Fred Goldstein – The Health Care Blog

Matthew talks, Fred listens

Apr 11, 2016

After years interviewing people at HIMSS, I got interviewed by a patient (as in putting up with me, not sick!) Fred Goldstein. My pearls of wisdom include the history of EMRs, eHealth, and how much money HIMSS makes by not buying food! Thanks to Greg Masters of Health Innovation Media for this and all he does!–Matthew Holt

LIVE from @HiMSS 2016 | Meet Matt Holt @boltyboy Co-chair @Health2con from Health Innovation Media on Vimeo.

Unicornius Gorus: There’s More to the Theranos and Zenefits Story

Apr 1, 2016• 1

By FRED GOLDSTEIN

flying cadeucii A Correction to Unicornius Gorus – Theranos and Zenefits

I have a confession to make, my previous piece entitled Unicornius Gorus –Theranos and Zenefits, which identified these two companies as a new species in the Unicornius genus was not correct.

The problems at Theranos, as reported by John Carreyrou at the Wall Street Journal, just keep getting worse. While its now very clear Theranos has a serious problem with their Edison technology and its ability to produce accurate results, what is perhaps even more glaring is their complete disregard for operating a lab within standards.

Along with the measurement errors, the report by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found Theranos:

used unqualified staff,

allowed unlicensed workers to review patient test results

did not properly operate equipment as per manufacturer recommendations,

lacked proper documentation and signatures and

failed to meet quality control standards.

Unicornius Gorus – Theranos and Zenefits

Feb 15, 2016• 2

By FRED GOLDSTEIN

The Lab test reinvented – Theranos

So I have to ask Theranos; which lab test have you reinvented? Is it the one where you do a full blood draw and send it off to UCSF to pay way more than the amount you charged the patient? Is there something in that business model I am not getting? Or did you reach back to the old “I’ll make it up in volume” approach.

The Nation’s First Modern Benefits Broker – Zenefits

And you Zenefits, if your idea of “Modern Benefits Broker” is that they are not licensed to sell insurance, I think I’ll go for the pre-modern broker.Yes I know, I’ve heard it soooooo many times, all it takes is a bit of silicon valley whiz bang and the whole world will be better, take that unique bravado and creativity and apply it to healthcare, change the world.

Only one small problem; as Esther Dyson said at Health 2.0 many years ago and I’m paraphrasing from memory:

I’ll come back in two years and most of you won’t be here, why because you don’t understand healthcare. You can build all the great systems you want, but if they don’t work in healthcare, because you don’t understand it, you’re done.