The Health Care Blog

"The possible" vs "what we want," resumed

By Matthew Holt Not so long ago (actually less than 2 weeks), there was quite the spat on THCB between the Four Horseman (Klepper, Kibbe, Lazewski & Enthoven) and Maggie Mahar. Essentially it came down to this question: Is there...
November 17, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Medicare, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

Pay (Only) for Health Care that Works

Charles Silver & David A. Hyman Health care is expensive partly because governmental payers and insurers foot the bill for large quantities of medical services that are ineffective, unnecessary, or unproven. According to a RAND report, studies of clinical efficiency...
November 11, 2009 in Congress, Costs, Health Plans, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (30)

Dave Durenberger on Lieberman

By Matthew Holt Former Minnesota Senator Dave Durenberger, a thinking centrist Republican (remember them?) puts out an occasional newsletter full of gems. This is today’s zinger: The Senate has a better bill than the House, but it also has a...
November 11, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Health Care Debate

By Greg Rienzi, Staff writer for the Johns Hopkins Gazette While concepts for health care reform volley back and forth in Washington, D.C., and around the nation, Johns Hopkins has quietly but meaningfully injected itself into the debate. Johns Hopkins...
November 5, 2009 in Costs, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (10)

Time to put aside the intellectual disputes for now

By Matthew Holt It’s always fun to see my friends beating each other up in public....and if you read down in the comments on the post published yesterday you’ll see a significant dispute between Maggie Mahar and the Klepper/Kibbe/Lazsweski/Enthoven team...
October 31, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Maggie Mahar, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics, Public Option, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (79)

Saving Health Care, Saving America

By BRIAN KLEPPER, DAVID C. KIBBE, ROBERT LASZEWSKI and ALAIN ENTHOVEN So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests, our representatives...
October 30, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Corruption, Current Affairs, David Kibbe, Marketplace, Policy, Policy/Politics, primary care, Reform, The Industry, Transparency | Permalink | Comments (46)

What's got lost in the public option kerfuffle

By Matthew Holt Not so long ago, July this year in fact, PhRMA boss and former Dem Blue Dog & Republican Billy Tauzin told the Aspen Health Forum that a straw poll of Democrats at dinner with him in DC...
October 27, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (10)

Protest Music at AHIP meeting

By Matthew Holt This is much more fun and better sung than traditional protests! And given that AHIP would benefit from a public option, I suspect Karen Ignagni hired them. It looks like it happened in the closing session of...
October 24, 2009 in Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (9)

The Republican health care argument

By Matthew Holt Just in case you thought we’d gone soft by featuring Sarah Palin, here’s what Tom Toles thinks (from the WaPo)
October 21, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (6)

Change The Rules and Get Your Labs

By Phil Marshall In 1999 Caresoft developed a consumer web portal called the Daily Apple. The Daily Apple wasn’t all that unique or different than other health portals, until in May of 2000 they began helping consumers download their lab...
October 19, 2009 in Consumers, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Policy, Policy/Politics, Technology | Permalink | Comments (4)

Why AHIP needs the public option

By Matthew Holt It’s been a fun week. After years of THCB explaining that neither could AHIP do genuine research nor could its venerable President open her mouth without lying, the rest of the world has caught on. I won’t...
October 16, 2009 in Charlie Baker, Health Plans, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (37)

Olberman, hysterical hypocrisy expose

By Matthew Holt A really fun piece from Keith Olbermann as he shows how the entire Gang of Six and more voted for fully socialized flood insurance and yet seem to have a problem with an independent government run public...
October 4, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (11)

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)

I was largely in favor of Swiss-style health care...

By Matthew Holt until I found out that the people who the NY Times says are really in favor of it are Bill O'Reilly and Regina Herzlinger… Actually I’m kidding. I knew Regi says she likes it, and Maggie Mahar...
October 1, 2009 in Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (2)

Morons like us

By Matthew Holt I still read the articles every day that Google and the rest of my searches spit into my inbox. But as the sausage gets made I despair for the country. Not so long ago the NY Times...
September 29, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (27)

Yet another reason to abolish the Senate

By Matthew Holt Ezra Klein, feeling a little soft, interviews Kent Conrad—he of the co-op feed stores for health care idea. My take on the interview is that I seriously believe Conrad's entire knowledge of health care comes from his...
September 26, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (11)

Aneesh Chopra, talks Health 2.0

By Matthew Holt Aneesh Chopra is the Obama Administration's Chief Technology Officer. He'll be giving keynote speech at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, Oct 6-7.
September 23, 2009 in Health 2.0, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

A little ain't enough, or is it?

By Matthew Holt I've been so buried in the run up to Health 2.0 that I haven’t had a chance to add to the deluge of electrons about the bills in Congress, Obama’s speech, the several hundred amendments to Baucus’...
September 20, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

Protest songs in health care?

