The Health Care Blog

The Health Internet vs. the NHIN -- A Matter of Control, Cost, and Timing

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER There is growing tension within the Obama administration's health team over who will control health data exchange: everyone (including consumers and their doctors), or just large provider organizations. The public debate will be...
November 19, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, HITECH, NHIN, RHIOs, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (36)

Social Media: Disruptive Force in Medicine

By GLENN LAFFEL Before the Obama administration set aside billions to accelerate the dissemination of EHRs, providers were slow to adopt them. As recently as 2 years ago for example, a study published in the NEJM revealed that only 4%...
September 4, 2009 in Education, EHR, Social Media, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

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)

Announcement: 14,000 People With Diabetes Test Their Blood Sugar at the Same Time

July 14 at 4 pm ET, 14,000 people with diabetes are going to test their blood sugar simultaneously and share their results online to help raise diabetes awareness. People with diabetes have to test their blood sugar as part of...
July 10, 2009 in Health 2.0, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

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)

The other Michael Jackson mega-mix

By Matthew Holt Never ones to be shy with an interesting view into celebrity pharmacology (and truth be told responding to a little tickle from me) the inventive folks at PharmaSurveyor have added Michael Jackson to their celebrity drug cocktail...
July 6, 2009 in Health 2.0, Pharma, pharmaceuticals, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Implementing a Modern Hospital Website

By JOHN HALAMKA Over the past two years, I've witnessed a transition in modern website design from plain text and static information to multimedia centric and interactive. I've written about the new BIDMC website we implemented to meet patient expectations...
June 30, 2009 in Health 2.0, Hospitals, Technology, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (7)

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)

A Dream of Reason

By BRIAN KLEPPER and DAVID KIBBE The dream of reason did not take power into account...Modern medicine is one of those extraordinary works of reason...But medicine is also a world of power. -Paul Starr, The Social Transformation of American Medicine,...
June 22, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Consumers, David Kibbe, e-patients, Electronic Medical Records, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (8)

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)

An Open Letter to the New National Coordinator for Health IT: Part 3 -- Certification As The Elephant in Health IT's Living Room

By DAVID C. KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER In the first and second parts of this series we talked about how and why there is no universal definition for the term "EHR." Instead there is a legitimate, growing debate about the...
May 8, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, e-patients, Electronic Medical Records, Health 2.0, Obama administration, Online Communities, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, Technology, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (20)

An Open Letter to the New National Coordinator for Health IT - Untying HITECH's Gordian Knot: Part 1

By DAVID C. KIBBE & BRIAN KLEPPER Congratulations to David Blumenthal on being named National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). Dr. Blumenthal will be the person most responsible for the rules and distribution of the American Recovery and Reinvestment...
April 26, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Electronic Medical Records, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (19)

An Open Letter to the New National Coordinator for Health IT: Part 2 - Opening the Aperture of Innovation

By DAVID C. KIBBE & BRIAN KLEPPER One of the important decisions before Dr. Blumenthal and his colleagues at ONC and HHS is whether the national health information network will be one of closed appliances that bundle together proprietary hardware,...
April 22, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Electronic Medical Records, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (21)

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Continuity of Care Record Gains Ground As A Standard

By BRIAN KLEPPER We live in a time of such great progress in so many arenas that, too often and without a second thought, we take significant advances for granted. But, now and then, we should catalog the steps forward,...
April 10, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Consumers, David Kibbe, Electronic Medical Records, Google, Health 2.0, Personalized Medicine, Policy, Policy/Politics, Technology, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (21)

From Health 2.0 meets Ix: A Breathtaking Display of Possibilities

By BRIAN KLEPPER (Boston) Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and I were quickly comparing notes this morning. Our impression is that, compared to past meetings, this one seems more characterized by doers than observers. This conference brings together a dizzying array of tools...
April 2, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Conferences, Health 2.0, Joshua Seidman, Matthew Holt, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (5)

A Sticky Solution to a Sticky Problem

By ALISTAIR ROCK “Don’t pull the knot tight,” the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once warned, “before being sure you have got hold of the right end.” Those who hope to sort out the tangle of health care spending would do well...
March 16, 2009 in Health 2.0, Health Plans, Marketplace, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (23)

Five Recommendations for an ONC Head Who Understands Health IT Innovation

By David C. Kibbe, Brian Klepper and John Moore. Now that the legislative language of the HITECH Act -- the $20 billion health IT allocation within the economic stimulus package -- has been set, it's time to identify a National...
March 6, 2009 in Brian Klepper, Current Affairs, David Kibbe, Electronic Medical Records, evidenced-based medicine, Health 2.0, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, primary care, public health, Quality, Technology, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (14)

