The Health Care Blog

The Low Hanging Fruit is Lying on the Ground

By J.K. Wall With hospitals and doctors under tremendous pressure to improve costs and quality fast, clichéd calls to “aim for the low-hanging fruit” are ringing in every boardroom and bedpan from Sarasota to Seattle. But medical providers should set...

Published Wed, Jul 29 2015 8:18 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, J.K. Wall

Rise of the Machines

By SHIRIE LENG, MD “We are convinced the machine can do better than human anesthesiologists.” This statement was made by a doctor. Not only a doctor but an anesthesiologist. Not just an anesthesiologist but a pediatric anesthesiologist. Not just...

Published Fri, Jul 31 2015 7:03 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Shirie Leng

ACA Database: The High Price of Specialty Drugs Is (Literally) Killing Me

By THCBist Joyce J wrote in with this to say after reading Steve Findlay’s post on Medicare’s 50th Anniversary last week. “Just yesterday, I was on my last and final rant relative to the price of not only specialty drugs, but also Tier...

Published Sat, Aug 01 2015 5:57 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, ACA Database

Are You Going to Have to Outsource to Get It Done?

By MICHELLE CAVANAUGH, RN, CPC It’s mid-July, just two and half months out from the ICD-10 transition deadline. It’s clear now that there will not be another delay. It had also appeared that there wouldn’t be any concessions on the part of the Centers...

Published Tue, Aug 04 2015 6:00 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Kareo, Michelle Cavanaugh, Outsourcing

Blood Clots Show Limits of Quality Care Penalties

By ELLIOT R. HAUT, MD In the world of medicine, blood clots during hospitalization have become synonymous with imperfect care. As many as 600,000 patients per year experience a blood clot, and more than 100,000 die as a result, accounting for between...

Published Thu, Aug 06 2015 5:28 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Quality, Op-Ed, Johns Hopkins, Blood Clots, Elliot R. Haut

A (Lower Cost) Healthcare Industry to Deal With a (Higher Cost) Healthcare Industry

By MARC-DAVID MUNK, MD I was recently on the phone with a medical device company executive who was describing his company’s efforts to develop a non-invasive diagnostic device that could quantify the degree of cirrhosis in a patient with liver illness...

Published Tue, Aug 11 2015 9:45 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Marc-David Munk

Employee Health Codes Of Conduct: What Would They Look Like and Who Would Accept Them?

By REBECCA S. ROBBINS, PhD You start a new job, you sign a contract, and then the division hands you the employee code of conduct. Now, in addition to the “no wearing a speedo” to the office, dress code clause, there is a section on health. Imagine...

Published Thu, Aug 13 2015 10:49 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Rebecca Robbins Ph.D

Antitrust Warfare

By Daniel Palestrant, MD Not since the days of monopoly busting and Standard Oil has anti-trust been such a contentious topic in American politics. Today, Teddy Roosevelt has been replaced by Nancy Pelosi and the oil barons have been replaced... Read...

Published Tue, Mar 02 2010 1:44 PM by The Health Care Blog

Filed under: Physicians

Finding Common Ground in the Search for Better Patient Care and Outcomes

By JOE V. SELBY, MD A basic rule of scientific discovery is that the answers you get are only as good as the questions you ask. That is certainly the case in health care. Traditionally, it has been the sole responsibility of health researchers to develop...

Published Wed, Oct 07 2015 2:36 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB

Shared Baselines As a Guide to Protocols

By PAUL LEVY There have been some interesting and important discussions flying across the web in recent days on the issue of protocols in helping to reduce variation and reduce the incidence of harm to patients. My mistake in the debate was assuming that...

Published Sat, Oct 10 2015 7:29 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Paul Levy

An October Surprise For Co-Ops

By LEONARD KISH Leonard Kish sits down with Julia Hutchins, CEO of the Colorado HealthOP, to talk about the recent surprise when Co-ops were informed the federal government would pay just 12.6 percent of the money they’d requested … LK: Julia...

Published Mon, Oct 12 2015 9:36 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Leonard Kish

Wellness 2.0: Better Health, Better Coverage

By JIM PURCELL Just what on earth are businesses thinking? Companies pay too much for poor quality health care coverage. If this were any other business expense, this wouldn’t be tolerated. Yet, expensive, sub-standard healthcare is something U.S. companies...

Published Tue, Oct 13 2015 7:29 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB

Measuring ROI: Quantifying the Benefits of an HIE

By INTERSYSTEMS SPONSORED CONTENT How do you measure the ROI of a health information exchange? For Missouri Health Connection (MHC), the HIE serving Missouri and neighboring states, quantifying that elusive ROI for its participants is now a priority....

Published Mon, Oct 12 2015 3:26 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB

An Interview with InterSystems Clinical Advisor Nelson Le

By MICHELLE RONAN NOTEBOOM An interview with Nelson Le, clinical advisor and senior product advisor for InterSystems Michelle Noteboom: Give me an overview of InterSystems and clarify your role in the company. Nelson Le: InterSystems is a global healthcare...

Published Wed, Oct 14 2015 6:19 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, MICHELLE R. NOTEBOOM

The High Cost of High Cost

By ROB LAMBERTS “You don’t charge enough.” I’ve heard this from a lot of folks. I’ve heard it from my accountant (of course), other doctors, consultants, and even some of my patients. I’ve had some patients who are...

Published Fri, Oct 16 2015 12:00 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Rob Lamberts

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The Low Hanging Fruit is Lying on the Ground

Rise of the Machines

ACA Database: The High Price of Specialty Drugs Is (Literally) Killing Me

Are You Going to Have to Outsource to Get It Done?

Blood Clots Show Limits of Quality Care Penalties

A (Lower Cost) Healthcare Industry to Deal With a (Higher Cost) Healthcare Industry

Employee Health Codes Of Conduct: What Would They Look Like and Who Would Accept Them?

Antitrust Warfare

Finding Common Ground in the Search for Better Patient Care and Outcomes

Shared Baselines As a Guide to Protocols

An October Surprise For Co-Ops

Wellness 2.0: Better Health, Better Coverage

Measuring ROI: Quantifying the Benefits of an HIE

An Interview with InterSystems Clinical Advisor Nelson Le

The High Cost of High Cost