Author Archives

Matthew Holt

THCB Reader

Jan 30, 2008• 2

The Omnimedix Institute’s JD Kleinke wrote in to comment on the thread triggered by last week’s news on the dossia project, a story that came out when Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott revealed new details of the retail giant’s plans to work with major employers to help them cut healthcare costs in his annual January address to the company’s managers and other employees in Kansas City. Scott’s plan provoked the usual skeptical response from critics in the blogosphere and the media, but JD had this to say:

"Omnimedix is currently in the process of resolving a legal dispute with Wal-Mart and the other Dossia corporations regarding the development and operation of the Dossia PHR system. And while this dispute has been an annoyance for us and no doubt for Wal-Mart, I’d like to make it clear that we support Wal-Mart’s overall health care ambitions, which involve not only PHRs for their own employees, but an expansion of health benefits for those employees, and the creation of a modern, affordable, accessible health care delivery system. Think whatever you want about this oft-vilified mega-retailer; Wal-Mart has the singular ability to bring a low-cost, low-friction, high-value, high-access alternative to health care delivery in the U.S., one we have desperately needed for decades."

INTERNATIONAL: Kidneys stolen from kidnap victims

Jan 30, 2008

This made me feel ill: Kidney thefts shock India.

HEALTH PLANS: WellCare…killing health care some more?

Jan 30, 2008• 1

After last Fall’s FBI raid the top management at Wellcare resigned on Friday. The board is hoping that the new CEO, former United executive Charles Berg, will right the ship. After all who could we trust more than the WellCare board to guarantee that the taxpayer and patients will have their affairs conducted in proper and decent order. Because there’s no chance that anyone on the WellCare board has ever taken advantage of their position in order to simply cash in, oh wait….

Well then surely there’s no chance that the three senior execs who resigned are the three who also sold millions in stock a few months before the FBI raids, is there? Oh it was them? That’s a surprise–and what about that other board member who also cashed in big time?

I guess I’ll check the comments section on this post to get Reggie’s explanation…

PODCAST/HEALTH 2.0: Interview with Tony Miller, Carol

Jan 29, 2008

One of the most interesting new Health 2.0 companies is Carol–a Minnesota start-up that is aiming at the heart of the health care system. It’s trying to create "care packages" that will in the end (if it works) change how people buy care, and how providers organize to deliver it.

Ambitious and very interesting stuff. In one of the first interviews with Carol CEO Tony Miller since their launch last week, I asked him what the company was hoping to do and why he felt that they had a shot at changing the world! Here’s the interview part 1 & part 2

POLICY/INTERNATIONAL: The new health care system in the Netherlands

Jan 29, 2008• 4

It would be great if we could get the US to a system of health insurers competing over the right things. With a universal individual mandate that worked, risk adjustment between insurers, and social solidarity mixed with market incentives — the best of both worlds. The Dutch (pound for pound) have better football, beer and drug laws than anyone else. And now a very sensible health care system too.

Here’s a video on the new health care system in the Netherlands.

POLICY/POLITICS: Health insurance without health care by Claudia Chaufan

Jan 29, 2008• 5

Claudia Chaufan teaches sociology of health and medicine and health policy at UC Santa Cruz,. and is Vice President of California Physicians Alliance, the California Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, which argues for a single payer system. What does she think of ArnieCare–which looks like it suffered a fatal blow in a California Senate committee yesterday? You can guess but read on….

Doesn’t everybody agree that the American health care system is broken, that too many are often an illness away from bankruptcy or go without medical care altogether – and up to 18, 000 die each year for that reason? If so, have some of us lost our senses when opposing the “Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act”, or ABX1 1, according to the New York Times, a “bipartisan blueprint to bring near-universal coverage to the most populous state”? Are we driven by ideology, callously ignoring that this “ambitious” legislation has the potential to expand health coverage to 3.6 million Californians without raising any taxes or creating new ones?

Some would argue that we are. But be warned: when something is too good to be true, it is probably not true. For instance, some of us are concerned with the fantasy numbers of Governor Swcharzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, proponents of the bill, who, if they at all bothered estimate the costs of the bill, conveniently stopped their estimates by the fourth year. As legislative analyst Elizabeth G. Hill pointed out, assuming that the $250 premium level proposed by the bill is realistic (Hill thinks it is not), revenues will cover the costs of the first year of operation of the program, but by the fifth year annual costs will exceed revenues by $300 million. So in the best case scenario, five years from now we will be facing the same, or worse, problems we do today.

POLICY: Shannon Brownlee is da man!

Jan 29, 2008• 3

It’s been really great getting to know the new voice of the Dartmouth school, Shannon Brownlee. She’s interviewed in her local paper about the concept that the American health care system delivers More money, but less health. Hopefully we’ll have her writing more on THCB soon!

QUALITY: Can coughing save your life? Not in Shanghai

Jan 29, 2008

So one friend sent me this cool urban legend powerpoint about how coughing saves your life during a heart attack. The About.com page I’ve linked more or less debunks it, but another friend had a much better repost:

I ride by bike to work, in Shanghai, where someone coughing and spitting is seen as completely normal, so while I might recover from the initial onset, it will attract zero attention. In my further bewidlerment, I will be run over by one of the drivers of the manifold Mercedes and prowling Porsches that care not an iota about human life, especially if on a bicycle (it’s a small dick thing).

My last few moments will be spent looking up at the assembled crowd of onlookers, who admiring the soles of my well heeled shoes, will be unable to reconcile the apparent wealth with biking to work. In my frustration, I will be unable to tell them that I cycle for my health.

Families USA Health Action 2008: An Alternative Plan – Brian

Jan 28, 2008• 2

A wonderful meeting (Full disclosure: They brought me in to blog my impressions.), The Families USA conference that ended Saturday brought together some impressive Congressional politicians – Nancy Pelosi, Tom Daschle, Ken Salazar, Blanche Lincoln – and true health care experts – Don Berwick, Tony Fauci – with "consumer advocates" from around the country.

I thoroughly enjoyed the people at the conference. They were, for the most part, knowledgeable about health care and committed to driving a better system. (My favorites were a group of California Gray Panthers, all of whom were VERY up on the issues). There were also bright young people relatively early in their careers, and representatives from community health advocacy organizations around the country, all fervently dedicated to a better, more equitable health system.

Families USA Health Action 2008: Berwick on Everything Health Care – Brian

Jan 28, 2008• 1

One of the pleasures of the Families USA Health Action conference was that the speakers represented a nice blend of top politicians and genuine health care experts. Tony Fauci MD, the wonderful head of NIH’s National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, who talked about Global Health, was followed by the equally impressive Don Berwick MD, the Founder and leader of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. I’ve heard Dr. Berwick speak several times and am always delighted by his cogent, comfortable, sensible presentations.

I can think of several people who, if they gave one, deserve a health care Nobel Prize for the positive impact they’ve had on millions of people through their work to change the industry. Dr. Berwick is one. (Others include Jack Wennberg MD, the founder of the Dartmouth Atlas, and David Eddy MD, who leads the Archimedes Project and who coined the term "Evidence-Based Medicine.")