April 2010 - The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 in the Doctor's Office

By Matthew Holt The Health 2.0 meetings are coming thick and fast at the moment. No sooner have we finished Health 2.0 Europe in Paris (a very successful first venture abroad—and fortuitously held before the Icelandic eruptions suspended air travel.....

Published Tue, Apr 20 2010 1:09 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, Consumers

VAT on the horizon

By PAUL LEVY Several months ago, a friend met with a high government official and expressed concern that the new health care bill would be more expensive than people were saying. "Oh yes," said the official, "In several years, the... Read...

Published Wed, Apr 14 2010 7:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

The iPad in Healthcare: A Game Changer?

There have been a lot of discussions on the Net regarding the potential impact of the iPad in the healthcare sector. At this point, there is very little agreement with some pointing to the ubiquitous nature of the iPhone in... Read More...

Published Thu, Apr 08 2010 11:46 AM by The Health Care Blog

A song for (Health 2.0) Europe

By Matthew Holt On Tuesday and Wednesday this week we completed a remarkable first—Health 2.0 Europe brought the spirit, technology and passion we’ve hosted at Health 2.0 conferences in the US,and married it to all those qualitites and many more... Read...

Published Sat, Apr 10 2010 4:47 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

Survey on PHRs: interesting data, wrong emphasis

By Matthew Holt There's a new study on PHR use out today (although it looks like Brian Ahier ignored the embargo in his good summary! Update--he didn't, he just posted late PST so it looked like he did. Sorry Brian!)... Read More...

Published Tue, Apr 13 2010 8:11 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, Consumers

(More) Madness in Massachusetts

By Daniel Palestrant, MD Lately I have been watching with complete horror the events playing out in my home state of Massachusetts. A bill currently under review by the state legislature will make participation in the state and federal Medicare/Medicaid...

Published Thu, Apr 22 2010 4:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

The Governor's Healthcare IT Conference

By JOHN HALAMKA Although healthcare reform has its supporters and detractors, healthcare IT reform - the use of technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare throughout the country - has broad support from all stakeholders. The...

Published Mon, Apr 26 2010 6:05 AM by The Health Care Blog

The New Joint Commission

By BOB WACHTER Until about 8 years ago, inspections by the Joint Commission (TJC) were predictable and fairly silly. Hospitals were given a couple of years' notice of the week that “The Joint” would be visiting. Everybody scurried around preparing...

Published Wed, Apr 28 2010 7:02 AM by The Health Care Blog

Does Market Power Help Patients?

By PAUL LEVY Rob Weisman and Liz Kowalczyk report in today's Boston Globe that the US Justice Department is investigating possible antitrust violations against Partners Healthcare System, the dominant hospital and physician provider group in Massachusetts...

Published Thu, Apr 29 2010 4:08 AM by The Health Care Blog

Don Berwick: An Activist Takes the Reins at CMS

By BOB WACHTER While the health reform bill will have many effects, one of its most profound will be to unshackle the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the legislation, CMS is now far freer to undertake a... Read More...

Published Fri, Apr 02 2010 7:36 AM by The Health Care Blog

Are We Adequately Securing Personal Health Information?

By Brian Klepper and David Kibbe In a discussion about electronic health records (EHRs) a couple weeks ago, one of the Human Resource team members at a prospective client said, "I don't believe it's possible to secure electronic health data...

Published Sun, Apr 04 2010 6:51 PM by The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 Europe, a fabulous end to Day 1

By Matthew Holt (posted early Weds 7th April, Paris time!) We had quite the fabulous time at Health 2.0 Europe Day 1. Other than my personal fouling up of the final presentation about Health 2.0 in Haiti, things went very... Read More...

Published Tue, Apr 06 2010 8:05 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

Myths and Facts About Health Reform Part II

By MAGGIE MAHAR Lobbyists representing the many who profit from our $2.6 trillion health care industry spent millions in the war over healthcare reform. Yet National Journal Contributing Editor Eliza Newlin Carney suggests that “it's unclear whether...

Published Fri, Apr 16 2010 8:24 PM by The Health Care Blog

Reputation versus quality: U.S. News Hospital Ranking

By PAUL LEVY Each year, US News and World Report publishes its list of the top 50 hospitals in various specialties (example here). Now, an article has been published suggesting that one aspect of the methodology used by the magazine... Read More...

Published Wed, Apr 21 2010 4:31 AM by The Health Care Blog

Fabulous HWR at HealthBlawg

By Matthew Holt David Harlow has put together a fabulous collection for Health Wonk Review over at HealthBlawg. Who knew that so many notable things happened on April 15? Read More...

Published Thu, Apr 15 2010 5:47 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, health wonk review