September 2010 - The Health Care Blog

NYC Train Station Bathroom Yields Cleaner Hands than Hospitals

By MICHAEL L. MILLENSON Who can forget last year’s celebration of Global Handwashing Day, when it turned out that Brits wash their hands after using a gas station bathroom about as often as your doctor washes his hands before examining... Read More.....

Published Thu, Sep 16 2010 1:36 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Quality, Michael Millenson

Human Resources and Surviving Health Reform

By MIKE TURPIN As the first snowflakes of change fall on the eve of health reform, HR professionals may soon wake up to an entirely transformed healthcare delivery landscape. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) clearly will impact....

Published Thu, Sep 16 2010 7:44 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: health care reform, Michael Turpin

Google Health--Rumors of its death have been somewhat exaggerated

Rather too many premature articles have been written about Google Health's demise. Now before I get in trouble here, Mr Nolan, I'd like to acknowledge that most observers think that Microsoft Healthvault has done a rather more aggressive job of...

Published Wed, Sep 15 2010 9:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, Consumers

The Health Insurance Purchase Mandate: Peeking Into Pandora’s Box?

By DAVID DRANOVE Governors from most twenty mostly red states are suing to block the implementation of health reform. I have no idea whether they will win on the legal merits. But when it comes to the economics of the... Read More...

Published Wed, Sep 15 2010 3:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Insurance, David Dranove, Mandates

The Cost of Care

By NEEL SHAH, MD Do you have a story about a medical bill that was higher than you expected it to be? Or a time when you wanted to know how much a medical test or treatment might cost and... Read More...

Published Mon, Sep 13 2010 3:38 PM by The Health Care Blog

EHR Mythology 101

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIEHealthcare IT is bustling with activity these days. There are big changes in the air and, only time will tell, but we may be witnessing a defining moment in HIT. Naturally, everybody involved has an opinion and some... Read More.....

Published Mon, Sep 13 2010 6:07 AM by The Health Care Blog

THCB Recommends

Interview: Highmark introduces private labeled ADAM iphone app

By Matthew Holt A few weeks back Highmark, the big Pennsylvania Blues plan, became one of the first major US insurers to introduce a local navigational iPhone app—a white labeled version of the ADAM tool formerly known as Medzio. I... Read More...

Published Mon, Sep 13 2010 2:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Health Plans

Building a Better Mousetrap

By JOHN C. GOODMAN The story was front page and above the fold in The New York Times. Six teachers in Newark are leaving the traditional school system to start a public school of their own. If the product was... Read More...

Published Sun, Sep 12 2010 6:25 PM by The Health Care Blog

Primary Care is Not a Panacea: It Takes a Team

By MAGGIE MAHAR The emphasis on primary care as the “key” to lifting the quality of U.S. healthcare may be exaggerated according to a report, released today, by Dartmouth’s Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice. “Primary care forms the....

Published Fri, Sep 10 2010 11:21 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians, primary care, Maggie Mahar

Consumers to Pay More Under Reform

By MERRILL GOOZNER The latest analysis of health care reform – out this week from bean counters at Medicare – shows reform will raise health care spending slightly over the next 10 years, not reduce it as promised by President... Read More...

Published Fri, Sep 10 2010 5:28 AM by The Health Care Blog

Hyperventilating about the Harvard/Health Affairs Malpractice Study

By DAVID DRANOVE A new study from an interdisciplinary team at Harvard University reports that the medical malpractice system costs close to $60 billion annually. The study is published in the policy journal Health Affairs and is receiving lots of......

Published Fri, Sep 10 2010 3:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

The History and Future of Medical Technology

By FILED UNDER: THCB CLASSIFIEDS If you are curious about how the amazing technologies found in modern hospitals and clinics came about, check out Ira Brodsky’s entertaining new book, The History and Future of Medical Technology. The hardback tells the...

Published Thu, Sep 09 2010 4:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0--The Fall Conference is going to be great!

By Matthew Holt Health 2.0 is announcing our (almost) final line-up for the 4th annual Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, October 7-8. Since we started the conference in 2007, Health 2.0 has become the leading showcase of cutting-edge technologies...

Published Thu, Sep 09 2010 3:59 AM by The Health Care Blog

What's wrong with this picture?

By Matthew Holt And the answer is not the quality of the model! In the comments please! Read More...

Published Thu, Sep 09 2010 1:17 AM by The Health Care Blog