April 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Vermont Chooses Single-Payer: Who Else Has an Appetite for Experimentation?

By JONATHAN HALVORSON This past Monday, the Vermont Senate passed a Single-Payer bill. The House had already passed a similar bill and the governor is friendly to the legislation, so all that stands between Vermont and a single-payer law are a few formalities...

Published Fri, Apr 29 2011 7:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Health Reform, Connecticut, Vermont

Some Employers Already Sending Workers To Exchanges to Buy Health Insurance

By JULIE APPLEBY Fed up with the unpredictable cost of health insurance for his small business, Mike Sarafolean last year made a dramatic change: Instead of picking a plan to offer workers, he now sends them to a “private exchange” or marketplace...

Published Fri, Apr 29 2011 6:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Employers, Julie Appleby, Private exchanges

Are We Entering an Era of Political Cooperation on Medicare?

By DAVID E. WILLIAMS There’s a chance that we’re starting to see a convergence of opinion on Medicare among Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. I know the recent bickering makes this seem like an odd contention, but consider the following: In recent...

Published Fri, Apr 29 2011 6:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB

Rethinking IMS Health v. Sorrell: Privacy as a First Amendment Value

By FRANK PASQUALE Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in IMS Health v. Sorrell. The case pits medical data giant IMS Health (and some other plaintiffs) against the state of Vermont, which restricted the distribution of certain “physician...

Published Fri, Apr 29 2011 5:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Privacy, Frank Pasquale, Uncategorized, IMS Health v Sorrell, Patient privacy, Pharmaceutical industry, Medical data

Can Berwick Be Saved? Here’s One Possible Scenario

By BOB WACHTER, MD We’ve all had the experience of hearing someone we know well say or write something totally out of character, and wondering, “what was that about?” Don Berwick said such a thing last week, all-but-contradicting President Obama’s support...

Published Thu, Apr 28 2011 7:59 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Bob Wachter, CMS, Donald Berwick, IPAB

THCB Live: Oracle

Matthew Holt interviews Marc Perlman and Kris Joshi of Oracle about their role in health care, and what Oracle is making of the changes in the health IT scene. The interview was at the HIMSS conference this past February. Tweet this Share on Facebook...

Published Wed, Apr 27 2011 5:53 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Tech, HIMSS11, Oracle, Perlman, Joshi

The Rashomon of Health Care: Why the Government is Promoting and Hindering ACOs at the Same Time

By DAVID DRANOVE As I have previously blogged, a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the promotion of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is banking on the financial incentives of ACOs (through...

Published Wed, Apr 27 2011 9:54 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, CMS, ACOs, Uncategorized, FTC, Antitrust

A Rebuttal to PHR Luddites

By VINCE KURAITIS Unlike some of my colleagues, I’m not losing ANY sleep over whether personal health record (PHR) systems ultimately will be adopted and used by patients. In my mind, the issue isn’t WHETHER, but WHEN. Yes, I know that adoption has lagged...

Published Wed, Apr 27 2011 6:50 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Vince Kuraitis, Tech, PHR

National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

By JOHN HALAMKA, MD On April 15, 2011, the White House released the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) during a launch event that included U.S. Sec. of Commerce Gary Locke, other Administration officials, and U.S. Senator Barbara...

Published Wed, Apr 27 2011 6:21 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Policy/Politics, John Halamka, Tech, Cyberspace, NSTIC, Trusted identity

Controlling the Medicare Budget — Time to Fast Forward to 1999?

By ROGER COLLIER The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government deficit will exceed one and a half trillion dollars this year, with federal health care annual expenditures expected to hit the trillion dollar mark by 2012. The largest federal...

Published Wed, Apr 27 2011 5:13 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Medicare, IPAB, National Bipartisan Commission of the Future of Medicare

$3 Million Heritage Health Prize: Interview with Dr. Richard Merkin

By Matthew Holt I recently had a chance to interview Dr. Richard Merkin, President and CEO of Heritage Provider Network. Richard has spent the last 30 years implementing a successful business model to address the needs and challenges of affordable managed...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 2:49 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Health 2.0, Matthew Holt

The Disappearing Family Doctor – Is It a Bad Thing?

By DAVIS LIU, MD The New York Times recently published an article titled the Family Can’t Give Away Solo Practice wistfully noting that doctors like Dr. Ronald Sroka and “doctors like him are increasingly being replaced by teams of rotating...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 10:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Physicians, primary care, Davis Liu, Family doctors

A Modest Proposal: What If All Specialty Procedures Were Coded with 4 CPT Codes?

By PAUL FISCHER, MD In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Barbara Levy, Chairwoman of the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), commented on the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) decision to have minimal primary care participation on the...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 10:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, AMA, RUC, Coding

PatientsLikeMe refutes clinical trial (eventually)

PatientsLikeMe’s mass trial of Lithium as a cure for ALS was carried out in 2008 very quickly and was reported at many conferences (including of course first at Health 2.0 in 2008). The PLM study was a response to a 2008 clinical study that suggested...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 8:24 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt, micro

Comparing Hospitals on Safety, Quality and Cost

By MERRILL GOOZNER The Sunlight Foundation today gave us a fascinating first peak at the hospital safety data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which was finally convinced to release the information after years of stonewalling by the...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 5:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Merrill Goozner, CMS, Hospital safety, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, American Hospital Association