The Health Care Blog

Millenson on doc rating

By THCB Staff And in our continuing efforts to send you everywhere else on the web but here (but still seeing the same authors), up at H&HN's Most Wired Magazine, Michael Millenson is writing about the still emerging and not-there-yet...
May 15, 2008 in Consumers, Health 2.0, Quality | Permalink | Comments (1)

Interview with CEO of Limeade, Henry Albrecht

By Jen McCabe Gorman Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade online employee wellness firm, was nice enough to talk with me on his cell phone in the evening (after 5 p.m. West Coast, 2 a.m. Amsterdam time). Both of us were...
May 8, 2008 in Consumers, Health 2.0, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

Searching for the price of one appendectomy

By Sarah Arnquist This month's Philadelphia Magazine ranks the city's top physicians -- a fad nearly all major city magazines have adopted because it attracts great advertising dollars. But tucked amid the pages of smiling surgeons and OB-GYNs is a...
May 6, 2008 in Consumers, Hospitals | Permalink | Comments (14)

Can “consumerism” work in health care?

By Brian Baum “Consumerism,” -- free market, open competition - regardless of the term used to describe this market behavior, can the concept of “natural market forces” exist in health care? It seems as though observers of the health care...
May 6, 2008 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (14)

Ratings games

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Most Americans believe there are fair and reliable ways to gauge the quality of health care. 9 in 10 Americans are interested in their health plans having a website where you could rate doctors on issues like...
March 31, 2008 in Consumers, Physician Rating | Permalink | Comments (7)

Medicare releases hospital patient satisfaction data

By Sarah Arnquist Before choosing a hospital for an elective procedure, patients can now use the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital Compare Web Site to see how former patients rated their experiences at various hospitals. Patients can compare...
March 29, 2008 in Consumers, Hospitals | Permalink | Comments (5)

Average Time of Discharge: Why a Hospital is Not a Hilton

By Robert Wachter Do you get as annoyed as I do about being pressured on your “Time of Discharge?” I just received my monthly report, and we’re in The Doghouse again: our average TOD – 3:28 pm – is hours...
March 26, 2008 in Bob Wachter, Consumers, Hospitals | Permalink | Comments (5)

Mother-Power Online

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn 4 in 5 moms go online at least once a month, according to My Mommy's Online. The report is based on 2007 data from Simmons Consumer Research Survey published by eMarketer. "Being a parent makes going online...
March 21, 2008 in Consumers, Health 2.0, Online Communities | Permalink | Comments (1)

HEALTH 2.0/CONSUMERS: Susannah Fox on e-Patients and Health 2.0

Two fantastic video clips from a fantastic researcher. (Susannah runs the health research program at the Pew Internet and American Life program. Susannah's (brief) keynote including the seven word meme that dominated the day! Her interview afterwards:
March 6, 2008 in Consumers, Health 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (1)

BLOGS: Diabetes Year in Review

Our friend and colleague Amy Tenderich has a just excellent Diabetes Year in Review up at DiabetesMine. It covers Health 2.0 (of course) but also drugs devices, design, and the growth of people with diabetes as a social force. Amy...
December 18, 2007 in Blogs, Consumers, Health 2.0, Pharma | Permalink | Comments (0)

CONSUMERS: icyou goes to the Consumer Congress

Our friends at icyou (who by the way are doing a fabulous job with the forthcoming Health 2.0 DVD) are at the 3rd Annual Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress this week. They have a raft of interviews with some of the smartest...
November 13, 2007 in Consumers, Policy | Permalink

CONSUMERS/TECH: Molly and Don write a Gray Paper

So this morning and yesterday afternoon at the Ix Conference I've heard some really interesting technology presentations from Silverlink (disclosure Ix and THCB sponsors!) & Eliza, who are both in the voice automated outbound call space. Popped in on Resolution...
October 10, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

CONSUMERS/TECH: David Sobel stars on Tuesday morning at the Ix Conference

Yesterday (Monday) there was a great session about advertising in health care—but actually impossible to blog about as it was mostly funny videos! Great stuff from Hollywood writer Marty Montgomery who works with Vic Stretcher, HealthMedia Inc, & also from...
October 9, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Ix Therapy time again!!