Five "Shovel-Ready" Health Care Reforms

By Brian Klepper & David C. Kibbe Microsoft Health Vault's leader Peter Neupert has a wonderful blog post that makes two important points really well. One message is that health care reform is about the outcomes, not the technology. We...
January 21, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, evidenced-based medicine, Health Plans, Marketplace, Obama administration, Physicians, Policy, Policy/Politics, primary care, Quality, Technology, The Industry, Transparency, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (18)

My top 10 rules for Email Triage

By John Halamka I receive over 600 email messages each day (with virtually no Spam, so they are all legitimate) and respond to most via Blackberry. How do I triage 600 messages? I use these 10 rules to mentally score...
January 14, 2009 in Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

Confessions of a Cultural Anthropologist: The Cause and Cure of High Health Costs

By Richard Reece Today’s medical students are being inducted into a culture in which their profession is seen increasingly in financial terms. Add in such pressures as the need to pay off enormous debts, and it is not surprising that...
January 13, 2009 in Marketplace, Physicians, primary care, Quality, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (13)

New NRC Report Finds "Health Care IT Chasm," Seeks New Course Toward Quality Improvement and Cost Savings

By DAVID C. KIBBE Like the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 2001 counterpart report, "Crossing the Quality Chasm," a new report from the National Research Council of the National Academies is complex, full of new ideas assembled from multiple disciplines, and...
January 12, 2009 in Electronic Medical Records, Marketplace, Obama administration, Policy, Policy/Politics, Quality, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (20)

Let's Reboot America's Health IT Conversation Part 2: Beyond EHRs

By DAVID KIBBE and BRIAN KLEPPER Yesterday we tried to put EHRs into perspective. They're important, and we can't effectively move health care forward without them. But they're only one of many important health IT functions. EHRs and health IT...
January 6, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Health 2.0, Technology, The Industry, Transparency, User Generated Content, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Let's Reboot America's HIT Conversation Part 1: Putting EHRs in Context

By DAVID C. KIBBE & BRIAN KLEPPER Kibbe & Klepper are back with an update to their pre-Christmas piece on EHRs and the forthcoming Obama Administration's investment policy towards them. Lest you think that this is just a small group...
January 5, 2009 in Brian Klepper, David Kibbe, Health 2.0, Obama administration, Policy, Policy/Politics, The Industry, Transparency, User Generated Content, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (7)

An Open Letter to the Obama Health Team

By David C. Kibbe & Brian Klepper It seems likely that the Obama administration and Congress will spend a significant amount on health IT by attaching it as a first-order priority to the fiscal stimulus package. We take the President-elect...
December 19, 2008 in Obama administration, Physicians, Technology, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (48)

Winners & Losers in HIT

By John Halamka I was recently asked to predict IT Winners and Losers in 2009. Rather than name individual companies, I'd like to highlight categories. Winners 1. Electronic Health Record vendors, especially web-based applications - The Obama administration has promised...
November 13, 2008 in Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

Shreeve brothers named winners of Linux Freedom Award

By Scott Shreeve I am deeply honored and profoundly grateful to be recognized, along with my brother Steve Shreeve, as the 2008 winner of the Linux Medical News Freedom Award. While this is a niche award in a niche space,...
November 13, 2008 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

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)

An Impending Hanging: Will Health 2.0 Be Compromised By The Economic Downturn?

By Brian Klepper Nothing focuses the mind like an impending hanging. -- Samuel Johnson I've been preparing for tomorrow's 3rd Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco, where I'll join my pals Matthew, Indu Subaiya, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn and Michael Millenson amid...
October 21, 2008 in Brian Klepper, Economics, evidenced-based medicine, Health 2.0, Online Communities, Quality, The Industry, Transparency, User Generated Content, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (3)

Video games to revolutionize health and health care

By Douglas Goldstein The worldwide video gaming industry is a thriving business – with hardware and software sales reaching 43.5 billion in 2007 and projected to grow to more than 61 billion in the next 4 years. This growth isn’t...
October 20, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (6)

Do you have an Avatar?

By Robin Strongin THCB Note: This post first appeared at The Disruptive Women in Health Care Blog. There's lots more great posts. Check it out! If you don’t have an avatar, you may want to seriously think about creating one....
October 17, 2008 in Online Communities, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Innovations in second life

By Alice Krueger (SL: Gentle Heron) THCB Note: Alice Kreuger recently updated THCB about all the exciting things she's doing in Second Life on Virtual Ability Island. Here is a quick rundown. If you're unsure about second life, check out...
October 17, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

7-day countdown to Health 2.0

By THCB Staff The Health 2.0 conference is just a week away and with that comes the viewing of David Kibbe's documentary, "The Great American Motorcycle Tour for Health 2.0." Go check out his blog to get a taste of...
October 14, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dissecting the Revolution Health-Waterfront Media merger

By David Williams Like many of you, I was surprised to hear the news that Revolution Health would merge with Waterfront Media, the operator of Everyday Health Network. In this email interview, Mark Bard, president of Manhattan Research, shares his...
October 13, 2008 in Economics, Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google Health: Is It Good For You?

