The Health Care Blog

Health 2.0 Consciousness Dawns - Even In Jacksonville, FL!

by BRIAN KLEPPER Next Thursday, Matthew, Michael Millenson and I are converging at a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conference on public reporting of health care pricing/performance information in Amelia Island, FL, three short barrier islands north of my home in...
May 8, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Hospitals, Policy, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (1)

A Hat Tip to Pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock

By Brian Klepper Here's one of today's entries in The Writers' Almanac, the wonderful daily newsletter sent out by Garrison Keillor on NPR. Parents of boomers like me were big fans of Dr. Spock, treating him with an almost cult-like...
May 2, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physicians, Quality | Permalink | Comments (2)

The State of Employer-Sponsored Coverage - Brian Klepper

By Brian Klepper A detailed new study from the Economics Policy Institute confirms what many of us suspect but haven't had the data to easily nail down. This weightily-titled report by Jared Bernstein and Heidi Shierholz - A Decade of...
April 28, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (4)

An Open Response To HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt - Brian Klepper and Michael Millenson

By Brian Klepper and Michael Millenson A few months ago, the two of us – both long-time advocates for transparency and accountability – posted separate comments on Secretary Mike Leavitt’s blog. Brian asked Secretary Leavitt to square his support of...
April 22, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Physician Rating, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tune Into The Kroll Webcast On The Security of Patient Data - Brian Klepper

By Brian Klepper Exclusive to THCB: A couple weeks ago I pointed to a new study, commissioned by Kroll Fraud Solutions and conducted by HIMSS Analytics, that makes startlingly clear the gap between what most health systems are doing to...
April 22, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Electronic Medical Records, Privacy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Security of Patient Data

By Brian Klepper EXCLUSIVE TO THCB: HIMSS Analytics, the research arm of the powerful, thoughtful and highly regarded Health Information Management Systems Society, has published a sobering study, Security of Patient Data - see here - that highlights the gap...
April 8, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Hospitals, Privacy, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Knowledge Like Clear, Clean Water: Muir Gray on Health Care's Progress

By Brian Klepper Over the last year or so, I've written a lot about how health care information will become increasingly available to consumers and health care business, and how this access will drive new decision-support capabilities that will profoundly...
April 7, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (4)

Health Wonk Review - 4/3/08

By Brian Klepper HWR has clearly arrived, at least in the sense that all KINDS of columnists are clamoring to be read here. More than thirty submissions arrived in my inbox, a collection of the utilitarian, the thoughtful and sometimes...
April 3, 2008 in Around the Web, Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (2)

On Corporate Medicine: A Response To Brian Klepper, and His Reply - Maggie Mahar

Maggie Mahar, the former Barron's journalist, author of Money Driven Medicine, and Health Policy Fellow at The Century Foundation and frequent THCB contributor chewed on my piece about Walgreen's recent acquisition of worksite clinic firms, and wrote a strong response...
April 2, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, Maggie Mahar | Permalink | Comments (18)

Rebuilding The Medical Home: What Walgreens Surely Sees

By Brian Klepper Though it probably went mostly unnoticed in the cacophony of health care stories, last week's news that Walgreen's had bought the two largest and most well-established worksite clinic firms, iTrax and Whole Health Management, was a harbinger...
March 27, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Physicians, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (10)

Loving Our Children

By Brian Klepper Among its many less-noticed accomplishments, this Administration has strangled funding for comprehensive sex education. Instead, it has thrown the immense weight of the US government behind abstinence-based education, an impractical ideological approach rooted in religious zealotry and...
March 14, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Patient Safety, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Myth of Health Care Consumerism

By Brian Klepper Last weekend I heard several great presentations at a meeting convened by Jeff Goldsmith, but one contained a point I hadn't heard nailed down before. Kaveh Safavi MD JD, from Thomson Healthcare's Center for Healthcare Improvement, detailed...
March 13, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, Health 2.0, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (21)