By Matthew Holt A health care reform protest video that rocks! (Hat-tip to ePatientDave)
September 13, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (9)

Interview: TR Reid on healthcare reform around the world

By Matthew Holt TR Reid is a former foreign correspondent with the Washington Post. He spent two years (partly funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation) looking at health care systems across the world and has been featured heavily in many...
September 8, 2009 in International, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (8)

Expect to hear a whole lot about this...

By Matthew Holt Seniors care about death panels (apparently) but they usually really care about drug prices and costs. Part of the political rationale for the Republicans passing Medicare drug coverage in 2003 was to deny the Democrats the ability...
August 30, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (10)

We'll be back here in 2016, unless

By Matthew Holt I've been meaning for a while to put up a common sense post that points out that if we don't do reform now, we’ll end up with cost at close to $30K per family as opposed to...
August 28, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (36)

Interview with Al Waxman, Psilos Group

Al Waxman is a healthcare entrepreneur who these days runs the Psilos Group, a venture firm that invests in health care services, health care IT and device and instrumentation companies. Among their better known investments are Active Health Management, Health...
August 24, 2009 in Health 2.0, Marketplace, PHRs, Physicians, Podcasts, Policy, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0)

Neither Quick Nor Easy

By THOMAS L. GREANEY The idea of establishing regional cooperatives, advanced as an alternative to President Obama’s public plan option, has attracted attention as a means of assuring that health reform legislation contains some means to improve competition among health...
August 22, 2009 in Cooperatives, Policy, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (9)

Barney Frank deals with the loonies

By Matthew Holt This is just too funny not to show you all.
August 19, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (15)

Enthoven's ABCDs and why that socialist Gingrich is wrong on standardized benefits

By Matthew Holt Here's Alain Enthoven's four part plan for fixing healthcare. As THCB regulars might guess, it's familiar and very sensible stuff. (Here’s the PDF) A. Create an exchange with standardized plans, make individuals buy through the exchange and...
August 16, 2009 in Health Plans, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (4)

Voices from the deserving mob

By Matthew Holt From the (UK) Independent. Real quotes from real people attending the free care in LA this week: "I had a gastric bypass in 2002, but it went wrong, and stomach acid began rotting my teeth. I've had...
August 15, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (15)

Shaking my fist at Jon Cohn

By Matthew Holt Today Stephen Hawking gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Not bad for a guy the British NHS had its “death panel” kill off in the 1960s. Meanwhile the real star of the day is not the guy...
August 12, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (4)

Fame! (In Canada only)

By Matthew Holt TV is fascinated by my views on American health reform. Well not American TV (you have to be called Michael Cannon to get on American TV). Following my record-setting appearance on France 24 TV (record was fewest...
August 11, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

Kids Can’t Vote but Health Reformers Should Still Listen

By ALAN L. GOLDBLOOM, MD Depending on who you listen to, health care reform in Washington is either closer to reality than it has ever been, or it’s on life support. Competing ideas are all over the map in terms...
August 9, 2009 in Children's Health, Medicaid, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (17)

And the real reason health reform matters

By Matthew Holt And in case you’d forgotten what the health care reform battle is really about, here’s video from Reuters about an open air clinic for the uninsured in Virginia…
August 8, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (7)

The Master and I agree on the goals

By Matthew Holt Writing in his blog in the NY Times, Uwe Reinhardt sets out three overarching goals of health reform 1. Financial barriers should not stand between Americans and preventive or acute health care that they sincerely believe will...
August 8, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Public Option | Permalink | Comments (31)

Dumb and Dumber

By Matthew Holt I can't say that I've been fantastically impressed by the Democrats’ choice of this year to go after health reform, or their explanation of what it is. And I understand that the only interest of the Republicans...
August 7, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics, Public Option, Town Halls | Permalink | Comments (18)

Finally, A Reasonable Plan for Certification of EHR Technologies

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER A caution to readers: This post is about methods for certifying Electronic Health Record (EHR) technologies used by physicians, medical practices, and hospitals who hope to qualify for federal incentive payments under the...
August 4, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, HHS, Marketplace, Meaningful Use, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (28)

Say we get some sausage--then what?

