January 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Critical Review of Medical Literature

By MAYRA ZILBERBERG Today I am launching a series of posts on how to read medical literature critically. The series should provide a solid foundation for this task and dove-tail nicely with some of the more dense themes that occur... Read More...

Published Sat, Jan 08 2011 11:48 AM by The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 Live Code-a-thons for 2011

Health 2.0 will host the first three Developer Challenge Code-a-thons for 2011 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC, and Boston. These events occur over the course of one day in each city, bringing together developers, designers and raw... Read...

Published Wed, Jan 19 2011 11:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

Massachusetts, Utah, or Nothing: How States Should Address Exchanges

By JOHN GRAHAM PPACA prescribes states’ “flexibility” in structuring exchanges. Libertarian and conservative policy analysts have criticized Massachusetts’ bloated and intrusive Commonwealth Connector, the country’s first pre-Obamacare exchange. Some...

Published Sat, Jan 22 2011 9:56 AM by The Health Care Blog

Comment on the PCAST Report

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE This comment is not in response to the specific questions posed by ONC, which seem to presume a certain validity of the PCAST report. This comment is respectfully raising several basic questions, which in my opinion, the... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 21 2011 4:02 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Bookmarked Final Rules

By JOHN HALAMKA, MD Robin Raiford of Allscripts has completed the bookmarking of all the healthcare IT final rules: CMS final rule – EHR incentive program (14 Megabytes) ONC final rule – Standards Stage One (500K) ONC final rule –... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 17 2011 8:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

A Medical Student's Dilemma

By LIBERTAD FLORES I remember joking with Dad about how he'd outlive us all. He had gone vegetarian 10 years before I was born, never smoked, took vitamins, and asked for a designated driver after his annual Heineken at the... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 31 2011 7:01 AM by The Health Care Blog

Is There Something Wrong With the Scientific Method?

By DAVE deBRONKART, MD A recurring them on this blog is the need for empowered, engaged patients to understand what they read about science. It’s true when researching treatments for one’s condition, it’s true when considering government policy proposals...

Published Sat, Jan 15 2011 6:25 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

Health Problem Quantified

By JOHN GOODMAN, PhD We now know how many people have the problem most often cited as the reason for last years’ health overhaul legislation. Answer: 8,000 No, that’s not a misprint. Out of 310 million Americans, only 8,000 people... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 07 2011 8:38 AM by The Health Care Blog

Putting the Patient First, Literally

By ADRIAN GROPPER, MD Interoperability is front and center, again. Stage 1 of HITECH was about health records for doctors. Stage 2 is about interoperability. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report is all about interoperability...

Published Tue, Jan 18 2011 5:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Physician Executives Should Not Ignore How Smartphones Will Transform Healthcare

By KENT BOTTLES Physician executives who ignore smartphones and their healthcare applications will miss the most important disruptive technology trend in the next five years. Physician executives who understand how smartphones will transform the industry...

Published Mon, Jan 31 2011 10:11 PM by The Health Care Blog

Cyber Insurance

By MICHAEL OVERLY, ESQ Insurance exists to cover a wide range of potential business risks. Cyber insurance is worth considering as companies increase their presence, business practices and data storage online. In fact, Cyber insurance is not just for...

Published Wed, Jan 12 2011 6:39 AM by The Health Care Blog

2010 Unplugged

By BOB WACHTER, MD For people like me, who, perversely enough, get a certain thrill from studying healthcare policy, there's never been a more exciting, if also dizzying, year than 2010. Passage of the reform bill last March was only... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 03 2011 7:23 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

Does Medicare Have it Right in 2011?

By ED PULLEN, MD Starting in 2011 with the regulations required by the PPACA Medicare will mandate copay and deductible free preventative services for our older Americans. This is great news for primary care physicians. I’m a family physician, and......

Published Mon, Jan 03 2011 4:44 AM by The Health Care Blog