The Health Care Blog

PODCAST/TECH: Medecision interview, "making the unknown known"

Next I talked with John Copabianco, President of Medecision. They've been helping some big payers roll out payer-based health records, building on their core utilization and care management business. Here's his take. I'll be doing a little more later today...

PODCAST/TECH: Interview with the Cisco health care brains trust

Then I got the Cisco health care brain trust together (Jeff Rideout and Frank Grant) who told me why Cisco really cares about health care. I wasn't too contentious with them, but then again they are an occasional client--and anyway...

PODCAST/TECH/CONSUMERS: Bob Lorsch from My MedicalRecords.com

Next I had a good combative chat with Bob Lorsch who's sunk a lot of money into MyMedicalRecords.com and believes that a standalone personal medical record company can survive and prosper. I'm somewhat skeptical, so it was fun to get...

PODCAST/TECH: Purkinjie--EMR for the masses?

My next interview is with Bryan Dieter, CEO of Purkinjie. Not as well known as Allscripts but with a new product to market aimed at the problem area of the small physician practice, and a new round of $10m in...

PODCAST/TECH: Allscripts CEO Interview--What's the future for eRx and EHR?

Two really interesting conversations today. First a chat with Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman. Find out what he thinks about Barack Obama, the dot-com boom and the bust, and ePrescribing. Not necessarily in that order. He also brought HIMSS doc of...

POLICY/POLITICS: Will Medicare Advantage get slashed? with UPDATE

Bob Laszewski has been, correctly, all over the issue of Medicare Advantage payments and what the Dems will do to them. And he’s at it again CBO Pours Gasoline on the Democratic Plans to Cut Medicare Advantage Payments to HMOs....

TECH: Quick KP HealthConnect update

Of course the other big non-HIMSS tech news is that KP dumped interim CIO Phil Bruce Tukstra and brought in another outsider. While the LA Times says that Tukstra ran Health Connect, I’m not so sure. Andy Weisenthal told me...

LAT: Kaiser doc ordered fatal dose By John Irvine

The Los Angeles Times reports that police in Orange County and the Medical Board of California are investigating a Kaiser surgeon involved in the death of a patient under suspicious circumstances at Sierra Medical Center in San Louis Obisbo. Dr....

THCB: Sponsorships

THCB's live blogging coverage of HIMSS 2007 New Orleans would not be possible without the generous assistance of the kind souls at CDW Healthcare. Take a moment to go check out their specials for physicians and other health care providers...

TECH: Self-serving press release of the day

Stark Study by GE Healthcare Predicts Accelerated Electronic Medical Record Adoption within the Next Year "Stark Relaxation has created a tremendous opportunity for physicians to overcome the many barriers that prevent them from adopting EMR systems, most notably cost," said...

PBMs: Bob Garris on their trail again?

In Brief non HIMSS news (as I’m still having a little insomnia from jet-lag, and I took it much easier last night on Bourbon street)…. Most THCB readers know that I’m just a wee bit cynical about the “value” provided...

BLOGS/TECH: and don't forget who the real star of Health care IT Blogging is...

MrHISTalk is up discussing HIMSS, with particular focus on a certain EMR vendor's booth assets!

TECH: Michael Millenson....taking the piss

Michael Millenson is exctracting the Michael (google your english slang) out of the future of health IT. It's a appropriate end to HIMMS for me, and he's not even here!

PODCAST/TECH: Flo and the WOW factor

Do you know about WOWs…they’re COWs but better! That’s workstations on wheels and computers on wheels. The way to get computers mobile by the bed side. Here is Keith Washington, the General Manager of Flo standing by his new model...

PODCAST/TECH: Understanding RFID tracking

I've been saying for a year or two that location tracking for assets and people is the next big thing in hospitals. But do you understand the complexity behind location tracking technologies? Me neither, but product marketing director Ken Lynch...

PODCAST/TECH: A bunch more interviews from HIMSS

First interview is Peter Seiff from Aethon who make the tug robot which potentially could change how hospitals move stuff around, and very nifty it is too. Here's the interview.

