February 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Is Economic Credentialing A Tool for Primary Care to Lead ACOs?

By VINCE KURAITIS, JD Is economic credentialing — the use of economic factors such as loyalty and utilization rates in the physician credentialing process — a potential tool for primary care physicians to lead ACOs? and reestablish the vitality of primary...

Published Thu, Feb 24 2011 8:06 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: primary care, Vince Kuraitis, Front Page, Economic credentialing

A Family Physician’s Manifesto

By PAUL FISCHER, MD As a third-year medical student in 1977, I joined the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). In those culturally tumultuous years, it was a way to declare my belief that America needed physicians who cared for the whole person...

Published Thu, Feb 24 2011 7:07 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: primary care, Front Page, RUC, Paul Fischer, AAFP

Jonathan Bush @HIMSS11

We caught up with always outspoken athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush backstage in Orlando. Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Thu, Feb 24 2011 6:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Jonathan Bush, Front Page, HIMSS, Video

Emotional Automation Revisited

By JOSEPH KVEDAR, MD Last week we all watched in awe as the IBM computer, Watson, trounced two of Jeopardy’s finest. This event has been much heralded but it is worth stopping for just a minute to reflect on the experience of watching Jeopardy those three...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 12:57 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Op-Ed, Watson, Tech, Joseph Kvedar, Computers

Why Consumer-Driven Health Care Will Fail

By DAVIS LIU, MD The creation of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), health insurance policies with high deductibles linked to a savings option and with more financial responsibility shouldered by patients and employees and less by employers, was completely...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 9:27 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Employers, Davis Liu, Front Page, High deductibles, CDHP, Consumer-driven health plans

OCR Imposes $4.3M Penalty for Violation of HIPAA/HITECH Privacy Rule

By BOB COFFIELD UNTIL TODAY, many health care providers questioned whether HHS and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) would ever issue any significant penalties for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. However, will OCR ever be able to collect the penalties...

Published Wed, Feb 23 2011 8:27 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Front Page, Penalties, HIPAA violations, OCR, Bob Coffield

Survivor

By MICHAEL TURPIN Survivor 2015 “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed” Charles Darwin As the legislative reform volcano rumbles and angrily spews magma into...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 11:29 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health Plans, PPACA, Michael Turpin, Obamacare, Affordable Care Act

What’s Yours Is Actually Mine

By LISA SUENNEN Imagine someone you barely knew came to your neighborhood and took a picture of you playing with your kids at the park and then turned around and used it in an advertisement to promote a product they developed. How would you feel? Presumably...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 11:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Lisa Suennen, Front Page, Ownership, DNA, Legal issues

What’s In a Word?

By MARK FRISSE, MD The “HIE” at HIMSS 2011 appears noticeably different than the “HIE” of HIMSS 2010 or 2009. HIE will be ubiquitous. It is not just a topic for a Sunday session any more. Of the 26 sessions listing HIE as a topic...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 10:55 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIEs, Front Page, HIMSS, Mark Frisse

Robert Reich Connects the Dots

By JANE SARASOHN-KAHN “I’m not a class warrior. I’m a class worrier,” Robert Reich told a standing-room only crowd of thousands of health IT geeks as he delivered the first keynote address of the annual meeting of HIMSS, the Healthcare Information Management...

Published Tue, Feb 22 2011 9:37 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Medicare, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Front Page, Economy, Robert Reich, HIMSS

THCB @ HIMSS11

This week we’ll be reporting live from HIMSS11 in Orlando. We’ll have backstage access to some of the biggest names at the conference, plus posts by surprise guests. Coverage from the show is underwritten by Xerox Corporation, with areas of focus...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 4:39 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Front Page

Why It’s a Good Idea to Get a Second Opinion, and Maybe a Third…

By ELAINE SCHATTNER, MD A few years ago I started writing a book on what it was like to be a cancer patient and an oncologist. This morning I came upon this section on second opinions: Is it OK to get a second opinion? Definitely. And there’s no need...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 1:35 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Patients, Front Page, Elaine Schattner

HIMSS11 Update from the Chairman

By C. MARTIN HARRIS, MD As the Chairman of the board of HIMSS, the Health Information Management Systems Society, which is the largest information technology organization in the world, I’ve been very busy at our annual conference in Orlando, Fla. As I...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 1:00 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIT, Meaningful Use, Front Page, HIMMS, Martin Harris, HIMMS11

Computers in 2020

By RICHARD REECE, MD It is 2020. Computer evaluation of patients before they visit their doctors has come a long way. Medical records containing demographic data, personal histories, medication use, allergies, laboratory results, radiologic images, electrocardiograms...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 9:31 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, Physicians, Patients, Tech, Diagnosis, Richard Reece

HIMSS11 Live: Meaningful Use

By NEIL VERSEL What can be said about “meaningful use” of electronic health records that hasn’t already been said? Actually, plenty, if the events leading up to Monday morning’s official opening of HIMSS11 are any indication. Last week, HIMSS honcho Steve...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 8:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIT, Front Page, HiMMS 11, Neil Versel