Today Indu and I are at the Ix Therapy Conference in Park City, UT. I'm here as a guest of Josh Seidman, Dorothy Jeffress and the crew at the Center for Information Therapy David Kibbe is up first. His talk...
October 8, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

CONSUMERS/POLICY: This will be a red rag to a bull

Consumerism And Controversy: A Conversation With Regina Herzlinger Will read and comment later….
July 24, 2007 in Consumers, Policy | Permalink | Comments (1)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Perspectives on the Future of Personal Health Records

I am embarrassed to say that I have yet to read the CHCF report on Perspectives on the Future of Personal Health Records . But this is a reminder to myself to do it soon! (And no, I'm not bitter--honestly--that...
June 20, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

HEALTH2.0/CONSUMERS/TECH: Patient groups online are a source and a force

We know that patients have been organizing online and Laura Landro (who's been there herself) confirms it in a fascinating article. Go read it. Of course this is making some people nervous. Of course, the rush to link communities and...
June 15, 2007 in Consumers, Health 2.0, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

QUALITY/CONSUMERS: Spine site

Given the interest of many of you in back pain, this site looks pretty interesting. Spine-health.com.
June 12, 2007 in Consumers, Quality | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Mental Health--Bloggers Prefer Web Over Therapist by James Harris

James Harris a marketing consultant for WebTribesInc.com, an operator of MySpace-style websites for individuals with mental health concerns. wrote to me about the results of a new survey the company made of its members. Now it’s a small survey of...
June 4, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

CONSUMERS: Diabetes Mine: Would You Believe... Doug Burns Going to Trial? WITH UPDATE

#1 healthcare blogger Amy Tenderich is hopping mad about a diabetic arrested for being hypoglycemic, and she's rallying the Type 1 diabetics to the cause. Go over and read it — Diabetes Mine: Would You Believe... Doug Burns Going to...
May 30, 2007 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (3)

PHYSICIANS/CONSUMERS List prices for doctors?

Healthcare Partners, the biggest physician group to emerge from the carnage of Southern California physician group implosion in the late 1990s is now putting a list price out for some procedures. Why? "It feels like the right thing to do,"...
May 29, 2007 in Consumers, Physicians | Permalink | Comments (9)

TECH/CONSUMERS/THCB: Health2.0 Agenda Announcement!

I am delighted to announce the line-up and agenda for Health2.0–User Generated Healthcare, which will be held on September 20th in San Francisco. After an introduction and summary of the Health2.0 report (from little ol’ me and my colleague Indu...
May 18, 2007 in Consumers, Technology, THCB | Permalink | Comments (4)

PODCAST/CONSUMERS/TECH: Interview with Joseph Kvedar, Partners' Connected Health guru

This is the transcript of the podcast interview I did with Joseph Kvedar, from Partners Center for Connected Health. Coincidentally this past Tuesday in NYC, the Center, along with Continue Health Alliance and others, sponsored a meeting about the use...
May 14, 2007 in Consumers, Podcasts, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

CONSUMERS/QUALITY: HealthGrades awarded $3.6m from Hewitt

This is a weird one. Quality ratings company HealthGrades has been awarded $3.6m in a breach of agreement from benefits consulting giant Hewitt. Was Hewitt going to use Healthgrades ratings and then decided that no one cared? Anyone got any...
May 7, 2007 in Consumers, Quality, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Quality, Cost and Connected Health by Joseph Kvedar

Joseph C. Kvedar, MD is the Director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners Healthcare System in Boston. Given that so many organizations are talking about Connected Health in one flavor or another, I thought it might be interesting...
April 19, 2007 in Consumers, Quality, Technology | Permalink | Comments (6)

TECH/CONSUMERS: JSK on banks moving into health care

Banks Morph Into Health IT Engines. Go read.
April 10, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

BLOGS/CONSUMERS: Amy, #1, stars at Medscape

Amy Tenderich, #1 health care blogger, stars over at Medscape in Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes: An Expert Interview,
April 9, 2007 in Blogs, Consumers | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Health2.0 mashup site of the week

Who is Sick? User reported data about who is sick, where and when. The site thinks that it's likely to help people figure out whether they’re sick or whether they jsut have something that’s going around. I have zero idea...
April 3, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

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.
March 26, 2007 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (0)

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...
March 26, 2007 in Consumers, Health Plans, Policy | Permalink | Comments (26)

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...
March 15, 2007 in Consumers, Podcasts, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

CONUSMERS/HEALTH PLANS: 'Consumer-Driven Guy' Charged With Embezzling Millions in HSA Funds

Fraud and embezzlement by someone pushing HSAs? Who could possibly have imagined that type of character would be attracted to the business?
March 14, 2007 in Consumers, Health Plans | Permalink | Comments (15)

CONSUMERS/TECH: Interesting online/offline collaboration

This is an interesting online/offline collaboration between Carepages, which lets patients create websites and Sharedbook, which now allows them to be published in book form.
March 7, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

PODCAST/CONSUMERS/TECH: HealthFacts

BCBS of Minnesota has set up an interesting approach to transparency and measuring provider performance. They've created a site called HealthCareFacts.org for consumers to look at and compare provider details, set up a subsidiary called Consumer Aware to run it,...
March 6, 2007 in Consumers, Health Plans, Podcasts, Quality, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Internet health use survey, with UPDATE