PODCAT/TECH: Vocera--Brent Lang interview

Want to know more about Vocera, the cool lapel-based VOIP company that’s grown fast in health care since it was founded at the height of the boom in 2000? Then listen to my interview with President & CEO Brent Lang.

POLICY: Underfunded? By Eric Novack

Governors from around the country are in Washington D.C.this week for the annual meeting of the National Governors Association. One of the main bones of contention at this years' meetings has been the expansion of federal funding for state SCHIP...

TECH: HIMSS--Balmer, MSFT and some early thoughts

So I caught the bus outside the Ritz-Carlton (no I wasn’t staying there but a few government employees were!) which took a long roundabout route to the convention center. After the nice people in the press room gave me a...

HEALTH PLANS: Glasscock names female successor at Wellpoint

Larry Glasscock at Wellpoint is stepping down this summer and has named a woman, Angela Braly, as his successor. Braly, 45, is an executive vice president, with responsibility for WellPoint's Medicare claims processing business, federal employees' health benefits business, and...

BLOGS: What's a Blog?

The Boston Globe reports that other executives in town are less than thrilled with Beth Israel Deconess CEO Paul Levy’s new blog, Running a Hospital. Levy has been blogging on industry issues for the past few months, offering a rare...

TECH: It's HIMMS and even USATODAY has noticed

Don't believe me? Go read their article about how Microsoft and IBM now care about health care: Tech firms in a fever about health - USATODAY.com. I'll be blogging and podcasting from HIMSS for the next three days. I first...

BLOGS: HWR one year old

Health Wonk Review—one year old and up at Workers Comp Insider

TECH: Trotter wins beer with Bush

Fred Trotter says that he won the beers with Bush (Jonathan Bush of AthenaHealth, that is) on HISTalk. I suppose he’s going to use his time to persuade Johnathan to put his source code on the Web!

BLOGS: A very big thank you

Finally before I go off to get bathed in the glow/spittle of Steve Balmer this a.m, a huge thanks to Eric Novack, Michael Millenson and Maggie Mahar for their just excellent guest posting while I was away. And also thanks...

POLICY: Perry Unhappy

When a company comes to me and says we have a cure for cancer, for me not to say, 'Please come into my office and let's hear your story for the people of the state of Texas, for young ladies...

POLICY: Free Market Healthcare - Fact or Fiction?By Eric Novack

THCB thanks guest poster Dr. Eric Novack for a great series of posts this week on the big issues facing the health care system. Together with Mike Millenson and Maggie Mahar, Eric did a fantastic job of filling in for...

TECH: Googling the wrong location By John Irvine

There's been a lot of debate recently about Google's effectiveness as a tool for people looking for accurate health care information. But what about people who use the search engine in emergencies? Recently, an employee at Duke Medical Center discovered...

PHARMA: Merck’s Miracle Vaccine –What Is This Story Really About? By Maggie Mahar

Yesterday, Merck announced that it is no longer going to try to persuade states to make its new $360 cervical cancer vaccine mandatory for all pre-teens. (At least, not publicly). The company wouldn’t divulge how much it has spent, to...

POLICY: Stopping Health Care "Reform" By Eric Novack

In response to the wave of misguided proposals across the country calling for "health care reform" , discussions are beginning for an initiative to amend at least one state constitution with the following: The right of citizens to enter into...

THCB: Show your support etc.

THCB's live blogging coverage of HIMSS 2007 New Orleans would not be possible without the generous assistance of the kind souls at CDW Healthcare. Take a moment to go check out their specials for physicians and other health care providers...

Hospitals: Army pledges fixes at Walter Reed By John Irvine

Less than 24 hours after this weekend’s two part series in the Washington Post on substandard conditions at an outpatient facility at Walter Reed Medical Center, Army officials and VA spokespeople were at the facility apologizing and pledging repairs. An...

Health Policy - A laughing matter By Michael Millenson

Michael L. Millenson, president of Health Quality Advisors in Highland Park, IL and author of the book Demanding Medical Excellence, has previously contributed to The Health Care Blog and been featured in a THCB podcast Those who pore over The...

