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

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

HIT Trends Summary for April 2011

By MICHAEL LAKE This is a summary of the HIT Trends report for April 2011. You can get the current issue or subscribe here. Europe. European progress reports on HIT show us that it’s evolving along many similar lines to current US efforts. One report...

Published Wed, May 04 2011 12:26 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: CMS, Michael Lake, Tech, Incentives, European HIT, EHR vendors

The Dual Online Identities of Physicians

By GLENN LAFFEL, MD Like everybody else, physicians are expanding their online personal identities. At the same time, they are trying to comply with codes of conduct that help consumers trust them and their profession. There’s no problem so long as the...

Published Thu, May 12 2011 8:32 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Physicians, Social Media, Facebook, Glenn Laffel, Twitter

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

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

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

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

Translation Needed

By DEREK LOWE The “Opinionator” blog at the New York Times is trying here, but there’s something not quite right. David Bornstein, in fact, gets off on the wrong foot entirely with this opening: Consider two numbers: 800,000 and 21....

Published Thu, May 05 2011 3:18 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Derek Lowe, Drug research, Drug discovery

The Quest for Price Transparency

By ERIC LESPIN A torn meniscus. It did not disable but it impaired, and unpredictably. My stomach learned quickly to tighten at the sound of A.’s peculiar whimper in response to a crippling pain that would shoot through her at seemingly innocuous movements...

Published Sat, May 07 2011 9:03 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Costs of Care, Cost transparency, Surgery

Why We Should Think Twice About Getting A CT Scan

By SHANNON BROWNLEE There’s an eerie video up on YouTube, shot by a Japanese journalist who ventured into the evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant, armed with a camera and a radiation meter. The video looks like b-roll footage...

Published Tue, May 10 2011 4:57 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Radiation exposure, Shannon Brownlee, CT scans

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Mitt

By ROBERT REICH One of my regrets in life is losing the chance to debate Mitt Romney and whip his ass. It was the fall of 2002. Mitt had thundered into Massachusetts with enough money to grab the Republican nomination for governor. Meanwhile, I was doing...

Published Tue, May 10 2011 6:50 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Robert Reich, GOP, Mitt Romney, Political candidates

The Cost Cutting EHR

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) are at the heart of health care transformation. Everything we want to change and improve upon, hinges on the availability of EHRs in every hospital and every...

Published Fri, May 27 2011 8:51 AM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Margalit Gur-Arie, EHR features

Coordinating Care: It’s A Moral Question, But Not A Hard One

By JOE FLOWER Under the headline, “Medicare Plan for Payments Irks Hospitals,” today’s New York Times details the opposition stirred up by the government’s “value-based purchasing” initiative. If you’re buying anything (and the US federal government is...

Published Tue, May 31 2011 2:04 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: THCB, Medicare, Joe Flower, Care coordination

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

May 2011 - The Health Care Blog

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives