Author Archives

Matthew Holt

Vision for hospital’s future HIT

May 29, 2008• 2

By John Halamka

The role of the chief information officer is very operational — keeping the trains
running on time, ensuring budgets are sufficient and aligning IT resources with the needs of stakeholders.

One other important task of the CIO, however, is to market the work of the IT Department to internal and external audiences. Although IT staff and those involved in IT governance committees are interested in the granular details of projects and their time lines, many audiences want the vision – the big, audacious goals that are really transformational.

To ensure I target the right message to the right audience, I create two documents each year — an operating plan and an "elevator speech." I’m working with all our governance committees over the next few months to complete the details of the operating plan, but here’s my strawman elevator speech for 2009:

Using studies to prove virtually anything

May 29, 2008

By Matthew Holt

This one is great. A British academic has shown that e-breaks — allowing workers to use the Internet for “personal” reasons — actually improve productivity.

A game company paid for the study, but then again the RAND study on EMR effectiveness was paid for by Cerner so caveat emptor. But I suspect that it might be true that 10 minutes playing Grand Theft Auto IV or trawling Match.com probably helps reduce stress and improve focus when back on the job. And, anyway, a more trusting work environment when the boss isn’t micromanaging every minute is probably a better and happier, and therefore, more productive environment.

But be honest. When you’re distracted by personal Internet use (think about the last time you got lost in YouTube), do you really spend just 10 minutes?

Athena announces payer rankings

May 29, 2008• 1

By Matthew Holt

AthenaHealth has announced its rankings on the best and worst payers in health care. Athena CEO Jon Bush discussed the PayerView rankings on the CNBC Squawkbox with Ron Williams, CEO of Aetna, the No. 1 ranked fastest payer. Williams pontificated about how great it will be when all the stuff Aetna is putting in motion is up and running.

Johnbush
Then, he got a tough question about the pressure that high-deductible health plans have put on physicians by making them figure out payments from consumers and insurers. This is a real problem for doctors and getting worse. The amusing thing is that the question came not from the journalists but from Bush.

After Williams’ somewhat waffly answer, Bush said that he’s looking forward to announcing real-time claim adjudication with Aetna any time now. I’m not sure if Bush intended that as a slam or a promise (maybe both), but it seems AthenaHealth has had it with Humana and United Healthcare for a while.

Here’s the video and here’s the press release. New York’s Medicaid program is the worst payer, as if you were surprised.

Caring.com & Trusera — two Health 2.0 newbies talk

May 29, 2008• 1

By Matthew Holt

Two of the more interesting newcomers in the Health 2.0 scene gathered around the electronic watercooler, which is THCB’s podcast series, to talk about what they’re up to and why they are worth looking at.

Andy Cohen is CEO of Caring.com and Keith Schorsch is CEO of Trusera. Some of you may have seen Keith at the March 2008 Health 2.0 Conference. Andy is providing content checklists and much more for those who have sick or frail parents, which will be most of us. Keith is providing a sophisticated place for story telling and information exchange for those facing serious health conditions. Both have serious ambitions.

Interesting stuff — listen to the podcast

Around the Web in 60 Seconds (Or Less)

May 29, 2008

By THCB Staff

The WSJ Health blog: Police shoot a man with a Taser gun and inadvertently correct his heart beat.

California proposed legislation would allow pharmacies to sell patient info to marketers.

NYT Well: Childhood obesity rates level off.

John McCain releases more than 1,000 pages of his medical records.

Health industry gives more to Democrats than Republicans.

Financial Times: Indian drugmakers threaten to stop production en masse.

Massachusetts docs sue state agency claiming it publishes faulty physician ratings.

Business Week asks if FDA regulations are preventing U.S. cancer patients from accessing advanced cancer drugs.

NYT: SEC allows shareholders to vote on proposals for universal health coverage.

CJR: Democrats waver on prospects of health reform.

Boston Globe: Former Harvard Med School dean discusses new doctors’ march away from primary care to lucrative sub-specialties.

AP: Half of all insured Americans take at least one daily prescription for a chronic ailment.

FDA proposes new drug labels for pregnant and breastfeeding women

Self diagnosis in military health care

May 29, 2008

By Matthew Holt

Given how much cool stuff comes out of the military and eventually has an impact in real life (not to mention the $800 billion a year we’re spending on it), the MC4 (Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care) is worth a look. Unfortunately the sound on the video dies after a minute, but you’ll get the idea.

It appears that for those of you elitists with an iPhone ADAM is doing something similar (but of course I can’t tell, not having got one, n’all).

Microsoft Health Vault gearing up

May 29, 2008• 1

By Matthew Holt

Just a week after certain blogs (including this one) seem to have gone Google Health crazy, Microsoft gears up for its HealthVault Partners meeting next week in Seattle with both a $1.4- million increase in its BeWell funding for HealthvVault partner applications (an idea originally thought up by Grad Conn in the shower, so he says), and by MSFT Health Solutions Group’s head honcho Peter Neupert’s blog, Neupert On Health.

Peter will discover that the blog is a cruel mistress, but it’s great to see them getting more and more serious about Health (even in a week when some less successful non-health care projects have been trimmed).

FD. Peter will be back at Health 2.0 this fall, but sadly I won’t be in Seattle because I’ll be jetting to Ix Therapy in Washington DC instead.

Google Health — A view from the Inside

May 28, 2008• 14

By Robert Wachter

Google Health launched last Monday, which sent the world’s Google-watchers into a tizzy. I serve on Google Health’s Advisory Council – which met all day Tuesday – and so here’s a bit of inside dish, along with my impressions of the site and the company. Google Health page FYI,
my work on the Council is covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement, so I
won’t reveal anything that isn’t publicly known regarding Google’s
products or intentions. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, you
should know that I am compensated for my Google service. (No stock options, darn it.) With that as background, here’s the scoop. Google
began working on its version of the personal health record a couple of
years ago, after the company realized that a remarkably high percentage
of searches were for health information (I know, if that’s going to be
how priorities are set, you’re wondering if Google Sex is next). Google
put together an impressive team to develop the concept. One of the
leads is a former UCSF medicine resident, Dr. Roni Zeiger. Many of our
residents come to me for career advice, and I seem to recall Roni
asking me about pursuing his interests in informatics after residency
about a decade ago. Sage that I am, I probably told him that this
computer thing didn’t have legs. Luckily he didn’t listen, and now he’s
the top doc at Google. Go figure.

Let’s talk about tax exemptions

May 28, 2008• 2

By Paul Levy

An excellent article by Stephanie Strom in Monday’s New York Times covers what appears to be a growing controversy about the degree to which nonprofit organizations should or should not be permitted to be tax exempt under federal and state rules. This is a legitimate area for public debate, and the article sets out a number of examples and points of view.

I do not know much of the history of tax-exempt status, but I am guessing it was given by Congress and state legislatures to certain categories of non-profits in light of their public service obligations and activities. I am personally involved on the boards of several tax-exempt nonprofits, including BIDMC, an academic medical center devoted to clinical care, research, education, and community service, MIT, a university, and others currently and previously.

Now, if we think about it, any one of these lines of service could be
provided by for-profit corporations. What does society
get out of granting tax-exempt status to these institutions? The most
obvious thing is that none of the gains (i.e., "profits") of
non-profits are distributed to private investors. They are all recycled
into the mission and services of the organization.

The Innovation xChange

May 27, 2008• 1

THCB is proud to welcome our latest sponsor: Humana and ChangeNow4Health.com. This site would not be possible without the generous backing of corporate sponsors like Humana. So we’d like to thank them – as well as all of our other wonderful sponsors – for their very kind support.

When you have a moment pop over to Change Now 4 Health and have a look at the very clever innovation contest they’ve organized. You can send in your brilliant ideas in one of the following four areas: (1). Helping Consumers Make Smarter Health Care Decisions, (2) Simplifying the Business of Health Care, (3.) Preventing Sickness and Maintaining Health, (4.) General Innovations in Health Care.

You’ll also be able to read other people’s entries and comment on them. User-Generated Content at its finest! Top finalists will be eligible for three $10,000 prizes and possible additional support from the Humana Innovation Center. The official contest lingo:

Do you want to improve the U.S. health care system? Or at least be part of the much-needed dialogue? If you have ideas or solutions to improve the system, submit your ideas through ChangeNow4Health Innovation xChange and you can win up to $10,000 or have your ideas published in the e-book,
Tomorrow’s Health Care.

The Innovation xChange is looking for practical ideas and suggestions for improving the health care system. All participants in the system, from providers and health plans to consumers and government, are encouraged to join in the discussion.

All entries submitted on ChangeNow4Health will be open to comments and voting by the coalition’s communities. The top 20 entries will be published in ChangeNow4Health’s e-book, Tomorrow’s Health Care, and up to three finalists will be awarded $10,000 each.

In addition, Humana Inc., a founding member of the coalition, will consider the top
award-winners for a joint venture with the company’s Innovation Center, to incubate the winning idea and bring it to reality. Winners will be announced by August 31, 2008.

For more info: ChangeNow4Health.com