By AMY TENDERICH Note: Amy Tenderich, who writes and maintains the wonderful Diabetes Mine, just did this very illuminating interview with Google Health's Missy Krassner. As you'll see, she doesn't slow-pitch to Missy. This is a sure-footed, tough-minded exchange about...
October 7, 2008 in Google, Health 2.0, Marketplace, Online Communities, Privacy, Quality, Technology, The Industry, User Generated Content, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

Everyday Health & Revolution Health merger staying in 1.0

By Joshua Seidman Joshua Seidman is the president of of the Center for Information Therapy that aims to provide the timely prescription and availability of evidence-based health information to meet individuals’ specific needs and support sound decision making. Everyday Health...
October 7, 2008 in Health 2.0, Joshua Seidman, Online Communities, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Adding layers to Health 2.0

By Susannah Fox Jen McCabe Gorman drew a picture at HealthCampDC last that I really liked. Luckily, I found this image of her Medicine 2.0 presentation, so nobody has to decipher my sketch. The one difference is that, on Friday,...
September 16, 2008 in Health 2.0, Susannah Fox, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (4)

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)

Using social networking to breakdown research silos

By John Halamka On September 4, a group of collaborators at Harvard launched a new website called Catalyst that is publicly available. I encourage you to visit it. This site is remarkable in many ways. It brings together all the...
September 10, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (8)

New report shows health blogosphere going strong

By Fard Johnmar It started as a whisper and then grew to a roar. Last year, the Detroit Free Press wrote the first in what would become series of articles questioning the wisdom of medical blogging. In 2007 and 2008,...
September 3, 2008 in The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (6)

Keep tabs on your digital footprint

By Susannah Fox Is it "disordered" behavior to Google your doctor? An article in JAMA suggests that doctors should be on their guard. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published an article about how doctors should be aware...
September 1, 2008 in Consumers, e-patients, Physicians, Susannah Fox, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cisco's Frances Dare talks about Congressional action on health IT

By Matthew Holt Frances Dare is someone I've know for a long time in the health care IT world (sorry, Frances!). That means that she's seen the painfully slow developments in many aspects of health IT since the 1990s, and...
August 26, 2008 in Electronic Medical Records, Matthew Holt, Podcasts, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Online Health Content We Trust?

By Fard Johnmar Late last week, Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet & American Life project announced that the nonprofit had updated its statistics on the number of adult Americans using the Internet. Currently, 73 percent are Web users. Of...
August 25, 2008 in Consumers, Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (5)

Health care in the YouTube era

Video of the woman dying in the emergency room waiting room at Kings Hospital.
August 19, 2008 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2)

Gaming for health

By James A. Cooley James Cooley works for a big Texas state agency doing health care policy analysis and research, with a specialty in health care IT. His research and analysis projects cover e-prescribing, telemedicine, EHR & PHR and beyond....
August 8, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (7)

Dude! The $100m VistA Open Source Opportunity

By Scott Shreeve Dude. I am known for throwing an occasional “Dude” into my jocular speech. Ok, maybe more than a couple when excited. OK, maybe more than a couple when I am not so excited as well. OK, maybe...
August 7, 2008 in Scott Shreeve, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (20)

Three-quarters of Internet users seek health info

By Susannah Fox The Pew Internet Project released the latest estimate for the e-patient population: 75 percent of internet users. Here are some details from the survey. My colleagues recently updated our top three trend charts: Who's Online, Internet Activities,...
August 7, 2008 in e-patients, Susannah Fox, Technology, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (9)

Knol and web publishing challenge medical journals' stronghold

By Bob Wachter Yesterday, Google launched Knol, immediately branded as Google’s answer to Wikipedia. As health care adviser to the project, I’ll say a few words about Knol, but focus on how it – and other forms of electronic self-publishing...
July 25, 2008 in Bob Wachter, Google, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (7)

Sharing more than they intended -- future doctors on Facebook

By Sarah Arnquist The Facebook/MySpace generation is now graduating from medical school, and their profiles along with much embarrassing personal information has been indexed in cyberworld for many to see. The Associated Press wrote an interesting story about how researchers...
July 24, 2008 in Health 2.0, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (7)

Information therapy goes beyond evidenced-based info

By Joshua Seidman Joshua Seidman is the president of of the Center for Information Therapy that aims to provide the timely prescription and availability of evidence-based health information to meet individuals’ specific needs and support sound decision making. I had...
July 23, 2008 in Consumers, evidenced-based medicine, The Industry, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1)

What the candidates' searches say about them

By Craig Stoltz One of the fun parlor games of Election '08 is to look at Internet data and figure out what they mean. The answer may be "nothing," of course. But let's play along and look at the latest...
July 4, 2008 in Craig Stoltz, Election 08, Policy/Politics, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (4)