January 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Data Mining Case Reaches the Supreme Court

By GLENN LAFFEL, MD, PhD Twenty years ago, IMS Health got the idea to purchase prescription records from pharmacies, license physician information from the AMA’s Physician Masterfile, and link the two databases so as to create something new and different...

Published Wed, Jan 12 2011 12:34 PM by The Health Care Blog

Ready, Set…ACO?

By JONATHAN BUSH Happy New Year, everyone! 2010 was certainly action-packed, and 2011 promises the same. I hear a lot of thunder about getting ready for ACOs. This isn’t a crystal ball forecast, but I see hospitals spending tons of... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 14 2011 6:06 AM by The Health Care Blog

Reflections on the Certification Experience

By JOHN HALAMKA, MD On Friday, January 21, 2011, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center completed the certification of its enterprise EHR technologies via the CCHIT EHR Alternative Certification for Hospitals (EACH) program. Here's the press release...

Published Tue, Jan 25 2011 3:19 AM by The Health Care Blog

Patients Lie

By DAVIS LIU, MD The most common question first year medical students ask me is how do they become efficient at taking a patient history. Can they skip certain parts of taking the patient history and avoid asking about a... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 26 2011 8:33 AM by The Health Care Blog

Crowdsourcing the Future: Health 2.0 and HIPAA

By DEVEN McGRAW The Health 2.0 movement has seen incredible growth recently, with new tools and services continuously being released. Of course, Health 2.0 developers face a number of challenges when it comes to getting providers and patients to adopt...

Published Thu, Jan 27 2011 6:36 AM by The Health Care Blog

Crowdsourcing, Price Formation, and Health IT

By JOHN R. GRAHAM From the perspective of the average patient, going about his life unconcerned about health policy or economics, what is the most frustrating characteristic of U.S. health insurance? Surely, it is the madness of the billing cycle:......

Published Fri, Jan 28 2011 10:54 AM by The Health Care Blog

Electronic Medical Records Attack Hospitals

By MICHAEL KIRSCH, MD Readers know of my criticisms of the electronic medical record (EMR) juggernaut that is oozing over the medical landscape. Ultimately, this technology will make medical care better and easier to practice. All systems will be integrated...

Published Sun, Jan 30 2011 1:47 PM by The Health Care Blog

Defining a Maturity Model for HIEs

By JOHN MOORE Before entering the convoluted healthcare IT sector, I had worked in the manufacturing sector both as an IT analyst and in corporate strategy for Europe’s second largest enterprise software company. In those many years I learn quite... Read...

Published Sun, Jan 30 2011 8:39 AM by The Health Care Blog

Turning the Clock Back Isn't Enough: The Nasty Surprise Awaiting the GOP on Health Care and the Deficit

By SCOTT BITTLE and JEAN JOHNSON The Republicans who will take control of the House this January have made it clear there are two things they hate: deficits and President Obama's healthcare reform. They've promised to reduce the first and... Read...

Published Tue, Jan 04 2011 5:52 AM by The Health Care Blog

A Healthcare Information Services Provider Business Model

I've written previously about Healthcare Information Exchange Sustainability and the need for Healthcare Information Services Providers (HISPs) to serve as gateways connecting individual EHRs. How should HISPs be funded and how can we encourage HISP...

Published Wed, Jan 05 2011 4:49 PM by The Health Care Blog

Sam's Club as a locus for (The) Prevention (Plan)?

By Matthew Holt There's lots going on in the world of online tools for health improvement and prevention. Yesterday I saw a new demo of the latest version of Keas (can't tell you much but think Zynga!). Just this Fall... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 07 2011 12:42 PM by The Health Care Blog

The Study Question

By MAYRA ZUCKERBERG Let's start at the beginning. Why do we do research and write papers? No, not just to get famous, tenured or funded. The fundamental task of science is to answer questions. The big questions of all time... Read More...

Published Sat, Jan 08 2011 8:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

Repeal is Irresponsible

By LUCAS RESTREPO, MD “The primary ethical issue of modern medicine and public health is the outcome gap,” write Paul Farmer and Nicole Gastineau Campos in an essay published in 2004. Entrenched in “growing social inequalities,” this gap is immediately...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 8:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Minimum Essential Benefits

By MICHAEL TURPIN The Affordable Care Act is officially under construction. The framework for the minimum mandatory levels of benefits offered through state exchanges is now being researched and will soon be ready for prime time debate. The Institute...

Published Tue, Jan 18 2011 1:47 PM by The Health Care Blog

Health Care Georgians Deserve

By GAYATHRI SURESH KUMAR, MD As a physician who works at Grady Memorial Hospital, I am regularly reminded of the implications of poor access to health care. One of my regular patients had been suffering from diabetes and hypertension for... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 19 2011 12:00 AM by The Health Care Blog