The Health Care Blog

POLICY: Is Healthcare a right? By Eric Novack

Food for thought for the weekend… and beyond. Should the immoral in the rest of the business world be trumped by the needs of some people? Would it be ethical for an employer to require overtime and not pay employees...

PHARMA: Ecstasy commercial

Ecstasy commercial — great parody (at Kevin, M.D)

HEALTH PLANS: Bob Laszewski and me--right eventually?

Bob Laszewski and I have been continuing a dialog over whether Wall Street is smarter than us (obviously it's richer than us) in ignoring the risk to health plans from the potential cuts in Medicare Advantage proposed by virtually every...

PODCASTS/HEALTH PLANS/TECH: Interview with Stan Nowak, CEO of Silverlink

Here’s the transcript of my interview with Stan Nowak of Silverlink. The original audio is here. Matthew Holt: Hi, it's Mathew Holt of THCB and I'm back with another podcast. And this time I am talking with Stan Nowak, who...

INTERNATIONAL: Hospitals, clinics rake in cash with unnecessary medical tests

It says so in the paper so it must be true. Where has John Wennberg turned his attention to now? VietNam

POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: Has George changed his tune?

Found this Interview with KP CEO George Halvorson put out in January. Here he is talking about single payer PwC: Are there other practices you see overseas that you think are importable? George Halvorson: One of the nice things about...

POLICY/POLITICS: Solving The American Health Care Crisis

Umang Malhotra has been in touch with me about his new book. There’s a summary article up on the web and details about the whole book. It’s called Solving The American Health Care Crisis.

PBM/PHARMA: The Group Guy

The Group Guy: new blog from a benefits broker who is not too impressed with PBMs or the average knowledge level of his customers about generics.

BOGS: Worldhealthcareblog

The WHCC Europe edition has it's own blog at Worldhealthcareblog.org. Very detailed recounting of what’s going on at the conference. I did it for them at Washington Dc last year and will be doing so again next month. No one...

PODCASTS/HEALTH PLANS/TECH: Interview with Stan Nowak, CEO of Silverlink

Stan Nowak is President and CEO of Silverlink which does automated phone calls on behalf of health plans. It's a lot more complex and much more interesting than you might think, and it really is closing the loop for those...

HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Individual association problems

Nothing really new here, but a nice piece from Lisa Girion in the LA Times about how because of the haste of insurers to avoid association groups and insure the young healthies, said groups are going into death spirals. And...

POLICY/POLITICS: Up at The Grauniad

My father would rolling in his grave if he wasn't still alive. I, yup the guy who voted for Thatcher twice, have been given a column on the venerable web site of The Guardian--the paper of the wet liberal lefty...

TECH/QUALITY: Stents--it's even worse than we thought, WITH UPDATE from The Industry Veteran

Note: I put this up late last night--but it's such a huge story (and as one emailer says, can you think of a recent study that so blatantly points out all the flaws in the health care industry better than...

PHARMA/PYSICIANS: United is getting grumpy at the oncology-industrial complex

While I’ve been focusing on pricking egos in the HBS common room, Greg Pawelski has been keeping vigil on our friends over in the wonderful world of chemo. The main recent development is the FDA issuing a warning about overuse...

TECH: Geeks only

There’s a new blog about HL7. If you don’t know what it is, then it’s probably not for you. But if you do, then take a look.

HEALTH PLANS: KP's Halvorson talks--Merlin responds,and I comment

Things Halvorson said.... In his remarks to (video, no transcript yet) The Commonwealth Club as interviewed by Chris Rauber, who was being rather too nice—although that’s mostly the fault of the stupid written Q&A format the Commonwealth Club uses (You’d...

POLICY: Massachusetts Update By Eric Novack

I must admit when I am wrong. My repeated claims that the Massachusetts Health Plan would be on life support—with a likely ‘pulling of the plug’—by early 2008 have been proven wrong.It has happened already.

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: More boring pointless mush from the AEI

So the WSJ gives another know-nothing big oil-sponsored hack from AEI another forum to use the same tired defense of the US system in the Elizabeth Edwards case. Oh look! Cancer outcomes are worse here than in Europe therefore their...