Healthcare and The Gathering Storm - Brian Klepper

Here are two very interesting and frightening charts that my good friend Warren Brennan, the CEO of SMA Informatics in Richmond, passed along this AM, with this question, aimed at the CFOs of hospitals and other health care organizations: What...
February 29, 2008 in Brian Klepper, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (7)

Let's All Ask Secretary Leavitt To Explain HHS' Schizophrenia On Medicare Physician Data - Brian Klepper

Regular readers will know that, last Sunday, I posted a column that pointed to HHS' schizophrenic behavior when it comes to the release of Medicare physician data. First they fight the consumer advocacy group Checkbook.org's lawsuit demanding the release of...
February 13, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physician Rating, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sunday Morning Post, by Brian Klepper

Here's a classical example of a federal regulatory agency holding fast to two opposing ideas at the same time. I wonder what it means? Last week the Department of Health and Human Services posted an interesting notice announcing a new...
February 10, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physician Rating, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

POLICY: Plumpy'nut - Brian

The NY Times ran an important op-ed yesterday by Susan Shepherd, a pediatrician and medical advisor to Doctors Without Borders. The core of her message is that as the farm bill progresses through Congress, we should focus not only on...
January 30, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Quality | Permalink | Comments (1)

Families USA Health Action 2008: An Alternative Plan - Brian

A wonderful meeting (Full disclosure: They brought me in to blog my impressions.), The Families USA conference that ended Saturday brought together some impressive Congressional politicians - Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle, Ken Salazar, Blanche Lincoln - and true health care...
January 28, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (2)

Families USA Health Action 2008: Berwick on Everything Health Care - Brian

One of the pleasures of the Families USA Health Action conference was that the speakers represented a nice blend of top politicians and genuine health care experts. Tony Fauci MD, the wonderful head of NIH's National Institutes for Allergies and...
January 28, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

Families USA Health Action 2008: Anthony Fauci on Global Health - Brian

I first met, heard and came to admire Tony Fauci several months ago at the Aspen Health Forum. Dr. Fauci heads the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In addition to his spectacular medical contributions,...
January 26, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

Families USA: Tom Daschle on Health Care Reform - Brian Klepper

Former Senator and Majority/Minority Leader Daschle gave the opening address on the 2nd day of the Families USA Health Action conference. Mr. Daschle has a new book coming out in March on America's health system and our past efforts to...
January 26, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

Nancy Pelosi's Health Care Address - Brian Klepper

The featured highlight address at the opening session of the Families USA conference is by Nancy Pelosi, Congress' first woman Speaker. In person, Speaker Pelosi clearly comes across as a brilliant and warm woman, a friend of Families USA, and...
January 24, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Families USA Health Action 2008 Conference - Brian Klepper

Along with other familiar voices like Maggie Mahar and Ezra Klein, I'm in DC today writing from the Families USA Health Action 2008 conference. Families USA is a progessive (liberal) consumer advocacy organization dedicated to universal coverage, driven by mobilizing...
January 24, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Four Big Trends - Brian Klepper

Several events and trends emerged over the last year that will reverberate throughout the health care marketplace in 2008 and going forward. While none of these dominated the trade press like some other issues - electronic and personal health records,...
January 16, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Hospitals, Medicare Advantage, Patient Safety, Physician Rating, Physicians, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (8)

Health Wonk Review Is Up! - Brian Klepper

Our good friend Bob Laszewski is host of this edition of Health Wonk Review, which consistently displays a collection of the best, most insightful health care writing around the Web. Maggie Mahar and yours truly are represented from THCB. Drop...
January 10, 2008 in Brian Klepper, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Leveraging The Doctor As A Trusted Authority - Brian Klepper

I was on the phone with my good friend Bill Bestermann MD yesterday. Dr. B, a preventive cardiologist who is passionate about the underlying mechanics of cardiovascular disease and the horrific toll the American diet and lack of exercise is...
January 10, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Physicians | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Practical Reforms - Brian Klepper

Now that health care reform is once again an active, visible issue in state governments and the presidential campaigns, the ideas are flying fast and furious. Predictably, some ideas are better than others. Over at Health Care Policy and Marketplace...
January 9, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Health Plans, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (11)

