November 2010 - The Health Care Blog

Rating the Raters: Physician Compare

By NAOMI FREUNDLICH Let’s say you’ve enrolled in a new health insurance plan and need to find an internist who participates. How do you decide which doctor to choose? My (long deceased) grandmother made her choices by using the following... Read More...

Published Thu, Nov 18 2010 4:04 AM by The Health Care Blog

Have We Found the Magic Acronym?

By JD Kleinke Sometimes, reality just delivers - this morning in the form of some funny Google search results. Aghast at the fluidity of my acronymic spew in an email exchange with a colleague (“ACOs can be MSOs instead of... Read More...

Published Fri, Nov 19 2010 7:12 AM by The Health Care Blog

Job Post: Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Policy Director

Organization: The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Location: Washington, D.C. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is seeking a talented and forward-thinking individual for the position of HCBS Policy Manager. This is a senior...

Published Mon, Nov 01 2010 4:00 AM by 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

HHS wants to hear from YOU about empowering consumers

By Matthew Holt HHS is developing a 5 year strategic plan for publication in early 2011. Part of that is more work on the role of HHS in encouraging consumer empowerment. Here are the current proposed objectives: Objective A. Engage... Read More...

Published Wed, Nov 03 2010 12:17 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, HHS

The Electronic Medical Home

By JOHN HALAMKA In previous blog posts, I've mentioned an idea deserves its own dedicated post. Over the weekend, I keynoted the eClinicalWorks National User's Conference in Florida. One of the attendees emailed me the following question: "I...

Published Thu, Nov 04 2010 5:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: John Halamka, Electronic Medical Home

Patient Engagement on the Med-Surg Floor

By JESSIE GRUMAN Three times a day, as though responding to some signal audible only to the generously medicated, we rise from our beds to join the slow procession around the perimeter of the unit. Like slumped, disheveled royalty, each... Read More....

Published Thu, Nov 04 2010 11:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Wachter: Three Stories

By ROBERT WACHTER In my travels, I frequently hear short stories that help illuminate my work and world. Here are three recent examples; think of them as little health policy tapas. I recently spoke in a session with Peter Pronovost,... Read More...

Published Mon, Nov 08 2010 5:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

The $6-an-Hour Health Minimum Wage

By JOHN GOODMAN The stunning election results will put even more pressure on Congress to deal with the economy and jobs when it reconvenes in mid-November. But as it turns out, one way to boost the economy is to reconsider... Read More...

Published Mon, Nov 08 2010 3:45 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Costs, John Goodman, Health care costs, Employers

Dartmouth Launches New Degree Program in Health Care Delivery Science

In the wake of health care reform, leaders in the industry need a new set of tools to navigate through a health care landscape that has changed forever. In response, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and The Dartmouth... Read More...

Published Wed, Nov 10 2010 4:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Marketplace

Physicians, Nurses and the Coming Transformation of our Health System

By GLENN LAFFEL Last week, we highlighted an unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act: it will dramatically worsen an already gaping mismatch between the demand for and the supply of physician services in the US. Put simply, there aren’t... Read...

Published Thu, Nov 11 2010 5:40 AM by The Health Care Blog

Alzheimer's Disease: The $20 Trillion Enemy We Must Not Forget

By LISA SUENNEN In the last several weeks I lost my phone (recovered), my iPod (gone) and even a piece of jewelry (I am pretty sure the cat is guilty). I was at the airport when I couldn’t remember where... Read More...

Published Fri, Nov 12 2010 3:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Decade-Long Journey To NEJM Case 34-2010

By BOB WACHTER The most popular article in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine did not tout the discovery of a novel gene, nor describe a cardiology clinical trial with a clever acronym as its title. Rather, it was... Read More...

Published Mon, Nov 22 2010 9:32 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Doctor will Sync You Now

By MARKUS POHL Takeaway: mHealth developers expect the importance of app stores to diminish. mHealth apps will predominantly be distributed through traditional healthcare channels by 2015. Our firm, Berlin-based research2guidance, conducted a global mHealth...

Published Wed, Nov 24 2010 8:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

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