For you survey geeks, Cisco sponsored a study of Internet use in health care among patients. Here's the press release & here's the detailed results . If anything the “demand” numbers look lower than in some other surveys (things like...
March 1, 2007 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

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...
February 28, 2007 in Consumers, Podcasts, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

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...
February 16, 2007 in Consumers, Quality | Permalink | Comments (3)

CONSUMERS/QUALITY: A DIY Approach to the Diabetes Epidemic by Amy Tenderich

#1 health care blogger, well actually #1 patient blogger, but probably the most important one in the whole medical blogosphere, Amy Tenderich has written a book called called Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes about (obviously) how to manage diabetes....
January 15, 2007 in Consumers, Quality | Permalink | Comments (10)

TECH/CONSUMERS/BLOGS: Information Therapy and Other Ways to Change the World

Josh Seidman, the President of the Center for Information Therapy, and someone I must confess to knowing and liking, has descended into the mire and started his own blog. He told me that a friend had suggested it to him—I...
January 8, 2007 in Blogs, Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

TECH/CONSUMERS/HEALTH PLANS: Not much employer backing for HSAs

Those of us who feel that the CDHP movement is largely being used as cover by employers for reducing the benefits (i.e. compensation) that they’re paying employees will not be too surprised by this new analysis. The source, Vimo, though...
January 5, 2007 in Consumers, Health Plans, Technology | Permalink | Comments (4)

BLOGS: that #1 health care blogger can't be kept quiet

Amy Tenderich becomes ever more famous: TypePad Featured Blogs: Diabetes Mine. But keep your eye on that site for Sunday (hint!)
December 28, 2006 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (1)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Revolution Health & MedBillManager

OK for those of you desperate to take a look at Revolution Health's "invite only" site, here is an officially blessed invitation to go sign-up (and of course to look at what $500m buys you!). Meanwhile, at the other end...
December 27, 2006 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (6)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Deciphering a revolution?

Fard gets a sneak peak at Revolution Health’s site over at HealthCare Vox.
December 21, 2006 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

CONSUMERS/POLICY: Real people really travelling

Via HISTALK, a really interesting column about people traveling to India for surgery. Essentially the total cost slightly exceeds the co-insurance for those with insurance and of course the cost is remarkably lower for the uninsured. The people featured are...
November 27, 2006 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (21)

PODCASTS/TECH/CONSUMERS: Health2.0 roundtable

Here’s the transcript from last weeks podcast. It gives you a window into one of the hot areas at the moment, Health2.0 (perhaps I should trademark that quick!). The participants are three leaders of new online health focused companies, all...
November 10, 2006 in Consumers, Podcasts, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Privacy and electronic records

Jane Sarasohn Kahn brings you up to date on Being Transparent About Privacy.
October 2, 2006 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

QUALITY/CONSUMERS: Wallace and some patient advocates

Information Therapy center chair Paul Wallace is from Kaiser Permanente, who quite logically would be interested in Ix. He notes that the medical care cost, and the costs of poor health to employers far exceed the medical cost. (Absenteeism. etc)...
September 25, 2006 in Consumers, Quality | Permalink | Comments (1)

QUALITY/CONSUMERS: A really personal piece about obesity

From Pat Salber at The Doctor Weighs In, here's a very personal look at the life of someone extremely obese as a side effect of diabetes . Well worth reading, even if it might spoil your appetite and get you...
July 21, 2006 in Consumers, Quality | Permalink | Comments (1)

CONSUMERS/TECH: Technology in health in the next decade

Tech trends…. EMR is now banal, aparently its happening, and there’s congestion in hospitals on traffic over WiFi networks. Personal products Nike has systems that track your health conditions as you run—your new buzz word is the “Body Area network”....
June 28, 2006 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

CONSUMERS/HEALTH PLANS/HOSPITALS/TECH: Consumer comparison tools, not exactly wowing the world as yet

There’s a new report from CHCF, written by Katy Hendrickson at Forrester, it’s called (pdf) Health Care Cost Comparison Tools: A market under construction. I’ve read it and it does suggest that something is slowly happening in the Submio/Health Grades...
June 8, 2006 in Consumers, Health Plans, Hospitals, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

INTERNATIONAL/CONSUMERS: Consumerism meets single payer

So do the tappings of consumerism in health care need American-style CDHC? Apparently not, as in the UK the latest is that doctors are to be graded for quality of service Every doctors’ surgery (surgery = office in Brit talk,...
June 6, 2006 in Consumers, International | Permalink | Comments (3)

