January 2011 - 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

What Would A Truly Patient-Centered Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Look Like?

By KENT BOTTLES Health care leaders are busy talking to attorneys and consultants about how to set up Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). A recent Advisory Board survey found that 73 per cent of hospital finance executives said that creating such....

Published Mon, Jan 03 2011 6:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba Boom!

By RICHARD REECE, MD January 1, 2011 -Yes, yes, it’s true. Today 79 million baby boomers, born from 1946 to 1964, start turning 65. Yes, yes, it’s true. Boomers begin qualifying for Medicare. Yes, yes, it’s true. If my math... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 03 2011 4:58 AM by The Health Care Blog

So, Are EHRs a Waste of Time and Money?

By ROGER COLLIER The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) authorized incentive payments, potentially totaling some $27 billion over ten years, to clinicians and hospitals when they implement electronic health...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 6:07 AM by The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 Spring Conference Update

The Health 2.0 Conference, run by THCB founder Matthew Holt and colleague Indu Subaiya, announced additions to the lineup of its spring conference in San Diego. The Future of Research panel will focus on the emergence of user-generated content and......

Published Tue, Jan 25 2011 5:30 PM by The Health Care Blog

Commerce Clause Challenges to Health Care Reform

By MARK HALL, JD The following article, forthcoming in U. Penn. L. Rev., pinpoints the strongest arguments for and against federal power under the Commerce Clause to mandate the purchase of health insurance: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id...

Published Thu, Jan 27 2011 5:45 AM by The Health Care Blog

Twitter: An Essential Tool for the Physician Executive

By KENT BOTTLES, MD Every morning at 5:30 AM, I am at my computer scouring the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other news sources for articles about health care and wellness. These articles are... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 25 2011 7:11 AM by The Health Care Blog

Is the Culture Finally Shifting?

By DAVE deBronkhart Thanks to friend Kavita Patel for pointing out this sign of shifting winds, in this week’s Time online: Googling Symptoms Helps Patients and Doctors. It’s a watershed moment, because the last physician column I saw on this... Read...

Published Sat, Jan 22 2011 9:55 AM by The Health Care Blog

Insurance Exchange Budgets: How Much is Needed?

By ROGER COLLIER It’s coming up to four months since the Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $50 million in grants to states and US possessions for health insurance exchange planning and development, and the money is... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 19 2011 4:09 AM by The Health Care Blog

Advances in Connected Health Sensor Technologies

By JOSEPH KVEDAR Most of the time I write about the psychology of patient, consumer or provider adoption. This is not an accident. The psychology of adoption is the next big hurdle for connected health to overcome. We have good... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 25 2011 5:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Worst Health Care System in the World Is…

By EVAN FALCHUK The United States, of course. Oh, no, wait, it’s Canada. Actually, I think it could be Germany. Geez, now I think it might be the UK. You could go on and on like this. But you know... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 25 2011 4:54 PM by The Health Care Blog

Eighth Annual Healthcare Conference at Harvard Business School

Please join us for the 8th Annual Healthcare Conference at Harvard Business School on Saturday, January 29th from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Hosted by the HBS Healthcare Club, the student-run Conference – titled “The State of Healthcare Reform: Challenges.....

Published Wed, Jan 05 2011 2:02 PM by The Health Care Blog

Can Good Care Produce Bad Health?

By AMY BERMAN For those of you who haven’t yet heard, I have recently been diagnosed with Stage IV inflammatory *** cancer. This rare form of *** cancer is known for its rapid spread. True to form, it has metastasized... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 28 2011 5:35 PM by The Health Care Blog

The Remarkable Rise of the Hyphenated-Hospitalist

By ROBERT WACHTER, MD I recall with fondness many meetings in 1996-98, when the hospitalist field was still in its infancy. We had invented a new medical specialty, and our gatherings were vibrant and purposeful. We were determined to remake... Read More...

Published Sun, Jan 16 2011 5:01 PM by The Health Care Blog

Seeding the Cloud

By ALEX ESPTEIN The newest new future of computing is floating your way. Lie back on the grass and enjoy. It is The Cloud. Not the corporate Cloud that is the trademarked provider of Wi-Fi services in Europe. But the... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 31 2011 10:12 PM by The Health Care Blog