March 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Perspective

By KIMBERLY MANNING, MD “I can’t sleep, doc.” “Really?” “Yeah. And it ain’t like I ain’t sleepy, either. I just be sitting there. Just up and bored.” “Tell me about your evenings.” “I...

Published Thu, Mar 10 2011 6:32 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Hospitals, Internal Medicine, Grady Medical Center, cardiology

By MAGGIE MAHAR When President Obama named Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) last March, I wrote this: “Most who know Berwick describe him a ‘visionary’ and a ‘healer,’ a man able to survey the fragments of a broken...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 6:36 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Maggie Mahar, CMS, Donald Berwick, Senate

The Urgency of Medicaid Reform

By AVIK ROY Austin Frakt has penned a reply to a recent piece I wrote on Medicaid for my health-policy blog on Forbes, The Apothecary. Austin is a guy who takes the time to address opposing points of view, to his credit, and I’ve enjoyed my back-and-forth...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 6:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Medicaid, University of Virginia

The GOP’s Health Policy Cynics

By MICHAEL MILLENSON The health care community is discovering to its shock and dismay that it’s not simply traditional Republican conservatives who have taken control of the House of Representatives, it’s a new group of cynics. Conservatives...

Published Wed, Mar 09 2011 6:11 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Michael Millenson, Obamacare, GOP, Health policy

Nurses: Protocol -ed to Extinction?

By SARAH BETH COWHERD If you have been at your nursing job for a while, you’ve probably almost forgotten. Forgotten what it was like to come in to the healthcare system you now work for and realize there are hundreds of new protocols for you to learn...

Published Tue, Mar 08 2011 6:11 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Nursing, Nurses, Protocols, Sarah Beth Cowherd

The Ultimate Sacrifice

By JOHN MAA, MD An estimated 60% of American bankruptcies result from overwhelming medical costs. My uncle’s tale illuminates the dual tragedy of suffering catastrophic illness and being uninsured. The 2008 recession claimed my uncle’s job, health benefits...

Published Sun, Mar 06 2011 7:36 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Health care costs, Costs of Care, End of Life Care, John Maa

Doctors Love iPads. What Does it Mean? What Does it Mean?

By VINCE KURAITIS After attending HIMSS 11 the largest annual health IT conference of the year, John Moore reported that “nearly every EHR vendor has an iPad App for the EHR [electronic health record], or will be releasing such this year.” Doctors love...

Published Sun, Mar 06 2011 7:14 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Health 2.0, Vince Kuraitis, iPad

Health 2.0 Spring Fling

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Published Sun, Mar 06 2011 5:45 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Health 2.0

HIT Trends Summary for February 2011

By MICHAEL LAKE This is a summary of the HIT Trends Report for February 2011. You can get the current issue or subscribe here. Innovations in provider and patient solutions. DrFirst announced that it acquired AdherenceRx to integrate e-prescribing and...

Published Sun, Mar 06 2011 3:46 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIT, THCB, Michael Lake

Medicaid and Health Outcomes (again)

By AUSTIN FRAKT Avik Roy has read and posted about the papers I reviewed as part of my Medicaid-IV series. If you’ve forgotten, the purpose of that series of posts was to examine studies that use proven, sound methods to infer the causal effect of (as...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2011 1:10 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Medicaid, Uninsured, Front Page, Austin Frakt, Health Outcomes

Realizing Value from Health IT: A BCG Response to the PCAST report

By BENJAMIN BERK, MD, SIMON KENNEDY, & BCG HCIT Team If we are to achieve the aims of health insurance reform/PPACA, let alone eventual health delivery reform, the US needs coherent, comprehensive federal health IT policy. In late December, PCAST...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2011 8:54 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: HIT, Front Page, BCG, PCAST

Health 2.0 News Bites are up

Over on our sister site, the Health 2.0 News Blog, MEDecision, Human Health Project and many more are on this week’s extensive list of news bites–with cool new icons! Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2011 7:51 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Health 2.0, Front Page

Xerox Blog Talk Radio: Personal Health Information

Check out Xerox Blog Talk Radio to learn about protecting personal health information. This morning, Mark Tripodi, chief innovation officer, government healthcare solutions group for ACS, A Xerox Company, explained why data can easily be put at risk and...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2011 7:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Front Page

Heart Failure or System Failure?

By MERRILL GOOZNER Today’s New England Journal of Medicine reports the results of a government-funded study of two potential approaches to giving emergency diuretics to congestive heart failure patients who show up on emergency room doorsteps gasping...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2011 6:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Comparative Effectiveness Research, Merrill Goozner, Front Page, Diuretics

Fixing America’s Health Care Reimbursement System

By BRIAN KLEPPER, PHD A tempest is brewing in physician circles over how doctors are paid. But calming it will require more than just the action of physicians. It will demand the attention and influence of businesses and patient advocates who, outside...

Published Thu, Mar 03 2011 3:49 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Brian Klepper, CMS, Front Page, RUC, Healthcare costs, reimbursements