November 2010 - The Health Care Blog

Privacy Paradigms: From Consent to Reciprocal Transparency

By FRANK PASQUALE Computational innovation may improve health care by creating stores of data vastly superior to those used by traditional medical research. But before patients and providers “buy in,” they need to know that medical privacy will be respected...

Published Mon, Nov 01 2010 10:25 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, Privacy, Frank Pasquale

Does This ACO Thing Really Mean We Need to be ‘Accountable’?

By VINCE KURATIS Last month The American College of Physicians (ACP) released a well-reasoned and thorough position paper, The Patient-Centered Medical Home Neighbor: The Interface of the Patient-Centered Medical Home with Specialty/Subspecialty Practices...

Published Fri, Nov 12 2010 5:18 PM by The Health Care Blog

How Hedge Funds Get Inside Information From Doctors About Clinical Trials

By DAVID E. WILLIAMS Last week’s arrest of a French doctor for leaking information about a clinical trial to a hedge fund is disturbing, but the alleged activity is neither new nor particularly rare. I’m going to describe how the... Read More...

Published Fri, Nov 12 2010 4:23 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Too Informed Patient

The Too Informed Patient from Marketplace on Vimeo. Produced by Gregory Warner and Mara Zepeda. Created by Sebastienne Mundheim ofWhite Box Theatre, acted by Charles DelMarcelle and Doug Greene, and voiced by two actors from Philadelphia’s Pig Iron Theatre...

Published Wed, Nov 24 2010 4:15 PM by The Health Care Blog

Massachusetts has the best health care in America? Prove It!

By PAUL LEVY A well regarded local hospital administrator last week said, "There is lots of evidence that Massachusetts health care is the best in the country." The context was a discussion in which it was pointed out that health... Read More...

Published Mon, Nov 15 2010 4:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

What Does “Meaningful Use” Mean for Doctors?

By JONATHAN BUSH Join the latest athenahealth discussion on Sermo! As part of our ongoing partnership with Sermo, the world’s largest online physician community, we periodically team up for surveys and other interactive projects. Our second in a series...

Published Thu, Nov 04 2010 7:39 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Meaningful Use, Jonathan Bush

From Progressive to Zombie Legislation after Midterms?

By RICHARD REECE, MD This is a guess as to what the midterms, a political setback for supporters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), might mean for health reform. Exit polls indicate 58% of voters opposed the ACA, and cracks... Read More...

Published Thu, Nov 04 2010 2:41 PM by The Health Care Blog

Health Reform Won’t Fix the Real Problem: Unemployment

By GEORGE PILLARI While the effects of persistently high unemployment have surfaced in the shape of reduced consumer spending, shrunken tax rolls and a host of social problems, there is yet another harsh reality lurking in the shadows. Hospitals, already...

Published Tue, Nov 16 2010 4:37 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: health care reform, Health insurance, Employers, George Pillar

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Hospitals: A Time for Action

By ARJUN SRINIVASAN and RAMANAN LAXMINARAYAN Every few years there are reports of antibiotic resistant microbes that prompt a series of predictions about “the end of antibiotics.” It happened in the 90s with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and then...

Published Wed, Nov 17 2010 6:36 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Announcements

Paper Is Good … Pass It On

By ALEX EPSTEIN I nearly dropped my spoon into my fibery breakfast cereal last Sunday, because as I was reading the paper, I noticed a a full page ad that read in part… “It’s Easier to Learn on Paper” Seems... Read More...

Published Sat, Nov 13 2010 1:43 PM by The Health Care Blog

A Prevention Revolution

By SUSAN BLUMENTHAL, MD "I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure." These are the words of the Hippocratic Oath, an ancient vow that has been recited by physicians for centuries. However, with seven out......

Published Mon, Nov 08 2010 2:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Steve Krein talks OrganizedWisdom

By Matthew Holt And in the "stuff I should have posted a few weeks back" file, here's my interview with Steven Krein, CEO of OrganizedWisdom. Steve (with Unity Stoakes) runs one of the more interesting companies in the online health... Read...

Published Mon, Nov 01 2010 9:45 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Health 2.0, Consumers, User Generated Content

Companies Clearly Won’t Stop Hiking Health Care Coverage Premiums

By STEPHEN KRUPA As employees participate in open enrollment for their company’s health insurance enrollment next year, it’s clear they should make a point of participating in their employer’s enrollment information meetings, not merely pick last year...

Published Mon, Nov 01 2010 5:06 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health insurance, Stephen Krupa

Thanks Giving

By ROB LAMBERTS Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Christmas is great, but the commercialization of it has largely spoiled it. Thanksgiving seems to be the one holiday that has remained as it was when I was young: a time... Read More...

Published Fri, Nov 26 2010 5:08 AM by The Health Care Blog

Cousin Jimmy Syndrome

By JOHN HALAMKA I have great respect for my colleagues in the IT industry. It's a challenging profession that requires a mixture of technical knowledge, people skills, and the emotional stability to deal with customer dissatisfaction when technology...

Published Wed, Nov 17 2010 11:06 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIT, John Halamka