April 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Of Zebras, Rare Diseases, and Google

By RICHARD REECE, MD When you hear hoof beats behind you, don’t expect to see a zebra. Medical aphorism on the rarity of rare diseases A rare or “orphan” disease affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. There are more than 6...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 5:41 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians, Richard Reece, Jerome Groopman, Rare diseases, Cyberchondriacs, Orphan diseases

Up Next? Oral Health

By ROBERT PAINTER, MD “Can you imagine a time when we fully incorporate mental and dental health into our thinking about health? What is it about problems above the neck that seems to exclude them so often from policy about health care?” That’s what Institute...

Published Tue, Apr 26 2011 5:35 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Op-Ed, IOM, Dental health, Robert Painter

Who Gets Autism?

By NEUROSKEPTIC The paper is from Leonard et al and it’s published in PLoS ONE, so it’s open access if you want to take a peek. The authors used a database system in the state of Western Australia which allowed them to find out what happened...

Published Mon, Apr 25 2011 12:10 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Autism

Feds on the Web: Medicare relaunches caregiver site

I’ve been impressed by the efforts of CMS and others in the Federal government to develop helpful websites. Medicare has just relaunched its Caregivers website. It’s got a nice variety of stories, links and resources–including links...

Published Mon, Apr 25 2011 10:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt, micro

The Kübler-Ross Model of EHR Adoption

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE For over a hundred years the paper chart has been a trusted partner and best friend to many physicians and nurses. The paper chart was born the day a new patient walked into the office, a pristine, crisp and neatly color-coded folder...

Published Mon, Apr 25 2011 5:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, EHR adoption, Uncategorized, Stages of grief, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

There Aren’t Enough Rich People To Pay For Medicare And Medicaid

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI I hear more and more of my progressive friends arguing, in the context of deficit reduction, that we should be raising taxes before getting aggressive about reducing the cost of Medicare and Medicaid — as well as Social Security...

Published Mon, Apr 25 2011 4:53 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Robert Laszewski, THCB, Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare costs, Medicaid costs

Finding A Path Through The Health Insurance Market ‘Gobbledygook’

By LISA W. DREW My ZIP code is a black hole for individual health insurance. That’s what I recently discovered when I tried to find the coverage I want at an affordable price. What hubris I had. My story started in 2009, when my position as a journalism...

Published Sat, Apr 23 2011 9:34 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB

The New Cost-Conscious Doctor

By JANE SARASOHN-KAHN Doctors practicing in the U.S. are becoming increasingly conscious of the increasing costs of health care. Most consider themselves cost-conscious, and are considering the impact of their practice patterns — in terms of prescribing...

Published Fri, Apr 22 2011 9:15 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Physicians, Health care costs, Cost-conscious

Interview: Health Dialog

It’s the end of video week on THCB! Following fixing some technical difficulties doing videos we’re putting a whole lot more up and showing some great interviews from companies who attended HIMSS or World Health Care Congress. Matthew Holt...

Published Fri, Apr 22 2011 1:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, WHCC, Health Dialog

Interview: McKesson Health Solutions

Matthew Holt interviews Emad Rizk, President of McKesson Health Solutions at World Health Care Congress. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kadZ_XloyA Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Fri, Apr 22 2011 1:05 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Tech, McKesson

Interview:CareLogistics and Mercy St. Vincent

Matthew Holt interviews Ben Sawyer, Executive Vice President of CareLogistics, and Imran Andrabi, President and CEO of Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, at the World Health Care Congress. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6pMOjwYagI Tweet this Share on...

Published Fri, Apr 22 2011 1:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Hospitals, Tech, CareLogistics, Mercy St. Vincent

Facebook Misstep Costs RI Physician Fine, Job

By DAVID HARLOW In recent years many health care providers and managers have told me, time and again, that the health care world is accustomed to managing confidential patient information, and therefore doesn’t need much in the way of social media...

Published Thu, Apr 21 2011 11:19 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Physicians, David Harlow, Facebook, HIPAA, health care providers

IPAB — The New Punching Bag

By MERRILL GOOZNER Remember death panels? Politicians have found a new way to use health care reform as a punching bag. The Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB) will be a 15-member expert panel appointed by the president and approved by the Senate...

Published Thu, Apr 21 2011 10:01 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Merrill Goozner, Rationing, Death panels, IPAB

Are Decision Support Tools Turning Doctors into Idiots?

By DAVID WILLIAMS A HealthLeaders article by Gienna Shaw notes that some physicians are reluctant to use computerized decision support (CDS) tools because they fear losing the respect of patients and colleagues. There’s some evidence to support this concern...

Published Thu, Apr 21 2011 8:03 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Physicians, David Williams, CDS, Decision support

Primary Care Revolt: Replace the RUC

By RICHARD REECE, MD An under-the-radar revolution is going on out there. It is a revolt of primary care physicians against the AMA and CMS. It is a request for parity with specialists. It is a movement to replace how primary care practitioners are paid...

Published Thu, Apr 21 2011 7:56 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians, primary care, AMA, CMS, RUC, Richard Reece, specialists