when it catches the car. The dogs of health IT... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 18 2010 8:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Adrian Gropper, Open Source