CONSUMERS: Interested in doing a book review?

Citiria Publishing is looking for a reviewer for a patient self-help book, "Heart Bypass - The Road Map". Please contact clive 'at' citiria.com. If it’s good I’ll print the review here.

QUALITY: Plantar warts, duct tape and the real cure

David Williams at Health Business Blog pokes some fun at some investigators looking into a cure for plantar warts who used the wrong type of duct tape in trying to figure out if this cure works. (He calls it File...

HEALTH PLANS/CONSUMERS/POLICY: Administrative costs--bad and will get worse with CDHPs

PNC Bank has a new survey out saying that 30% of all health care costs are to do with administration—actually it may be more than that if you believe the study in Health Affairs that said it was 20-22% of...

POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: Clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right.....

Yet another study showing that even if you're insured, because of the structure of our insurance system even the insured have trouble paying bills. Now I know I should leave this well alone. It’s ground that I’ve trampled to death...

PHARMA: WSJ's new blog, NCAA and The Industry Veteran's handicapping

The WSJ has a new health blog. Should be good to keep tabs on—focusing mostly on the business of health care. No posts from Barbara Martinez as yet (pity!). One of their earliest posts is a comparison of March Madness...

PHYSICIANS/TECH/QUALITY: Tuesday's ACC report will hurt the stent market

The NY Times has an article about how stents are likely to be found to be less useful than would be indicated by the amount of use they get from cardiologists. More bad news for JNJ and BSX, but something...

POLICY/POLITICS: Democrats debate health care

I can’t say that I’m very interested in what they’re saying now…I’ll check in more in a year and a bit. But the Democratic candidates Saturday had a debate about health care. More here at the Campaign for America's Future.

HOSPITALS: Wow, a big new one in San Francisco

Looks like Sutter is opening its extensive coffers to create a big-ish new hospital mid-way between its flagship CPMC and their Fennian rivals at St Francis in the heart of San Francisco. Given that we’re not exactly underbedded here, I...

HOSPITALS: HIStalk charity request for destroyed hospital

Read this, purloined direct from MrHISTalk’s site. If you’re feeling generous I think chucking a few bucks to the link at the end will at the least make you feel better this weekend, and to think that…at least it’s not...

PHARMA/THE INDUSTRY: The Rx for the busy traveler

And now in the latest in niche marketing, pharmacies with NPs and pharamcists setting up shop beyond the security gates in airports.

PHARMA: Media bias against big Pharma? The Industry Veteran responds

Last week I got an email from a group I’d never heard of called The Business and Media Institute promoting their new study of how TV news media was biased against Big Pharma. Their main complaint is that while the...

POLITICS/INDUSTRY: Oooh, vicious but beautiful.

From my favorite Cal health care economist Pisano is an HBS professor, and for HBS professors books are consulting platforms. A strong consulting platform must demonstrate knowledge of the sector (check), stroke the egos of industry leaders (check), profess a...

BLOGS: Health Wonk Review--here live and in person

Welcome to Health Wonk Review. Thanks to those of you who submitted in my own desired format. My sources tell me that (at least one of) the “commercial” carnival submission operations will have the perfect system shortly. But for now...

JOB POST: Senior VP – Ix Solutions

Healthwise.org Boise, Idaho. The Senior Vice President of Ix Solutions is responsible for mission fulfillment and the bottom line financial success of the Ix Solution product suite. Overall responsibilities include the product development, market development and partner development needed to...

POLICY/POLITICS: Looks Good, Doesn't Fly

Over at Spot-on (where I’ve been remiss in keeping up my remedial education work for the non-specialists) I’m up talking about optimism over recent polling results about the nation’s appetite for universal coverage reform— Looks Good, Doesn't Fly. As ever...

POLICY/TECH: Harvard business school prof #3 doesn't understand economics

And following up on Reggie Herzlinger and Michael Porter in my continued series beating up on Harvard Business School professors who don’t understand health care, I move onto a relative newcomer. CHCF’s President Mark Smith interviews Mr Disruptive Innovator himself...

TECH: Does Asset Tracking Live Up to the Hype?