QUALITY/CONSUMER/TECH: Health -- On Demand by Pat Salber

Pat Salber writes The Doctor Weighs In, and she has some pretty interesting thoughts about this consumer health schtick. I cross-posted here but go check out her blog too! The Internet has changed the way we do so many of...
May 17, 2006 in Consumers, Quality, Technology | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

TECH/CONSUMERS: It's care delivery that matters most

Here’s my FH editorial today…. This week two very different healthcare conferences rolled through San Francisco. One was about Consumer-Directed Health Care and was a cross between a capitalist land-grab and a political pep rally for HSA-backers and Canada-bashers. There...
May 12, 2006 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

CONUSMERS/INDUSTRY: Consumer health care conference in SF coming up next week

Next week I’ll be at some of the Consumer Directed Health Care Conference in SF. It’s a weird match of the business guys trying to extort the last dollar out of the HDHP/CDHP buzzword before it dies its inevitable death,...
May 5, 2006 in Consumers, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Consumers: Patient Power Inc.

Somebody has come up with the really clever idea of building a site specializing in patient empowerment t-shirts. A new company called MedTees has set up an online store where you can find pro-patient stuff you would never find anywhere...
February 23, 2006 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (2)

FDA examining Oseltamivir risks by John Pluenneke

If you read FierceHealthcare, you had advance warning of this one on Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday afternoon that the Food and Drug Administration is probing as many as 12 deaths it believes may be linked to oseltamivir...
November 18, 2005 in Consumers, Pharma, Policy | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Tang on the unstated information therapy

Next up was Paul Tang, the CIO of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. He wanted to talk about patients, and about transparency. PAMF went to open access to physician visits (i.e. you call up, and you get a same day...
October 18, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

CONSUMERS: Medicare Part D ... as in Detail by Mr Jib

The Sacramento Bee has a good article which exposes a little detail which may be important to people who are thinking about signing up for Medicare Part D. It turns out that people who are in managed care plans and...
September 30, 2005 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (7)

CONSUMERS: A little help from my friends, by Mr JiB

THIS IS A GOOD idea. Barry Katz came up with Lotsa Helping Hands after his wife's four year ordeal with cancer. The web-based calendar system he developed helps friends and family volunteer their time and support. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical...
September 30, 2005 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (2)

TECH/CONSUMER: Don Kemper wraps up

In the home stretch now. Don Kemper, the guru of this information therapy, self-care stuff is up now. His goal is that every medical encounter ends with an information prescription, which would then drive better compliance and better health outcomes...
September 23, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

CONSUMERS/TECH: Data and more impressions from Information Therapy conference

More from Park City.... Shorter Mark Bard (Manhattan Research)-- two thirds of docs are suggesting that younger female patients go to the web, but there's no financial mechanism for it, and no real business case for physicians to do better...
September 23, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Kaiser and Renaissance, the big and the small

David Sobel runs Kaiser Permanente Northern California's attempts to provide patient information therapy -- to him there are professional providers and lay providers of health care! The opportunity is in self-care management. Ought to be easy for Kaiser--as the incentives...
September 22, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Standards for consumer health info

Still in Utah, still at the Information Therapy conference -- A session on how to guide consumers to high quality content, that's integrated with their care, electronically Shorter Tom Lee (Calif HC Foundation): Standards for consumer data don't really exist,...
September 22, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS/QUALITY: Information Therapy and care management

This panel has representatives from a care management vendor (Health Dialog), a staff model integrated system (GHCPS) and a big insurer (United). Shorter George Bennet, Health Dialog -- You make $3 for every 88 cents you spend on care management...
September 22, 2005 in Consumers, Quality, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

CONSUMERS: Jessie Gruman on hammers and nails

Shorter Jess Gruman (Center for Advancement of Health): Information therapy only works when the information is relevant to the exact individual and their exact culture -- and patients vary tremendously in how they need to have that information conveyed to...
September 22, 2005 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Holstein on Information Therapy

So it's Fall in Park City, so here are some pictures of the view I'm getting. Yes that is a weather balloon rising over the valley. Meanwhile back to the conference. Roger Holstein just left WebMd after it was spun...
September 22, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

TECH/CONSUMERS: Information Therapy, and a patient changing the world one baby at a time

So the Information Therapy, largely driven by Molly Mettler and Don Kemper from Healthwise, is the concept that if you put the right information in the right place and to the right person at the right time, then it can...
September 21, 2005 in Consumers, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

CONSUMERS: New category and Information therapy conference

Today I am adding a new category, to which probably a lot of the consumer-directed stuff will get at least a shared nomination. The category is consumers, and this is intended to catch all I write about the consumerization of...
September 21, 2005 in Consumers | Permalink | Comments (0)