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

It’s All Going According to Plan

By JONATHAN HALVORSON Most people regard health care reform in America as thoroughly bungled. The proverbial train left the station weak and wheezing, was pushed off the rails by hooligans and is about to crumple in an inglorious heap in the ditch. Only...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:24 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, PPACA, Universal coverage, Healthcare spending, Jonathan Halvorson

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

Is the ACO DOA? Reasonable Minds Can Improve the Draft Regulations

By DAVID HARLOW In the current all-ACO, all the time, health care policy news cycle, we’ve been inundated with declarations that the ACO is dead, because a handful of big boys say they don’t want to play. Today, CMS announced that it is tinkering...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:14 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, CMS, David Harlow, ACOs

Using Laws to Help Solve the Public Health Crisis of Mental Illness

By JEFFREY SWANSON & JOHN PETRILA May is Mental Health Month, a good time to remember the ten million adult Americans who suffer from a serious mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Without proper treatment, psychiatric...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:10 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Jeffrey Swanson, Mental Health, John Petrila, Mental Illness

Single Payer in Vermont? Well, Not Exactly

By ROGER COLLIER In just a few days, Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin will sign into law what the media is calling “single payer health care reform.” But is it? Vermont has certainly demonstrated more enthusiasm for a single payer approach than any other...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:04 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Roger Collier, Affordable Care Act, Vermont, Single payer

A New Norm for Hospital Operations

By CHARLIE EVANS Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), I have had the opportunity to engage a wide variety of colleagues, policymakers, and noted health care thinkers about the effects of health care reform on hospitals...

Published Tue, May 17 2011 8:00 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Uncategorized

Newt And The Health Wonks: A Tale of Lust And Power

By MICHAEL MILLENSON When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, I found myself singing a few bars from Night Moves, Bob Seger’s hard-driving tribute to teenage hormones: “I used her, she...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 10:29 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Michael Millenson, Newt Gingrich, health care policy

Musings on PHRs & Consumer Engagement

By JOHN MOORE The recent post on Google Health going into the deep freeze has solicited a number of emails, including some from the press. In one of those emails a reporter had spoken to several industry thought leaders to garner their opinions which...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 10:20 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Consumers, PHRs, John Moore

The Last Best Hope

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE According to the recently published CMS Accountable Care Organization (ACO) rules, an ACO needs to care for at least 5000 Medicare beneficiaries. Theoretically, two primary care physicians and a nurse, practicing in a garage, or cottage...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 10:12 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: EHR, THCB, Margalit Gur-Arie, Private practice, ACOs

The Hospitalist Field Turns 15: What The Past Says About The Future

By BOB WACHTER, MD I just returned from the Society of Hospital Medicine’s annual meeting in Dallas. Seeing more than 2,000 hospitalists in one place is remarkable, since I remember the days when we all fit into a mid-sized conference room at a Holiday...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 7:56 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Quality, Bob Wachter, Patient Safety, Hospitalists

Does Mitt Romney Deserve the Abuse He’s Getting on Health Care? Yes, He Does.

By DAVID E. WILLIAMS Mitt Romney took a big beating on the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page last week, the same day he laid out his health care plan in the USA Today and defended his position on the topic in a speech in Michigan. I’m not a big Romney...

Published Mon, May 16 2011 7:44 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, David Williams, Romney health plan, GOP candidates

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

How Should Medicare Pay for Medical Care?

By JOHN GOODMAN There are basically five possibilities. To compare them, let: S = each unit of service, or a package of services P = the price of each unit of service, or the price of a package of services Then the government can: 1. Dictate every service...

Published Sun, May 15 2011 4:08 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, John Goodman, Medicare payment options

Cloud Only is Dead for Health

By DAVE deBRONKART, MD A lot of people are intrigued with using “cloud” applications and storage for personal health data. This week we’re seeing what I think is the final nail in the coffin of “cloud only” for anything important. You gotta have offline...

Published Sat, May 14 2011 9:51 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Cloud-based EHR, Amazon, Cloud Computing, Dave deBronkart, Backups

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

May 2011 - The Health Care Blog

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