We focus on optimizing care processes, analyzing data, implementing technology, and the other technical and scientific aspects of our work to improve health care. But, this video created by the Cleveland Clinic is a touching reminder of the human element, advocating for empathy in our work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDWvj_q-o8&feature=youtu.be
Beautiful video from Cleveland Clinic advocating empathy Read More »
I’m attending the HIMSS’13 conference in New Orleans this week, a huge assemblage of health care IT people and the bewilderingly diverse collection of technology vendors that sell to them. The first meeting I attended was billed as a “town hall” meeting by the Federal Government’s “Office of the National Coordinator” (ONC). The session was
Recently, Jesdeep Bassi and Francis Lau of the University of Victoria (British Columbia) published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) another in a series of review articles that have been written in recent years to summarize the literature regarding the economic outcomes of investments in health information technology (HIT). Such articles answer
New HIT ROI lit review is a methodologic tour de force, but misses the point Read More »
I don’t normally read the Harvard Business Review. I find it a bit too cool. Trying too hard to coin new words. Over-simplifying complex issues. Over-confidently setting expectations. Recently, Harvard Business Review sponsored a web-seminar entitled “Big Data: Can You Seize the Opportunity.” Classic HBR. Don’t challenge the premise. Just challenge the audience to sign up. But,
Big Data: A break-through, or just new terminology? Read More »
Al Lewis is an actuarial consultant that has long focused on challenging wellness and care management vendors to prove their value. He founded the “Disease Management Purchasing Consortium” and established a training and certification program for “critical outcomes report analysis.” Al has been calling out the methodological carelessness and dirty tricks of wellness and care
Al Lewis calls workplace wellness programs “get well quick schemes” Read More »
A Health Policy Brief published in Health Affairs on December 13, 2012 referenced an analysis published last April in JAMA regarding waste in health care. In this analysis, Don Berwick (one of my health care heroes) and Andrew Hackbarth (from RAND) estimated that waste in health care consumed between $476 billion and $992 billion of
Conceptualizing “over-treatment” waste: Don’t deny health economics Read More »
This week, Julie Creswell and Reed Abelson published an interesting piece in the New York Times about how the war between hospital chains puts doctors in a bind. I think the article includes many relevant facts about the consolidation of the health care market. But, I conceptualize the conflict a little differently. Here’s my take…
The race in on between triple-aimers and hospital defenders Read More »
Today, the CMS announced that it added another 89 ACOs to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Including the original 6 Physician Group Practice Transition Demonstration participants, the 32 Pioneer ACO, and the 27 MSSP participants announced in April, that brings the total number to 154, serving more than 2.4 million Medicare beneficiaries. Beginning this
We’re up to 154 Medicare ACOs Read More »
This morning, the United States Supreme Court made its landmark decision to uphold the health care reform law. I am very happy about it for a number of reasons: I won a $1 bet. As I described in a previous post, I bet my brother-in-law, an attorney from Chicago, that the law will be
I choose to be an optimist. I can visualize a health care system that is better than the one we have. A system where we function as a coordinated team, learn from day-to-day care, enabled by analytic methods and information technology designed to make that happen. A system where we can measure improvement in patient
