March 2010 - The Health Care Blog

Interview with Alex Savic, CEO of Alensa Next Widgets

By Indu Subaiya Alex Savic is CEO of Alensa NextWidgets, based in Zurich, Switzerland. Alex is a repeat presenter at Health 2.0 and will be presenting an update on the NextWidgets platform at Health 2.0 Europe in Paris April 6-7,... Read More...

Published Mon, Mar 29 2010 6:26 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, pharmaceuticals

Really Managing Care and Costs

By BRIAN KLEPPER One of my favorite health care stories is about Jerry Reeves MD, who in 2004 took the helm of a 300,000 life health plan in Las Vegas, including about 110,000 union members, and drove so much waste... Read More...

Published Tue, Mar 30 2010 5:13 PM by The Health Care Blog

HIMSS impressions

By Matthew Holt HIMSS is like a 4 day party with interesting conversations, meetings that I always miss (sorry RelayHealth & Ingenix—I owe ya both!), and usually a travel complication. This time I got there smoothly but missed my plane... Read More...

Published Thu, Mar 04 2010 8:49 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Matthew Holt

Pioneer Speaks about MA Health Reform

By PAUL LEVY The Pioneer Institute is a public policy research center in Massachusetts. On the political spectrum, most people would call it conservative, or a least free-market oriented. In my opinion, regardless of your particular position along that...

Published Fri, Mar 05 2010 5:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Reform, Paul Levy, Massachusetts

Why Rush Vendor Certification of EHR Technologies?

By David C. Kibbe and Brian Klepper A surprise move by ONC/HHS indicates the wheels may be falling off health IT reform at about the same rate they've fallen off Democrats' broader health reforms. David Blumenthal and his staff have... Read More...

Published Mon, Mar 08 2010 9:23 AM by The Health Care Blog

What Happens Next in MA?

By PAUL LEVY What happens next in Massachusetts with insurance reimbursement rates now that many of the facts and figures have been made public? Here's what I see. The dominant parties in the state on whose watch the disparities in... Read More.....

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 3:21 AM by The Health Care Blog

Andy Wiesenthal, Kaiser Permanente

By Matthew Holt Those of you with really long memories may remember that Kaiser had a little kerfuffle with a guy named Justen Deal. As part of that incident, I did a rather unorthodox interview with Andy Wiesenthal from The... Read More...

Published Wed, Mar 17 2010 1:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Matthew Holt, Health Plans, Consumers

The Top Ten Immediate Benefits Americans Will Receive When Health Care Reform Passes

By MAGGIE MAHAR Yesterday, the Democratic Caucus of the House listed the provisions of the health reform bill that will take effect “as soon as health care passes,” The legislation would: Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all...

Published Wed, Mar 17 2010 10:48 AM by The Health Care Blog

Could It Be That the System (Gasp) Works?

By ROBERT WACHTER Heading into the final weekend of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, who could have guessed that in a year that brought us Death Panels, Pickup Trucks, “You Lie”, The Cornhusker Compromise, Bart Stupak (boy, that must have been... Read More...

Published Sat, Mar 20 2010 7:04 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Tale of the Fancy Sea Creatures and the Pipes

By ROB LAMBERTS Once upon a time there was a land on the ocean. The people lived off of the food from the ocean and were very happy. But as they grew bigger, they had a problem: they made a... Read More...

Published Sun, Mar 21 2010 12:37 PM by The Health Care Blog

Rearranging Chairs

By ROB LAMBERTS I have been asked by patients, readers, family members, and by fellow bloggers what I think about the bill passed by the House of Regurgitants Representatives yesterday. I resent this. I have tried hard to remain neutral... Read More....

Published Mon, Mar 22 2010 2:03 PM by The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 in Hungary? Yes, We Can!

By Matthew Holt Gábor Gyarmati has been running health care web sites in Hungary for longer than you might imagine. I suspect that many of you reading this don’t know much about Hungary and those of you who went to... Read More...

Published Tue, Mar 23 2010 8:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

Octopus and other Fishes

By Matthew Holt One of the most fun times at HIMSS last week was the MEDecision party at the Georgia aquarium. I took a few videos of the Fish and the humans—so something a little different for you all The... Read More...

Published Tue, Mar 09 2010 12:28 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt

Program Director Healthcare IT

Since its inception, the New England Healthcare Institute has been committed to the identification, assessment and promotion of valuable health care technologies with the potential to improve the quality of care while reducing cost. The Fast Assessment...

Published Wed, Mar 10 2010 10:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Epocrates--reference present and EMR future

By Matthew Holt I met with Bob Quinn the CTO and Geoff Rutledge, the CMO, of Epocrates at HIMSS last week. The company has a big footprint in mobile (and web) reference content for physicians. The big news is that... Read More...

Published Thu, Mar 11 2010 1:03 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Matthew Holt