My latest piece for Digital Healthcare and Productivity is up. It's called Does Asset Tracking Live Up to the Hype? By and large I think that it will while the folks at ECRI are not so sure. Meanwhile asset trackers...

THCB JOB MARKET

The latest posts on the THCB job board: JOB POST: VP Ix Solutions at Healthwise JOB POST: Release Engineer at Sermo.com JOB POST: Head of Pharmacoeconomics and Informatics at Aetna JOB POST: Ultimate Super Hero of UI Designers at Sermo.com...

BLOGS: Health Wonk Review Submission RULES for march 22

HWR makes a stop at The Health Care Blog tomorrow Thursday March 22. Please read this if you want to submit (which I do encourage!). The submission deadline is Weds (today) at 5pm PST. Thinking back to the previous time...

HOSPITALS/POLICY/QUALITY: Harvard Business Professor #2 doesn't understand economics

Today, following yesterdays lashing out at Reggie, the next Harvard Prof who's been teeing me off is Michael Porter (and his Virginia colleague Elizabeth Teisberg). I'd been meaning to comment on Michael Porter's latest piece in JAMA (not that I...

HEALTH PLANS/QUALITY: Setting up high performance networks leads to lots of trouble

Hmm…mistakes in health care data? Who’d have imagined that. Which leads to lots of politics in the setting up and creation of these “high-performing networks” and of course the ability for the baby of improvement to be thrown out with...

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: Universal health care passed in (the) America(s)!

OK, so it's in Peru. But if they can, why can't we?

POLICY: Lord save us--Reggie is back at it again!

America’s most famous business school health care maven is back it again. Reggie has a new book coming out called Who Killed HealthCare? I for one can’t wait to see if she’s managed to sit in on Logic 101 somewhere...

POLITICS: Survey--wanna take it?

The nice people at SUNY Stony Brook want you to take a survey about political advertising on the Internet. The survey is anonymous. You will not be required to give your name. It should take 10 to 15 minutes to...

POLICY: Susan Blumenthal--wanting to change the world by studying it?

Susan Blumenthal, M.D (who I've met and like a lot) thinks that we can change the world (or at least the health care system) by studying it a little more. Then the incoming President in 2008 will have all the...

JOB BOARD UPDATE

Last week THCB launched its latest experiment -- the THCB health care job board. Many of you went over to look at our inaugural job postings, which were offered courtesy of Humana. There are more jobs up today with more...

JOB POST: Release Engineer

Sermo.com Cambridge, Ma. CNN called Sermo “A MySpace for Physicians.” The Motley Fool said “Add Sermo to the IPO watch list.” We say … Sermo aims to revolutionize health care in the US. We’ve already built the largest on-line community...

PODCAST/CONSUMERS/TECH: Interview with MaryAnn Stump CEO, Consumer Aware--HealthFacts.org

This is the transcript of my interview last month with MaryAnn Stump CEO, Consumer Aware. Consumer Aware is the BCBS Minnesota subsidiary that puts out the web site HealthCareFacts.org which ranks and rates hospitals and clinics. Unfortunately I had some...

POLITICS: Powell's speech at HIMSS

I thought Gen. Colin Powell's speech at HIMSS was fantastic, funny, moving, intelligent, wonderful and hopeful. Lots of other people were cheerleading him too. However, what else I thought you can see over at Modern Healthcare.

HEALTH PLANS: Guess who said this?

"Health insurers are committed to improving health care choices for small businesses and bringing costs under control for all Americans," A woman who’ll say anything in absolute opposition to the facts, so long as it makes her patrons look better....

PODCAST/TECH: Glen Tullman, CEO Allscripts interview--What's the future for eRx and EHR?

This is the transcript of my HIMSS interview with Glen Tullman, the CEO of Allscripts. it includes some comments from Jim Morrow, an MD from Georgia who is HIMSS doc of the year too. The original audio podcast is here....

TECH: Interesting employment agreement

There’s a certain fast growing practice management company with a very outspoken CEO, who has a very famous last name. I poked fun about their sorority-crowd employees at HIMSS. But I didn’t know the type of scrutiny that they’d have...