January 2011 - 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

Insurers Flat Foot Their Way Into the Social Media Era

By DAVID WILLIAMS A couple of related pieces caught my attention today: @HealthPlan: How insurers use social media and Insurers are scouring social media for evidence of fraud. Slowly but surely health plans and other insurers are stepping into the.....

Published Mon, Jan 31 2011 5:00 PM 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

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

HPHC Goes Its Way, Thoughtfully

By PAUL LEVY Lots of people are thinking about the form of payments between insurance companies and providers for health care services, but it is also important to think about how each such approach would be marketed as an insurance... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 18 2011 6:33 AM by The Health Care Blog

Not Colon Cancer

By DAVIS LIU, MD My mother's oncologist ordered the blood test, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), to check for the recurrence of colon cancer. The good news was that there was no evidence of recurrence. The bad news was that she didn’t... Read More...

Published Wed, Jan 19 2011 6:33 AM by The Health Care Blog

A Brief Guide To Being Shot in the Head

By NEUROSKEPTIC You know what this is about. I don't have anything especially useful to say about the recent tragedy, or the question of crazy vs. political: at this stage, it's all speculation. Let's wait for the trial. But anyway,... Read...

Published Wed, Jan 19 2011 4:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Proposed Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use Recommendations

By JOHN HALAMKA, MD On January 12, the Health Information Technology Policy Committee published its proposed Stage 2 and 3 Meaningful Use recommendations for public comment. Robin Raiford from Allscripts created a Quick Guide to the recommendations, making...

Published Thu, Jan 20 2011 8:50 AM by The Health Care Blog

Health Bill Sets Out Details of Cameron Plan to Reform NHS

By MIKE BROAD The controversial Health and Social Care Bill has been published, paving the way for GPs to control 80% of the NHS budget from 2013. Unions warn the plans are the first step towards privatising the health service,... Read More...

Published Fri, Jan 21 2011 6:34 AM 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

A Family Physician's EMR Experience

By SULTAN RAHAMAN, MD I have always looked at technology for opportunities to improve the quality of care and the efficiency of my family practice. For instance, nearly 20 years ago I started using speech recognition software to dictate all... Read More...

Published Sat, Jan 22 2011 4:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

EHR Product Management

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE It has become politically incorrect to refer to EHRs as products. Instead, EHRs are now “technologies” as evident in all ONC and CMS published rules and regulations. This subtle change in terminology was intended to encourage, yes...

Published Mon, Jan 24 2011 7:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Clueless in Utah?

By ROGER COLLIER The trials and tribulations of Utah’s much-touted Health Exchange continued in December, with the announcement that yet another chief executive had quit, along with the admission that very few eligible employer groups had signed up for...

Published Sun, Jan 09 2011 7:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

A Bipartisan Agreement on Health Care Was possible in 2009

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Readers of this blog have often heard me say that a bipartisan agreement on a health care bill was possible in 2009--driven from the Senate Finance Committee. I have continually made the point that the two sides... Read More...

Published Mon, Jan 10 2011 2:52 PM by The Health Care Blog

SAN FRANCISCO EARLY BIRD PRICE ENDS THIS WEEK

The year may have just begun, but before you know it the Health 2.0 conferences will be just around the corner and if you blink you may just miss a great deal. The Health 2.0 Spring Fling conference in San... Read More...

Published Tue, Jan 11 2011 12:51 PM by The Health Care Blog