February 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Are Academic Medical Centers Toast in a Post-Healthcare Reform World?

By BOB WACHTER, MD My hospital, UCSF Medical Center, is thriving. Our profits this year will be nearly $200 million. We’re building a sparkling clinical complex – a combined women’s, children’s, and cancer hospital – adjacent to our new downtown biomedical...

Published Mon, Feb 28 2011 8:39 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Bob Wachter, Front Page, academic medical centers, Teaching centers

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

Radiologist: Commoditize Thyself

By DAVID E. WILLIAMS There is little in the health care world as amusing as watching radiologists work themselves into a froth over some real or perceived threat to their profession. Usually the villain is non-radiologists daring to encroach on... Read...

Published Wed, Feb 02 2011 7:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Going Beyond the Dartmouth Debate

By MAGGIE MAHAR We all have heard that “spending more” on health care does not necessarily lead to better care. In fact, in regions of the country where care is more intensive and more expensive, sometimes outcomes are worse. This... Read More...

Published Mon, Feb 07 2011 4:37 PM by The Health Care Blog

Glen Tullman @ HIMSS11

Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, talked with Matthew about mergers, consolidation and payment changes taking place in the healthcare system. Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Mon, Feb 28 2011 2:04 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Tech, HIMSS 2011, Allscripts, Glen Tullman

Tectonic Forces at Work

By PAUL LEVY We are about to witness the clash of two tectonic plates in health care. The creation of Accountable Care Organizations, combined with a movement towards capitated and other types of bundled payments, will be forces towards integration.....

Published Tue, Feb 01 2011 8:01 AM by 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 Game-Changing Statistic: 1 in 250

By BOB WACHTER, MD Although the medical profession has been harming unlucky patients for centuries, the patient safety movement didn’t take flight until 1999, when the Institute of Medicine published its seminal report, To Err is Human. And that report...

Published Fri, Feb 11 2011 6:59 AM by The Health Care Blog

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

Getting DIRECTLY to the Point

By RICH ELMORE and ARIEN MALEC A patient’s health records are no longer confined to a doctor’s office, shelved inside a dusty file cabinet. With the advent of the Nationwide Health Information Network, a framework of standards, services and policies that...

Published Mon, Feb 21 2011 8:03 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Front Page

A Normal Pregnancy is a Retrospective Diagnosis

By J.D. KLEINKE If every medical specialty has its homily for indoctrinating new members, “a normal pregnancy is a retrospective diagnosis” is the cynical soundbite for obstetrics. It is a patronizing and alarmist statement, meant to distance weary practitioners...

Published Tue, Feb 01 2011 4:55 AM by The Health Care Blog

Third Place Health Care

By EVAN FALCHUK Media reports on misdiagnosis continue to mount. A recent study on patients with Alzheimer’s found that half had been misdiagnosed. Half. Another headline blared “4 out of 10 patients being misdiagnosed.” The article encouraged patients...

Published Mon, Feb 28 2011 12:18 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Patients, Front Page, Evan Falchuk, Starbucks

The Greater Fool

By PAUL LEVY In the last four decades, we have witnessed a series of investment "bubbles" that have all collapsed. It seems that there is no end to the number of people with cash who will be intoxicated by a... Read More...

Published Mon, Feb 07 2011 7:13 AM by The Health Care Blog

When Patients Go Home, Safety Must Follow

By MIKE GENAU Every day, U.S. health care becomes less institutional and more domestic. According to the National Home and Hospice Care Survey, approximately 1,355,300 patients received home health care services in 2000. Just four years later, the National...

Published Mon, Feb 07 2011 10:45 AM by The Health Care Blog

The Cusp of Consumer Engagement

By JOHN MOORE When Chilmark Research was founded, the primary area of focus was healthcare IT that was consumer facing, consumer enabling – tools that would help consumers better manage their health and the health of loved ones. This led to our first...

Published Sun, Feb 20 2011 3:54 PM by The Health Care Blog