The Health Care Blog

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)

Should Patient Satisfaction Scores Be Adjusted for Where Patients Shop?

By Robert Wachter Last week, Medicare added patient satisfaction data to its hospital reporting website. This is progress, but it raises an interesting question: should patient satisfaction scores be case-mix adjusted? The motivation to include patient satisfaction data comes from...
April 15, 2008 in Bob Wachter, Physician Rating | Permalink | Comments (4)

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)

THCB UPDATE

Careseek CEO Gale Wilson Steele writes in to comment on the ongoing controversy over physician ratings: "It's not surprising that physicians are uncomfortable with the idea of others "rating" them. After all, what do others know about how well they...
February 22, 2008 in Hospitals, Nursing, Physician Rating | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

PHYSICIANS: Your data is wrong!

Read this article from the Dallas Morning News called Insurers' ratings often aren't accurate, doctors complain. It's very very important, in that it explains both what's wrong with using claims data to do analytics without working a little harder than...
February 11, 2008 in Physician Rating, Physicians | Permalink | Comments (10)

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)

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)