On Medical Miracles - Brian Klepper

Now and then, amid the stories of financial conflict, medical errors and political intrigue that so often undermine health care, comes a story of the miraculous, where patients in impossible conditions not only survive, but thrive, due to the skill...
January 4, 2008 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Politics of Publicly-Funded Health Care - Brian Klepper

Over at Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, the always insightful Bob Laszewski walks us through the mechanics of the just-passed federal budget and its health care financing implications for SCHIP, physicians, hospitals, Medicare Advantage plans. This clear, common sense...
January 3, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

My Nomination For Health Care Quote of the Year - Brian Klepper

I was reading through other peoples’ blog posts yesterday when amazingly enough, I was here on THCB and came across this straightforward statement by Paul Levy, the CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Of course, many readers...
December 22, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Quality, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (6)

Business As Usual: California's Reform Proposal - Brian Klepper

In the world of health reform wonks - the writers on this blog qualify in spades - all eyes are on California at the moment. His Republicanism notwithstanding, Governor Schwartzenegger has developed a generous $14 billion bill that would extend...
December 21, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (17)

Policy- vs. Market-Based Reform: RHIOs as a Case Study - Brian Klepper

As Anonymouse insightfully commented, the Harvard team's RHIO study in Health Affairs is very telling about the barriers facing do-gooder health care projects. That said, I wanted to add two comments. First, while RHIOs are unquestionably good public policy, what...
December 18, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0, Policy/Politics, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bad Medicine: How The AMA Undermined Primary Care in America - Brian Klepper

On Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal website, Dr. Benjamin Brewer describes physicians’ reactions to the 10.1% cut in Medicare physician payments that will take effect January 1. He argues that the onus will fall, once again, disproportionately on primary care physicians,...
December 13, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (30)

If Grady Fails By Brian Klepper

In an extraordinary move earlier this week, the politically-appointed Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, the governing body over Atlanta's Grady Health System, unanimously and voluntary stepped aside, to be replaced by a new non-profit corporation. Projecting a $55 million deficit this year,...
November 29, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Hospitals, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (6)

Why Consumers’ Checkbook v CMS is a Sideshow - Brian Klepper

There are people who call for market solutions as the answer to every societal problem, but who then work to restrict the information that markets (and societies) must have to function effectively. Often, the truth is that these supposed market...
October 30, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (7)

Aspen Report 3 - Removing the Blinders: Dr. Kelman's Wonderful Contribution, Brian Klepper

One of the most fascinating and moving experiences at the Aspen Health Forum – Given the quality of the content there, this is saying something. The audience was rapt – was a talk by Neen Hunt, Executive Director of the...
October 18, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (1)

We Are What We Eat: Where Is America's Leadership? - Brian Klepper

One of the attributes of a great image is its ability to convey vast amounts of information and meaning quickly and simply. Here's a terrific example. In one of his typically astute comments, Barry Carol alerted us to a wonderfully...
October 17, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (13)

What Obesity Really Costs - Brian Klepper

Any lingering doubts that America's cavalier attitude toward lousy food and obesity is draining the nation's health and economic vitality should have been laid to rest a couple weeks ago. Two important studies were released that quantified just how much...
October 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (19)

Aspen Report 2 - Healing Unbound: The Promise of Advancing Computational Power, Brian Klepper

Laptop-attached ultrasound units that produce startlingly clear internal images for five dollars in the field. Organs that re-generate inside scaffolds. Drugs tailored to an individual’s biology. Micro-images of cancerous cells lit up by bio-chemical markers. Decision support tools that scan...
October 15, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Aspen Report 1 - A Rage To Know: A Few Days At The Aspen Health Forum, Brian Klepper

At one of the opening sessions of the Aspen Health Forum, Peter Agre and Michael Bishop, both physician researchers and Nobel laureates, recounted their childhoods, their families, their likes and dislikes, their school experiences, and the barriers, successes and lucky...
October 14, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (1)

A Broad Vision of Health 2.0: Reformulating Data for Transparency, Decision Support & Revitalized Health Care Markets - Brian Klepper and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn

