The Health Care Blog

JSK & Joe DeLuca on KQED

By Matthew Holt One of the best local talk shows anywhere is Michael Krasny's Forum on 88.5 KQED, San Francisco's establishment NPR station (SF of course has a rebel NPR station KALW which has had me on a couple of...
October 21, 2009 in Electronic Medical Records, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

JSK (national treasure) on data liquidity, and how it fits into Health 2.0

By Matthew Holt Given that she taught me most of what I know about health IT I don’t know why I ever need reminding about how great Jane Sarasohn-Kahn is at keeping her finger on the pulse of health care,...
October 3, 2009 in Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Matthew Holt, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bringing Patients into the Health IT Conversation About "Meaningful Use"

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER The Obama health team at HHS and ONC are gradually establishing the rules that will determine how approximately $34 billion in ARRA/HITECH funds are spent on health IT over the next several years....
May 21, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Consumers, David Kibbe, Electronic Medical Records, Google, Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Marketplace, Policy, Policy/Politics, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (35)

Health and health care in 2009 - a year of managing risks and wild cards

By Jane Sarasohn Kahn As we inevitably do this time of year, we prognosticate about the new year. This time around, it's a toughie: there are too many uncertainties that preclude us from doing a straight-line forecast for 2009, especially...
December 30, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bad economy leads to poor health behaviors

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Half of people over 45 said in a recent AARP survey they've taken a generic drug or over-the-counter (OTC) medication instead of a prescription drug due to the current economic situation. The AARP's report, "Impact of the...
December 10, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (4)

After 12 months of recession, whither health reform?

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn We're in a recession; actually, we've been in one for the past year, but no official agency decided to tell us. Perhaps "they" wanted to wait until after the November '08 Presidential election? The declaration of recession...
December 3, 2008 in Economics, Election 08, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hospitals hit by economic downturn

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Forty percent of American hospitals have seen drops in inpatient admissions, according to the American Hospital Association. In the AHA's survey, Report on the Economic Crisis: Initial Impact on Hospitals, it's clear that hospitals are already experiencing...
November 24, 2008 in Economics, Hospitals, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (2)

Moody's predicts winners & losers in Obama health reform

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Moody's, the credit rating agency, offers their post-election impressions in their special comment, "U.S. Healthcare Industry: Credit Implications of the U.S. Election." Barack Obama's campaign roughed out principles for health reform across three issue areas: Access and...
November 18, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (0)

Telehealth right here right now

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn A very smart doctor told me, "there's been a realization that the exam room is wherever the patient is." That simple, elegant and insightful remark was offered by Dr. Jay Sanders, one of the godfathers of telehealth....
November 14, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Technology | Permalink | Comments (1)

Entering the era of participatory medicine

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn I've returned from a week of Health 2.0 immersion on the west coast. The top-line finding: we've entered the period we can call Participatory Medicine. For some, like the pioneering Gilles Friedman of ACOR, this is nothing...
October 28, 2008 in Conferences, Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Personalized Medicine | Permalink | Comments (2)

Health technology need not go to backburner during economic downturn

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn In the past several months, there's been some wringing of hands and some pronouncements of glasses-half-empty concerning health reform and technology innovation. For us glass-half-full types, here's something to consider... Roughly 15,000 physicians in the state of...
October 22, 2008 in Economics, Electronic Medical Records, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (5)

W(h)ither thy health benefits?

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The headlines read that CFOs are having trouble accessing credit. What will that mean for health benefits? A survey of American CFOs and comptrollers from Grant Thornton has found that over half of CFOs have seen credit...
October 13, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (0)

Economic stress -- bad for your health

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Stress due to the economic downturn is causing more of us to be irritable, angry, sleepless, and self-medicating through food. And stress in the workplace is costing business $300 billion a year, according to the American Psychological...
October 8, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (3)

Will tighter credit slow medical technology innovation?

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Medical technology is one of the most innovative sectors in the U.S. economy. The market is fueled by aging populations, expanding chronic conditions, and a forecasted growth in demand for companion diagnostics to use in concert with...
October 1, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Technology | Permalink | Comments (3)

Health reform prospects in the wake of Black Sunday

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation,"...
September 23, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Policy | Permalink | Comments (20)

The health search future

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Over the past couple of weeks, the eHealth world learned that RevolutionHealth engaged Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, to help assess the company's 'alternatives.' The early talk was to raise capital, but the tenor seems to have...
September 15, 2008 in e-patients, Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (5)

Rising health benefits costs slowing

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Health benefit costs will increase in 2009 by just under 6 percent. This would be a slightly slower rate compared with the past several years, according to Mercer, the benefits consulting firm that calculated health cost growth...
September 8, 2008 in Economics, Health Plans, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (2)

A long way to go in price and quality transparency

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Providing price and quality information is viewed as a Holy Grail among health plans and providers, who see transparency as the key for igniting health care consumerism. However, that Grail remains elusive, as issues of tool usefulness...
September 2, 2008 in Health Plans, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Quality, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (4)

Medical debt is increasing even for the insured

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Four in 10 Americans had trouble paying for medical care in 2007, according to the Commonwealth Fund's latest study on medical debt. The study, "Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance Is Burdening Working Families,"...
August 25, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (4)

