Category: Uncategorized

Volunteer doctors blocked by red tape

Aug 11, 2008• 3

By June Spector

Volunteer clinicians play a critical role in the current U.S. safety-net health care system and in many health care coverage expansion proposals. Yet, bureaucracy and red tape make it excruciatingly difficult for well-intentioned clinicians to donate their time.

This summer, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Health Centers Renewal Act (H.R. 1343) to provide funding for more safety-net health care centers. But without policies that make it easier for doctors and nurses to volunteer, our shiny new clinics could become empty reminders of a failed effort to improve the public’s health. Also, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, introduced the Volunteer Health Care Program Act in July to expand liability protection to volunteer doctors.

I live in Pennsylvania, but am doing a fellowship in Baltimore and want
to volunteer as a primary care doctor in one of they city’s many
clinics for the uninsured. After spending nearly $1,000 and numerous hours jumping through hoops trying to get a Maryland physician’s license, I can say confidently that these are needed reforms. With the time and money I’ve spent so far, I could have easily seen and
helped many patients.

Revolution Health looking to sell?

Aug 11, 2008• 8

By Vijay Goel

Steve Case’s Revolution Health hasn’t quite lived up to the promise trumpeted in early days. Recent rounds of layoffs, changes in overall strategy, and the hiring of an investment bank to explore sales lead one to think that Revolution is closer to circling the drain that it is carrying the banner of a new approach to health care focused on the consumer.

However, one recent rumor about a merger between Glam and Revolution Health reminds us of the direction that health publishing (and potentially health care delivery) are likely to go if we believe that consumer decision-making is important.

Viagra prescribed more safely online than in regular practice?

Aug 8, 2008• 9

By Matthew Holt

Really? Can this be true? Well so says a bunch of academics writing in the Mayo Clinic’s journal.

They looked at records of questionnaires taken and prescribing decisions made by a licensed, regulated online pharmacy called KwikMed — that is trying very hard to establish itself as ethically and legally different from those fly by night guys whose spam comments will rapidly attach to this post! They looked at the various outcomes and end points including safety and level of counseling and found that the online system produced results as good as or better as those found from a big records review in an unnamed (not surprisingly!) large multi-specialty clinic in Salt Lake City, UT.

Now obviously the ability to create an online questionnaire for specific conditions with clear inclusion/exclusion criteria (like ED or hair loss) means that as clear a picture can be gained in most cases from a good history taken online–and probably the history will be given more honestly by the patient. Plus the rigor of the history is probably better than one taken in a rushed office visit. And then it gets reviewed by a doctor who may recommend another approach but most times agrees and sends the Rx on to be filled.

Gaming for health

Aug 8, 2008• 10

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. That is his way-cool day gig. At night, he is a passionate computer gamer who builds his own custom rigs and struggles to squeeze out a few more frames per second with everything maxed out.

I admit to a fascination with Health 2.0. I see it as the place where a lot of the things that look promising in health care and technology are all mashing together. Xbox

As a follower of developments in both the health 2.0 movement and the gaming industry, I came across the following article that piqued my interest. It deals with the deal reached between Netflix and Microsoft to facilitate movie downloads to those using the XBOX Live network.

Reading this, I got to thinking it might have implications for Health 2.0. The question: Why not use these emerging gaming and movie delivery platforms to deliver interactive health care and fitness content.

Hmm, I wondered further: Would Netflix consider a deal with Microsoft to permit XBOX 360 users access to free download of certain interactive health care information content? I could see modules for management of certain diseases (including those that impact young people, such as asthma). There could also be modules with health and fitness activities that incorporate interactive video and gaming elements.

David Hamilton is very smart

Aug 7, 2008• 2

By Matthew Holt

In his piece he suggests that data portability will lead to a clash as consumers figure out that it’s not privacy of this data that’s the problem, it’s what insurers do to people they already know information about. And that behavior is inevitable in the absence of political reforms which said clash will cause….at some point.

Of course I think he’s smart because I agreed with him here!

Dude! The $100m VistA Open Source Opportunity

Aug 7, 2008• 21

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 I use it indiscriminately at random times. But hey, I am just following Merriam-Webster definition of the appropriate usage of the term “practically anywhere” within a sentence.

But dude! Have you actually read the recent GAO reports regarding the status of the current VistA modernization project? I was literally shocked – let me save you the trauma by pulling in the highlights (where is WorldVistA, VistA Software Alliance, Roger Maduro, or any of the VistA luminaries in terms of reporting on this?)

Three-quarters of Internet users seek health info

Aug 7, 2008• 9

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. Epatients

My colleagues recently updated our top three trend charts: Who’s Online, Internet Activities, and Daily Internet Activities.

Two of the new data points relate to health and health care. The October-December 2007 national phone survey shows that 75 percent of internet users answered yes to the single-line question, "Do you ever use the internet to look for health or medical information?"

Ten percent of internet users say they searched for health information "yesterday," which in a tracking survey like this one yields a picture of the "typical day" online. Health has moved up in the "typical day" list (from 7 percent in 2006 to the current 10 percent of internet users), but for most people the average day includes lots of emails (60 percent of internet users), general searches (49 percent), and news reading (39 percent) if they are online at all (30 percent of internet users are offline on a typical day).

Using 2.0 tools to improve health communication by 2020

Aug 7, 2008

By Sarah Arnquist

2010

Recognizing that in the two decades since Healthy People 2000 first laid out the nation’s health objectives, the internet has revolutionized how people seek and share health information, U.S. health officials are updating the nation’s health goals for the next decade and want to harness the power of e-health and Health 2.0 in their data collection and goal setting.

On Social Marketing and and Social Change is hosting a series of bloggers and discussions about the future of health communication and its role in the Healthy People 2020 goals.

"This is where talking about health and inspiring people to get involved in national health promotion and disease prevention policy meet," says blog host Craig Lefebvr. "If you’d like to contribute a post, or want to cross-post on relevant topics, please let me know and let’s work something out."

Little footsteps toward data mobility?

Aug 6, 2008• 5

By Matthew Holt

These few stories may be straws in the wind, or may be little streams rushing to a Athena bigger confluence. You be the judge!

AthenaHealth kicks butt in its most recent quarterly numbers, showing a 35% increase in revenue and a change to a profit compared to a loss the same quarter a year before. This marks the second quarter that once the post-IPO euphoria cooled down, they’ve been delivering on their numbers. Now stock-wise this may all remain tricky—the PE ratio still looks like 90’s dotcom stock, but what’s more interesting is the strategy.

After adding the Clinicals EMR to the core practice management Collector product, yesterday AthenaHealth bought a little company called MedicalMessaging for $7.7 million. What’s interesting about that is that it provides a front end for doctors using the AthenaHealth system to provide those little functions to their patients like online visits, record summaries, Rx refills, appointment booking and all the other stuff that needs to go online to make today’s doctor office more user friendly.