April 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Could Facebook be Your Platform?

By VINCE KURAITIS My guess is you’ve probably never asked yourself this question. A quick preview: Technical barriers aren’t the limiting factors to Facebook becoming a care coordination platform. Facebook’s company DNA won’t play well in health care...

Published Mon, Apr 11 2011 8:44 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Vince Kuraitis, Facebook, Care coordination platform

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

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

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

More EMRs for all

Today’s been a big day in Health IT. First Kaiser Permanente has opened a very flashy Center for Total Health in DC. I took a tour today and lots of it is focused on the use of and extension of their Epic-based medical record (including adding lots...

Published Tue, Apr 05 2011 2:37 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: micro

Booth Tour: Philips Health Care

Matthew Holt’s tour of the Philips Health Care booth at HIMSS. Your guide is Dale Wiggins, CTO of Philips Health care. Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Wed, Apr 20 2011 1:01 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Tech, HIMSS 2011, Philips

Interview: MEDecision

Matthew Holt interviews Eric Demers, Senior Vice President of Health and Life Sciences of MEDecision, at HIMSS. Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Thu, Apr 21 2011 1:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Tech, HIMSS 2011, MEDecision

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

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

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

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

Time to End The Health Care Tax Exclusion?

By MERRILL GOOZNER President Obama on Wednesday will unveil his counter offer for bringing the nation’s budget deficit under control. Last week, the Republican plan authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., chairman of the House Budget Committee, focused public...

Published Tue, Apr 12 2011 10:37 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Merrill Goozner, Health insurance, Employer-sponsored plans, Healthcare tax exclusion

Why Medicare Isn’t the Problem, It’s the Solution

By ROBERT REICH I hope when he tells America how he aims to tame future budget deficits the President doesn’t accept conventional Wasington wisdom that the biggest problem in the federal budget is Medicare (and its poor cousin Medicaid). Medicare isn...

Published Tue, Apr 12 2011 8:24 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Medicare, Robert Reich, Medicare costs

Rest in Peace: Personal Health Records (PHRs)

By JOHN M. GROHOL While doing some research the other day on personal health records (PHRs), I came across this article, describing Revolution Health’s announcement — without much media attention — about dropping its PHR at the beginning of 2010. (Disclosure...

Published Thu, Apr 14 2011 7:43 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, PHRs, Health Vault, Google Health, John Grohol

Health Wonk Review

Health Wonk Review is up at David Williams Health Business Blog. THCB even makes a rare appearance! (Hopefully we’ll be appearing a little more frequently in the future…) Tweet this Share on Facebook Read More...

Published Thu, Apr 14 2011 9:50 PM by The Health Care Blog