November 2015 - The Health Care Blog

Crowdfunding: Careful What you Wish For

By DAVID HARLOW The SEC has finally finalized its crowdfunding rule (presser) under the JOBS Act. The health innovation crowdfunding crowd has been waiting for these rules for quite some time, as has the rest of the crowdfunding fan club. (It’s only taken...

Published Tue, Nov 03 2015 1:40 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, David Harlow

Obamacare’s Tax Credits: A Prisoner’s Dilemma for Insurers, Consumers

By J. K. WALL Donald Trump has been screaming about premiums going up this year for Obamacare health insurance policies. But he should see what happens when they go down. That’s what has happened in Indiana, where average premiums for 2016 health coverage...

Published Thu, Nov 05 2015 9:50 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, J.K. Wall

The Self-Pay Paradox

By JESSICA SWEENEY-PLATT One of the most important trends in healthcare today is the inexorable shift towards high-deductible health plans. Over the past few months, my colleagues and I have analyzed tens of millions of visits to practices using athenahealth...

Published Mon, Nov 09 2015 7:52 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized, Jessica Sweeney Platt

Interoperability: Accelerating Faster than we Think – An Interview with Ed Park

By LEONARD KISH Leonard Kish, Principal at VivaPhi, sat down with Ed Park, COO of athenaHealth, to discuss how interoperability is defined, and how it might be accelerating faster than we think. LK: Ed, how do you define interoperability? EP: Interoperability...

Published Tue, Nov 10 2015 9:36 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, athenahealth, Interoperability, Leonard Kish, HL7, Ed Park

What Doctors should Know when Joining a Startup – Five Key Books

By DAVIS LIU, MD What should doctors know before joining a startup? I don’t know if these were questions medical school graduates in the Bay Area asked themselves as they opted to join a startup rather than completing their medical training in residency...

Published Thu, Nov 12 2015 8:35 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Davis Liu

First, we Devalued Doctors; Now, Technology Struggles to Replace Them

By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD The key to driving behavior change, a seasoned marketing executive turned digital health investor told a panel on patient engagement that I moderated this week, is to get beyond the demographics of customers, and to understand the...

Published Mon, Nov 16 2015 2:43 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, David Shaywitz

Three Rules For a Healthy mHealth App

By JAAN SIDOROV, MD According to this Wall Street Journal article, the prospect that “your doctor may soon prescribe you a smartphone app” is ushering in a new era of m-healthiness. e-Researchers from marquee academic institutions are assessing...

Published Thu, Nov 19 2015 3:08 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Jumping the Wellness Shark

By AL LEWIS I know it’s not always about me (my ex-wife was quite clear on that point), but I was deeply saddened to see one of the Blues – specifically, Blue Cross of Tennessee — descending into the fabricated-wellness-outcomes abyss. By way of...

Published Sat, Nov 21 2015 10:34 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB

A Radical Policy Proposal: Go Easy On Older Docs

By DIANE EVANS, MD Through Dec. 15, federal regulators will accept public comments on the next set of rules that will shape the future of medicine in the transition to a super information highway for Electronic Health Records (EHRs). For health providers...

Published Mon, Nov 23 2015 12:43 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Diane Evans

Cost, Value & Tools

By PETER PRONOVOST, MD Like a pro golfer swears by a certain brand of clubs or a marathon runner has a chosen make of shoes, surgeons can form strong loyalties to the tools of their craft. Preferences for these items — such as artificial hips and knees...

Published Sun, Nov 29 2015 11:34 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Costs, Quality, Value, Johns Hopkins, Peter Pronovost, Tools

A Proposal to Increase the Transparency and Quality of Electronic Health Records

By HAYWARD ZWERLING, MD The electronic health record (EHR) is now used by the majority of physicians during every patient encounter. The EHR has become the most important tool in our “black bag” and precisely for that reason, the EHR must...

Published Mon, Nov 02 2015 11:44 AM by THCB

Filed under: EHR, Quality, Transparency, Bias, Uncategorized, EHR Errors

The Doctor- Patient Relationship and the Outcomes Movement

By MICHEL ACCAD, MD In a recent Harvard Business Review article, authors Erin Sullivan and Andy Sellner take a stand against the “outcomes theory of value,” advanced by such economists as Michael Porter and Robert Kaplan who believe that in order to Read...

Published Wed, Nov 04 2015 3:30 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Better Living Through Research Design

By STEPHEN SOUMERAI What if policymakers, science reporters and even scientists can’t distinguish between weak and trustworthy research studies that underlie our health care decisions? Many studies of healthcare treatments and policies do not prove cause...

Published Fri, Nov 06 2015 9:00 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Stephen Soumerai, Research Design

What Does it Mean When We Say a Treatment “Works?”

By ROBERT McNUTT, MD Making a decision requires you to compare tests/treatments that have been contrasted in researh studies to see if one over another results in improved chances of good outcomes. In a sense, medical decision making is a competition...

Published Tue, Nov 10 2015 11:26 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Robert McNutt

Middle Age Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

By STEVE FINDLAY Despite the many flaws in our healthcare system, we could always point to data showing that over the last few decades we were living longer and healthier lives—even if not quite as long and healthy as our contemporaries in many European...

Published Thu, Nov 12 2015 10:12 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Steven Findlay