March 2016 - The Health Care Blog

Rethinking How U.S. Health Care Policy Approaches the Mouth

By MARCO VUCIJIC Dental care has traditionally been financed and delivered separately from medical care. This is despite the Surgeon General’s report in 2000 that emphasizes the importance of oral health to whole body health. New data show the consequences...

Published Wed, Mar 16 2016 7:49 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Getting to the Patient Cloud and Guardian Angels

By DAN HOUSMAN It’s been an exciting 2016 already in the realm of cloud computing and patient engagement. As I was preparing for the HIMSS16 conference, I was reflecting on how things are moving so quickly with the addition of new technologies and yet...

Published Tue, Mar 01 2016 7:32 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Dan Housman, Featured, Cloud, Guardian Angels

Not Quite DOA: Why Reports of the Demise of the President’s Budget May be Exaggerated

By CECI CONNOLLY Anyone who has spent a few years in Washington knows the federal budget dance: President stands behind podium with a fancy seal and flags and unveils a giant tome. The next morning newspapers declare the tome DOA, Dead on Arrival. And...

Published Wed, Mar 02 2016 3:21 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Ceci Connolly, Featured

Quality v. Quantity

By MICHEL ACCAD, MD Impactful news today: Physicians, CMS and major commercial plans, announce simplification of quality measures. "Huge step forward" #aafp — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) February 16, 2016 A few weeks ago, the medical community...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2016 10:19 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, MICHEL ACCAD

Empathy and Shame

JOHNATHON TOMLINSON, MD How we respond to patients who are feeling, or at risk of feeling shame can make or break a therapeutic relationship. This is about how I try to respond. Shame is a negative moral judgement about oneself. Unlike guilt or embarrassment...

Published Mon, Mar 07 2016 3:16 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Featured

The Trump Healthcare Interview: Part 2

By IAN MORRISON Donald Trump is leading the Republican delegate count and has the best chance of becoming the Republican nominee and, just maybe, even President. In February, we at THCB asked Scottish-Canadian-Californian healthcare futurist Ian Morrison...

Published Thu, Mar 10 2016 8:59 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Donald Trump, Ian Morrison, election 2016, 2016 Election

Troubles at Amazon?

By INDUSTRY STANDARD An internal memo at Amazon is circulating around. It is a bad news message to its part-time workers stating that their health coverage is being cancelled. Whether the note is authentic or not I do not know, so I will not reproduce...

Published Sat, Mar 12 2016 2:31 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized, Amazon, Benefits, Featured, Tom Emerick

PCMH Fails Natural Experiment

By AL LEWIS Medical Homes Fail Yet Another “Natural Experiment” Three “natural experiments,” three failures. Such is the fate of patient-centered medical homes (PCMH), a well-intentioned but unsuccessful innovation now kept afloat by the interaction of...

Published Mon, Mar 14 2016 9:15 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Featured

The 5 Stages of EMR Acceptance (With Apologies to Kubler-Ross)

By FRANK MEISSNER DENIAL I can’t believe they are making me use this system! Read More...

Published Tue, Mar 15 2016 9:10 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Uncategorized, Featured

Rethinking How U.S. Healthcare Policy Approaches the Mouth

By MARKO VUJICIC, MD Dental care has traditionally been financed and delivered separately from medical care. This is despite the Surgeon General’s report in 2000 that emphasizes the importance of oral health to whole body health. Now, new data show the...

Published Thu, Mar 17 2016 9:19 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Featured, Marko Vujicic

Omar Hussein, CEO Imprivata

By MATTHEW HOLT This is the first of a series of interviews I’m doing at the behemoth HIMSS conference. They will hopefully give you a quick overview of the companies, and give you a sense of where the system is going. First up, grabbed in the corridor...

Published Wed, Mar 02 2016 2:02 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Matthew Holt, HIMSS16, Imprivata, Omar Hussain

A Blow to Health Care Transparency

By CHARLES ORNSTEIN The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow this week to nascent efforts to track the quality and cost of health care, ruling that a 1974 law precludes states from requiring that every health care claim involving their residents be submitted...

Published Fri, Mar 04 2016 8:16 AM by THCB

Filed under: Featured, Charles Ornstein, THCBist

Homo ex machina

By ASIF DHAR, MD ‘Temet Nosce’ or know thyself. This is what The Oracle tells Neo when they first meet in The Matrix. Who we are and how we learn is a combination of our biology and our personal experiences. The plasticity of our minds and our genes make...

Published Thu, Mar 03 2016 5:07 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Featured, Asif Dhar

A New Federal Agency to Oversee Patient Safety?

By TEJAL GANDHI, MD Patient safety should be a major priority for the United States, and that requires designating a centralized entity or coordinating body to oversee efforts to ensure it. Such centralized oversight is one of the key recommendations...

Published Thu, Mar 10 2016 11:17 AM by THCB

Filed under: Patient Safety, Uncategorized, National Patient Safety Foundation

Feeling the Bern on Universal Single-Player Healthcare

By JIM PURCELL “Elephant in the living room” is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious untruth going unaddressed. In most political platforms about healthcare and its coverage, there is a most resolutely immovable elephant in our living room. It...

Published Fri, Mar 11 2016 9:00 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Featured, Jim Purcell