By MICHAEL PAINTER J.D., M.D sausage (sô´sǐj) n. A highly seasoned minced meat usually stuffed in casings of prepared animal intestine. Congress is obviously in the thick of the sausage making. The August recess is pending. Bills may or may...
August 1, 2009 in Congress, Policy, Reform | Permalink | Comments (8)

Two rules by which to judge a health reform bill

By Matthew Holt Right now we have sausage-making going on in DC and lots of uninformed opinions and outright lies being strewn across the front pages and on cable from newly declared experts. I sat in an airport last night...
July 31, 2009 in Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (49)

Op-Ed: Sustainable Healthcare Reform

By LAWRENCE W. ARRINGTON President Obama made a risky wager when he decided to let Congress take the lead on crafting health care legislation, rather than presenting his own reform package. Congress is not known for taking bold, decisive leadership...
July 29, 2009 in Congress, Obama, Policy, Policy/Politics, Public Option, Reform | Permalink | Comments (12)

A Health Insurance Premium Tax Would be a Chicken Tax

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI The Congress has looked at taxing about everyone and everything to pay for half the cost of a health care bill. They’ve considered sugary soft drinks, beer, “millionaires,” and “gold plated” health benefits to name a few....
July 27, 2009 in Congress, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (6)

Live from Aspen: the moderates' view on Obama health reform

By Matthew Holt Paul Krugman’s article today excoriates the Blue Dogs and a former dog Billy Tauzin in particular. He also (as I did a week or so back) wonders where the Dogs were when the Bush tax cuts were...
July 27, 2009 in Congress, Democratic Party, Matthew Holt, Medicaid, Policy, Policy/Politics, Public Option | Permalink | Comments (11)

Costs v Coverage: Krugman gets it--Brooks is almost quite close

By Matthew Holt So Paul Krugman, the NY Times Nobel Prize winning lefty columnist, says this (and echoes what I’ve been saying for a while) So where in America is there serious consideration of moving away from fee-for-service to a...
July 24, 2009 in Costs, Matthew Holt, New York Times, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (10)

Rantology: Sympathy for the blue devils?

By Matthew Holt I do have some vague sympathy for the Blue Dogs, the group of mostly red-state Democrats who have to pretend that they care about fiscal responsibility. They, like me, think that we shouldn't be increasing taxes on...
July 22, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (21)

Health "reform": Lest we forget...

By Matthew Holt There’s been a lot of hand-wringing and b.s. discussed about the comparatively minor health reform that’s snaking its way through Congress. And when I say comparatively minor I mean it. Mostly because there’s lots this legislation doesn’t...
July 21, 2009 in Marketplace, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform | Permalink | Comments (16)

Why Congress Should Consider Bob Laszewski's Health Care Affordability Model

By BRIAN KLEPPER Over the last few months, I have become increasingly disheartened over the prospects for meaningful health care reform. First, the process is terribly conflicted, and it shows. In the first quarter of 2009, the Center for Responsive...
July 9, 2009 in Affordability Model, Brian Klepper, Current Affairs, Marketplace, Policy, Policy/Politics, Reform, Robert Laszewski, The Industry | Permalink | Comments (40)

The Affordability Model

By ROBERT LASZEWSKI Most health care experts agree the reason our system is so unaffordable is because of all of the waste and unnecessary care—up to 30% of what we spend. I will suggest that it will take the genius...
July 8, 2009 in Affordability Model, Costs, Policy, Reform, Robert Laszewski | Permalink | Comments (28)

Meaningful Use vs. Meaningless Adoption of Electronic Health Records

By RICK WEINHAUS MD Dr. David Blumenthal, the new National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, has stressed that the goal of the ARRA/HITECH initiative is to improve patient care, not to mindlessly adopt health information technology. In this regard, he...
July 7, 2009 in Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Meaningful Use, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, Reform, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Rantology: Cannon on Freedom or Power?

By Matthew Holt Ah-ha. Michael Cannon has now replied to me and it basically comes down in his mind to me being a crypto-fascist Stalinist wanting to break the will of the American people mediated through its representatives, the health...
June 30, 2009 in Health Plans, Matthew Holt, Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (25)

The EHR TimeBar: A New Visual Interface Design

By RICK WEINHAUS, MD The EHR TimeBar functions as a high-level overview of the patient record, as a query device, and as an intuitive navigation tool. Each EHR file (event) for the patient is represented by an icon. The set...
June 26, 2009 in Electronic Medical Records, evidenced-based medicine, Policy, Policy/Politics, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (6)

McAllen: A Tale of Three Counties

By DANIEL GILDEN Introduction The challenge of constraining costs while maintaining or enhancing the quality of medical care is vividly brought to life by Atul Gawande in his recent widely-read New Yorker essay. The anecdotal evidence presented in the article...
June 25, 2009 in Chronic conditions, Dartmouth Atlas, Medicare, Medicine, Policy, Policy/Politics, prevention | Permalink | Comments (55)

In which I play Obama, answering Michael Cannon

By Matthew Holt Last night I was busy spending two hours of my and my business partner’s time buying health insurance for our massive 4 person company. That means doing a multi-factorial equation between premiums, co-pays, deductibles, out of pocket...
June 25, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (23)

The bleedingly obvious

By Matthew Holt It makes no sense for small businesses to provide health insurance to employees. This testimony from a small business owner to the House Tri-committee yesterday shows it. (Same is true for all employers but none save Ron...
June 23, 2009 in Policy, Policy/Politics | Permalink | Comments (25)