HEALTH PLANS: Shernoff files suit against Blue Shield

Los Angeles health care attorney William Shernoff filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to block Blue Shield of California from retroactively canceling member policies after claims have been approved, a practice that critics allege is far more common in the...

PHYSICIANS: CYA Healthcare By Eric Novack

Dr. Eric Novack, THCB's resident orthopedic surgeon and spokesphysician is an angry man today. He is angry about people who go around blaming physicians for high healthcare costs. And he's got something to say about it. What's the real problem?...

HEALTH PLANS: Kaiser transplantation scandal-Will we ever know the truth?

Meanwhile, despite the fuss about the HealthConnect project--elsewhere the real Kaiser scandal may be whimpering out as the man behind it, Kaiser whistleblower David Merlin settled his lawsuit for unfair dismissal . I had a very frank conversation about the...

TECH/INTERNATIONAL: Health 2.0 but Patients in charge

We talk alot about consumer driven health care, and Health2.0 companies allowing patients to rate doctors. Something not dissimilar is starting to happen in China, but with no technology involved. Fascinating stuff.

CONSUMERS/QUALITY: LASIK--not as user friendly as it's supposed to be

There's been lots of BS about how the price reductions in those ads for LASIK "prove" that cash based consumer payment works in health care. I always thought they were like the teaser prices in travel adverts in the Sunday...

OFF-TOPIC: Your Friday warm fuzzies story

As a paraglider myself, I hope for luck this good for all paragliders. German paraglider survives being sucked into killer storm

TECH/HEALTH PLANS: LA Times, day late and dollar short on Health Connect

Today's LA Times has a long story about Kaiser's Health Connect project. As far as I can tell it has no new information at all other than a quote from one pissed off employee who quit last week right at...

POLICY: Centrist democratic policy wonks talk shop

The Century Foundation has a discussion from a bunch of health care policy experts/pundits about the latest developments in the health reform “debate”. Given the large cast of characters (inc Aaron, Hacker, Relman and younger punks Cohn, Klein et al),...

PHARMA: The Future of Non-Profit Drug Development By Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner has been writing about economics and health care for many years. The former chief economics correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Merrill has written for a long list of publications including the New York Times, The American Prospect and...

PODCAST/TECH/QUALITY: MedEncentive--can a simply "elegant" solution really change health care delivery?

Jeff Greene believes that his "elegant" solution can change health care delivery in one of the toughest places in America to do it--the wild medical mid-west. Jeff claims that the only two places on earth where life expectancy is falling...

INTERNATIONAL: Gaming Choose & Book?

The Daily Mail, a British tabloid that is not exactly known for its rational, pro-Blairite analysis says that UK Hospitals are cheating over patient choice and gaming the Choose and Book system.

POLICY: Vic Fuchs still bringing it!

Vic Fuchs and Zeke Emmanuel body slam reform efforts that leave employment-based health care in the system.

TECH: HIMSS blogger meet-up

HIMSS blogger meet-up is on. Sunday, February 25, 2007 Time: 08:00 PM (right after the HIMSS Reception) Location: Mulate’s (Cajun restaurant and bar located right across from the convention center) — thanks to Tim Gee for this arrangement Come meet...

INTERNATIONAL: Having run ahead on primary care PCP, Brits copying Medicare on hospital P4P

The Brits have decided that in at least some regions their hospitals are going to try American style P4P Health bosses have announced a plan to reward hospitals for low death and infection rates and few readmissions. NHS North West...

TECH: WorldDoc CEO Rahul Singal transcript

This is the transcript from my recent podcast with WorldDoc CEO Rahul Singal transcript. Matthew Holt: Hi. It's Matthew Holt, at The Health Care Blog, and we're back with another podcast. This time, I'm talking with the C.E.O. of a...

HOSPITALS: More patient dumping in Los Angeles?

This time apparently Hollywood Presbyterian is at it.

BLOGS/OFF-TOPIC: A Brief History Of Football Violence

Over at Spot-on I'm writing about a not very health care topic A brief history of football violence. Only a few months after winning the World Cup, Italian football is in crisis - again. Last year a referee-tampering scandal sent...