Download health20_1011.ppt Before you start reading, download the document above. It's a single PowerPoint slide that's animated to build. Go into presentation mode, then read along with the narrative below. The term Health 2.0 refers to the concept, described by...
October 12, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Conferences, Health 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (8)

Bogle on the Financial Sector's Threat to Democracy - Brian Klepper

Some years back I was mortified to realize that it would be all-but-impossible to fix health care without first fixing America's patronage system, that puts virtually all policy up for sale to the highest bidder. In 2006, American corporations spent...
October 3, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (9)

Goldsmith's Wisdom By Brian Klepper

Last week, Jeff Goldsmith, who enjoys a reputation as one of health care's more thoughtful commentators and advisors, wrote a curious post on this site. He puzzled over Kaiser Family Foundation Chairman Drew Altman's failure to gush that the 2007...
October 1, 2007 in Brian Klepper | Permalink | Comments (14)

What Are They Thinking: ONCHIT and RTI - Brian Klepper

I'm sure I don't really get the deeper issues involved here, but sometimes its hard to not have your breath taken away by some people's notion of a good idea. Maybe its because I'm not a true geek, but what...
August 24, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Policy/Politics, Technology | Permalink | Comments (15)

Evaluating the Quality of Quality Improvement Claims: The Population Health Impact Institute - Brian Klepper

Thomas Wilson PhD is on a mission that's important to health care. Tom, a respected epidemiologist particularly well-known in disease management circles, founded the Population Health Impact Institute (PHII), a not-for-profit devoted to establishing clear, objective rules to evaluate claims...
August 24, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Quality, THCB, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (2)

Benign Neglect and the Nursing Shortage - Brian Klepper

I sit on the Dean's Advisory Councils of the Colleges of Health at two public universities in Florida. Both Colleges are led by extremely capable PhD nurses, and have a variety of programs that train students to be health professionals,...
August 21, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Policy, Quality | Permalink | Comments (31)

OMNI: The Oncology Metrics National Index - Brian Klepper

An innovative Ft. Worth consulting firm comprised of experienced oncology professionals, Oncology Metrics, has linked private oncology practices throughout the country in a collaborative, knowledge-sharing enterprise, called the Oncology Circle. The first round of information brought together 22 practices containing...
August 20, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Pharma, Physicians, Quality, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (5)

Can We Talk, Frankly? - Brian Klepper

Over at The Doctor Weighs In, Bill Bestermann literally grabs our attention and forces feeds us a highly informative, and, dare I say, USEFUL physiology lesson in If You Want To Get It Up - You've Got To Get It...
August 17, 2007 in Blogs, Brian Klepper, Physicians, Quality, THCB | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Broker Afterthought: An Acknowledgment, An Apology and A Criticism - Brian Klepper

In the comment section of my post on broker compensation, KWeller properly points out that 1) some states regulate broker commissions more stringently than Florida does and 2) I do a disservice to brokers who practice without financial conflict. He...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics, THCB, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Consultants to Hospitals: Prepare for Transparency - Brian Klepper

We must view and treat the community as the "owner" to whom we are fully accountable. Aggregate financial performance data, aggregate productivity performance and aggregate quality and patient satisfaction data belong in the public realm. How else can consumers make...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (4)

Podcast: Mello on Health Courts

Professor Michele Mello, an expert on the health care justice system at the Harvard School of Public Health, has an interesting 9.5 minute audio podcast on why health courts would be an improvement over the current medical liability system. The...
August 16, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Hospitals, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Presidential Candidates On Health Care

Over at the Huffington Post, Dr. Susan Blumenthal and her team at the DC-based Center for the Study of the Presidency, have released their third in a series of articles comparing the Presidential candidates positions on various aspects of health...
August 15, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Managed Care Redux - by Brian Klepper

Like democracy, managed care is a great idea. It's just that its rarely been tried. Even so, my guess is that its about to re-emerge in a new, improved form, and possibly with some other name. If the signs around...
August 15, 2007 in Brian Klepper, Health Plans, Hospitals, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, THCB, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (7)