May 2011 - The Health Care Blog - The Network of Care

Ten Rules for Health Care Organizations Interested in Using Social Media

By JAAN SIDOROV, MD Include social media like ”Facebook” or “Twitter” in health care business plan, and you’ll probably prompt glazed looks from the average health care administrator. Those who recognize the terms will want...

Published Thu, May 05 2011 5:01 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Social Media, Facebook, Jaan Sidorov, Healthcare organizations, Twitter

How Many Diseases Does It Take?

By MARYA ZILBERBERG, MD It is not a secret that I dislike tobacco companies. Intensely. I do not see the point of allowing them to sell a product whose value is all in the negative. I am appalled that we are looking for expensive ways to diminish lung...

Published Fri, May 06 2011 8:54 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Marya Zilberberg, Free will, Lung cancer, Personal responsibility, Societal responsibility

What If You Give a Party and No One Comes?

By PAUL LEVY Here is a short update on a post I put up about a month ago about CMS’ proposed regulations for setting up Accountable Care Organizations. The ACO proposal calls for shared savings and other incentives for providers, with a transition...

Published Mon, May 09 2011 8:35 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Paul Levy, ACOs, CMS regulations

Outrage is Easy. Solutions are Hard.

By MERRILL GOOZNER The inspector general of HHS reported this week that nearly half of the anti-psychotic drugs fed to the demented elderly in nursing homes are inappropriately prescribed. That’s about one in fourteen nursing home residents. Forget about...

Published Tue, May 10 2011 4:42 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, HHS, Nursing Homes

Microsoft HSG Bets Future on Amalga

By JOHN MOORE Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group (HSG), which has straddled the fence with consumer-facing (HealthVault) and corporate-facing (Amalga), is increasingly moving to the corporate side of the fence. Not that surprising considering that the...

Published Tue, May 03 2011 11:30 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Microsoft, John Moore, Health Vault, Amalga, Microsoft HSG

Single Payer Health: It’s Only Fair

By SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as a right to its people. Meanwhile, we spend about twice as much per capita on health care and, in a wide number of instances...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, health care reform, Single payer, American Health Security Act, Bernie Sanders

High costs cut drug use…and not in a good way

This pretty interesting study from Avalere Health confirms what several others have shown. If you add a user fee to any medical procedure people use less of it. And of course their decision to use it less is not based on whether it’s medically necessary...

Published Fri, May 20 2011 12:48 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt, pharmaceuticals, micro

The Fall and Rise of Asynchronicity

By PAUL LEVY The daughter of a friend was bemoaning poor connectivity of the internet at a university in Europe. She said, “It’s vital since I don’t have any other method of communication.”My friend noted, “I was telling...

Published Sat, May 21 2011 5:20 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Paul Levy, Email, BlackBerry

NPfIT Blazing the Trail

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE The National Audit Office (NAO) in the UK has recently published a report evaluating the status of “The National Programme for IT in the NHS” (NPfIT). The program is a very ambitious top down initiative to deploy Health Information...

Published Tue, May 24 2011 5:34 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Uncategorized

Stifling Primary Care: Why Does CMS Continue To Support The RUC?

By BRIAN KLEPPER, PAUL FISCHER, MD, & KATHLEEN ANNE BEHAN Last October, the Wall Street Journal ran a damning expose about the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), a secretive, specialist-dominated panel within the American Medical Association...

Published Wed, May 25 2011 6:22 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Brian Klepper, THCB, primary care, RUC, Paul Fischer, Kathleen Anne Behan, RUC reform

Medicare Announces Rules For Quality Bonuses To Hospitals

By JORDAN RAU Medicare took its broadest step yet in moving away from its traditional hospital payment method, finalizing a plan to alter reimbursements based on the quality of care hospitals provide and patients’ satisfaction during their stays. The...

Published Sun, May 01 2011 8:29 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Medicare, Hospitals, CMS, Jordan Rau, Quality bonuses

(Over)Simplifying EHR Usability

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE Dr. P patted the middle aged patient on the back, helped him off the elevated exam table and guided him to the chair by the sink. He picked up the chart and using the exam table as his desk he flipped through the chart, pulling out...

Published Mon, May 02 2011 5:13 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, THCB, Margalit Gur-Arie, VistA, Usability

A Mother’s Day Manifesto: Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat

By AMY BERMAN I’ve been writing about safe and effective maternity care for years and direct a coordinated national effort to transform maternity care, but this is a post where the political gets personal. Last weekend, I attended the birthday party for...

Published Tue, May 03 2011 1:06 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Uncategorized

Sorry, been busy!

You may have noticed that I haven’t been hanging around THCB much this week so far. Well I have a great excuse. This is my wife Amanda and our new daughter Colette. She was born on Sunday at 6 am and mom and baby are doing very well! Tweet this...

Published Thu, May 12 2011 5:24 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Matthew Holt, micro

Wellpoint gets aggressive on inpatient payment changes

We’ve heard a lot of whining over the years from private insurers about how the have to pay more because Medicare pays less. But now Wellpoint is going to essentially use the ACA as cover to put all of its hospitals on a pay for performance plan–obviously...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 1:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: micro

May 2011 - The Health Care Blog

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