Back-to-school specials at the retail clinic

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn People have begun to ration themselves off of medical visits and prescription drugs, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). One in 5 Americans said they reduced visits to the doctor due to the slowing...
August 20, 2008 in Consumers, Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (2)

Connecting the dots between gas and health costs

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Rite Aid, a top retail pharmacy chain, awarded its first Fill Up & Fuel Up gasoline gift cards this week. I've been writing about gas 'n health care since the inception of the Health Populi blog; see...
August 18, 2008 in Consumers, Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (6)

Health spending disconnect

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn There's a disconnect between who Americans believe is responsible for their personal health status, and who should pay for health care. On the first question -- personal responsibility for health choices -- 82 percent of Americans believe...
August 13, 2008 in Consumers, Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (9)

Wal-Mart launches telemedicine business

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Leave it to Wal-Mart to continue to grow its franchise in health through yet another revenue center. This time it's telemedicine. The company will pilot telemedicine through retail clinics in Houston, and will be trademarked as Walk-In...
July 29, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Marketplace, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (1)

Medicine meets Wiki

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn There's a new wiki in the health social media town, Medpedia. Among the most popular online sources for health information is Wikipedia. Millions of people search Wikipedia daily for insights into medical conditions, drugs, and procedures. Medpedia...
July 24, 2008 in e-patients, Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

Good and bad health consequences of high gas prices

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The price of gas is a headache for every consumer. But the health impacts of high fuel prices go beyond that metaphorical symptom. Consider medical supplies and home health. But it's not all bad news: on the...
July 22, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (2)

Governors saddled with health costs

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The National Governors Association (NGA) met in Philadelphia this week, where my City of Brotherly and Sisterly Love is witnessing some sobering discussions about health care. On the one hand, Bill Clinton called in his opening keynote...
July 18, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Policy | Permalink | Comments (7)

People with high-deductible plans make riskier decisions

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn People enrolled in high-deductible health plans tend to make more risky health decisions than those enrolled in lower-deductible plans, according to a study published in the July/August issue of Health Affairs. In Do Consumer-Directed Health Plans Drive...
July 14, 2008 in Consumers, Health Plans, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (5)

Health care financing confuses consumers

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Consumers are interested in a variety of financial instruments to help them purchase health care. However, even when given a choice to shop for and eventual purchase insurance, millions of people don't. Consumers are confused about health...
July 9, 2008 in Consumers, Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (3)

How do we disrupt the cycle of rising health costs?

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Last week two new excellent new reports on health spending asked, do we get what we pay for? The answer is, well, sometimes -- particularly when you follow the perverse incentives that lead you on the money...
July 7, 2008 in Economics, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (5)

Consumers seek health information to solve marketplace problems

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Consumers, employers, payers and providers agree that information flows are critical to helping stem health care costs. While there is shared concern about health care costs, there is also a shared desire for more, accessible information and...
June 24, 2008 in Consumers, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Marketplace, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Talking Cure: moving patients to the center of care

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The relationship between patients and doctors is fundamentally changing. Transparency in medical records, patients' accessibility to health information online, and online social media driving patient-to-patient conversations are some forces at the base of the future of health...
June 17, 2008 in International, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Personalized Medicine | Permalink | Comments (5)

Health costs are small businesses' No. 1 problem

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The cost of health insurance is the No. 1 problem cited by small business owners. Health costs beat gas prices -- the No. 2 most severe problem cited by small business, in a March 2008 survey. This...
June 15, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Policy, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (3)

Do worker wellness programs violate employee privacy?

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Employees are split on whether employer wellness programs intrude on privacy, according to an Issue Brief from the Center for Studying Health System Change (CSHC). The report details the results of interviews conducted in 2007 in 12...
June 13, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (3)

CBO assesses return on investment of HIT

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn The return on investment of health care information technology isn't uniformly positive, according to a recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office titled, Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology. The underlying rationale for...
May 30, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (2)

More opportunity for online health management

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Consumers, at least Californians, do a lot of looking for health information on the Internet -- but very little health management. California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) has taken a snapshot of Californians' use of the Internet in health...
May 16, 2008 in Health 2.0, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wal-Mart drops drug prices, shakes up market -- again

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Wal-Mart continued its first-mover tactics in health by dropping the price of prescriptions again. This time, the target is maintenance meds, which Wal-Mart will price at $10 for a 90-days supply. This move puts Wal-Mart squarely in...
May 9, 2008 in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (9)

Health Plan Illiteracy: study finds many do not understand their benefits

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Health plan illiteracy is alive and well, according to J.D. Power and Associates. The consumer market research firm's 2008 National Health Insurance Plan Study finds that one in two plan members don't understand their plan. In this...
May 7, 2008 in Health Plans, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (7)

The virtues of virtual visits

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center's Virtual Integrated Practice (VIP) is more evidence that remote health care can improve health outcomes. At Rush, a team has been refining the VIP model for the past four years. The VIP's objective is...
May 7, 2008 in Health 2.0, Hospitals, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn | Permalink | Comments (2)