By Matthew Holt

I'm recycling, but today someone asked me what I think we should do about health care reform. Funnily enough, we’re running a new(ish) series on h20tv.com in which anyone can give their 60–90 second view. Mine is here.

But the best thing I've ever written on the subject was put up 2 years ago on TMPcafe as part of a discussion series. I read it again today and it's still the clearest work I've done articulating my views on what reform should look like. Social insurance is the key–but it can handle competition, just not the type you're used to!.

By MATTHEW HOLT

The X-PRIZE Foundation has generated a lot of attention recently by awarding substantial prizes designed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in areas from genomics to space travel. Earlier this week X-Prize announced they are extending the model to healthcare with a $10 million plus prize, intended to “catalyze dramatic improvements in
health and health care value in the United States.” (You can read the full release here.)  I talked with X-Prize CEO Dr.Peter Diamandis about what it means and what they expect to happen next. Not sure if blogs are eligible, but they should be!!

Peter Diamandis, CEO, X-Prize Foundation from Health 2.0 on Vimeo.

By MATTHEW HOLT

Microsoft Health Solutions Group were one of the more interesting interviews I did at HIMSS.  Here, Chris Sullivan & Randy Fusco from Microsoft Health Solutions talk
about what they're doing with Amalga (their provider solution) and
HealthVault (their consumer solution) and discuss the interaction
between the two. 

Chris Sullivan, Randy Fusco, Microsoft from Health 2.0 on Vimeo.

By DEB BRADLEY

Medical claims, pharmacy claims, lab values, HRAs, genetic markers, biometrics – the abundance of data  is having an immediate impact on how analytics shape healthcare.  Next generation analytics are bringing attention to health and wellness rather than disease-specific guidelines, and generating novel approaches to value-based medicine and care management.

Traditionally, analytics, such as predictive modeling, have been used to identify individuals for chronic care management and to set rates.  New predictive models, however, include financial and clinical algorithms, which allow healthcare organizations to implement advanced ways to identify, manage and measure risk across and within a population.

A few examples of these pioneering applications of advanced analytics are outlined below.

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Carl Hiaasen on efforts to block Florida's new cigarette tax:

"Ellyn Bogdanoff, the Fort Lauderdale Republican who chairs the
Finance and Tax Committee in the House … strongly opposes a
cigarette tax because fewer smokers would be bad for business. The woman is dead serious, folks. In
particular, Bogdanoff worries about the impact that a cigarette tax
would have on convenience stores — not exactly the bedrock of our
economy, but these are the establishments where most young smokers buy
their Marlboros and Camels.

''Twenty-two percent of all sales in
convenience stores are cigarettes,'' Bogdanoff said. “We need to look
at everything. If they don't go in to buy cigarettes, they don't buy
the Coke. They don't buy the chips.''

And if they don't buy the chips, then they don't buy the beef jerky! God help us!"

By ANNE WILLIAMS, MD

Now that I’ve reached my mid-50s, I sometimes think about retirement, and to be honest it worries me.
  I’m not talking about the typical things you worry about pre-retirement, such as the loss of income or lifestyle changes.  I worry about what will happen to my patients.

Why?  For the simple reason that it will be hard to replace me. This isn’t my ego talking: there simply aren’t nearly enough new surgeons coming along to replace me – or my other contemporaries, for that matter.

I work in Glasgow, Montana, a town of 3,500 in northeastern Montana that is about as rural as it gets.  I serve more than 20,000 patients in an area that runs 100 or more miles in every direction except north past the Canadian border. I’ve been on call essentially every hour of every day since I came to Montana over 20 years ago.

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By EUGENE BORUKOVICH

Back in 1995-96, I ran a site out of
my dorm room called Mac-o-mania. It was a collection of interesting 

products and tidbits for the Macintosh community. I initially gathered
content myself but as the site's popularity grew I became highly dependent
on people to send me comments, tips and links to keep the site going. 

I am a huge believer in the unique ability
of people to take their experiences (failures as well as successes)
and place them, along with other content, onto shelves in their brain.
Innovation is the combination of all those pieces of content in a social
environment shared and combined with other like-minded individuals. 

Last June I went to Scott Heiferman’s
Tech meetup and shortly thereafter created the New York Healthcare Technology
Organization using meetup.com platform (thanks Scott!!! – its worth
every penny). 

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