Tag: Uncategorized

Calendar: The Transforming Healthcare Summit 2009

Feb 16, 2009

The Transforming Healthcare Summit 2009: Impact & Opportunity in the Obama Plan, Thu. Feb. 26, 2009, 5:45 pm in Boston with Keynote Jim Roosevelt of Tufts and the Obama Transition Team and panelists Jim Glaser of Partners, Jonathan Bush of athenahealth, and Charlie Baker of Harvard Pilgrim.

The American healthcare sector has never experienced such a time of crisis, uncertainty, and opportunity. As a result, the Obama Administration has made healthcare the centerpiece of its stimulus and reform plans. Billions of dollars are flowing into healthcare from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and tens of billions more are expected from the American Recovery and Reinvestment (Stimulus) Plan and from the forthcoming comprehensive healthcare reform plan. But how do you and your organization learn about the change and get ahead of it?

An Interview with Lynn Jennings, CEO of WeCare TLC, an Onsite Clinic Company

Feb 16, 2009• 4

By RICHARD REECE

The
American entrepreneurial economy distinctly differs from that of
socialistic European economies. American organizations must be able to
make decisions based on proximity to performance, the market,
technology, society, environment, and demographics. In Europe, on the
other hand, distance from the market of centralized systems makes
innovation and responsiveness difficult

"Innovation-Driven Health Care: 34 Key Concepts for Transformation" — Jones and Bartlett, 2007

Background

Q: What is your position?

A: I am CEO of Alliance Underwriters. It has two subsidiaries. One is called Medwatch. The other is called WeCareTLC. Alliance Underwriters
is a Managing General Underwriter for stop-lost insurance for
self-funded employers on their health insurance. We have been in
business for over 20 years. Medwatch is a utilization management company doing case management and disease management. It has been in business over 20 years. WeCareTLC
is an on-site employer clinical management company, and it has been in
business about three years. In these three companies, we have a total
of about 100 employees, and our fee revenues are about $8 million. We
are located in Orlando, Florida.

Checklists (The Sequel)

Feb 15, 2009• 3

By Bob Wachter

Last month’s New England Journal included another astounding checklist study,
an international extravaganza that found nearly 50% reductions in
mortality and complications after implementation of pre- and post-op
surgical safety checklists.

Wow.

Coincidentally, I read the study, conducted by a research team led by surgeon/author extraordinaire Atul Gawande,
on my way home from a meeting at the headquarters of the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The AHRQ gathering brought
together the advisors to a new rollout of the Hopkins/Michigan
checklist program to prevent central line-associated bloodstream
infections (CABSI) to 10 additional states. You remember that study, published in the NEJM in 2007: implementation of a simple 5-item checklist in more than 100 Michigan ICUs led to over 1000 lives saved.

The Japanese Dr. Koop

Feb 13, 2009• 3

By John Halamka

As readers of my blog know, I'm a great fan of the Japanese culture,
lifestyle, and people. I'm on a speaking tour of the country this week,
meeting with government, academia, and industry leaders in
Tokyo,
Nagoya and Kyoto. Every time I visit Japan I learn more about the
language, the arts, and tradition. The trip thus far has been
remarkable with many insights into the challenges of their healthcare
system, their plans for EHRs and their emerging interest in PHRs. I've
met many friends and colleagues, had great vegetarian meals, and
mastered the Tokyo subway system.

One of the most interesting
experiences was having lunch with Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, the most
famous physician in Japan. He's 97 years old and loved by everyone –
the Japanese version of Dr. Koop. He has published over 150 books since
his 75th birthday, including one "Living Long, Living Good" that has
sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly
Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a
quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.

The Expansion of the Federal Health Care Bureaucracy Bill

Feb 13, 2009• 8

By ERIC NOVACK

With the conference report available on the web, here are the references to the health care provisions in the conference report of the 'stimulus' bill. I have not gone into great detail on the privacy provisions (which are, in large part, dedicated to a new aggressive federal watchdog/ punishment regime to enforce the privacy standards– that have not been developed yet).

Nor have I done a complete look at the COBRA and Medicaid expansion provisions.

But, make no mistake, this may be called a 'stimulus' bill— but it is really a massive expansion of the federal health care bureaucracy.

A Consumer Advocate’s Take On the Economic Stimulus and HIT

Feb 13, 2009• 2

By Eva Powell

In light of all the discussion about the Economic Recovery Plan and
the privacy provisions in the HIT Title, I thought it might be helpful
to provide a consumer advocate’s view. The National Partnership for
Women & Families leads a coalition of consumer, patient, and labor
groups, the Consumer Partnership for eHealth (CPeH). The organizations
in this coalition are working to advance HIT adoption, because we know
that achieving better coordinated, higher quality health care demands
the integration of new technologies into the health care delivery
system.

10 Simple Rules For a Non-adversarial Healthcare System

Feb 12, 2009• 5

By Peter Nesbitt

Most discussions regarding health care focus on parts that need fixing. Health care has many parts and some are broken and some aren't. But if we want to solve the problem, first we better decide on whether we have the right model. In the model that follows, we strongly emphasize building trust between participants but, as always, trust has to be verified.

Several years ago, we had the idea of building a non-adversarial managed care system for large employers and their injured workers. We named it "The Managed Care Alliance." As people familiar with workers' compensation know, it is among the most adversarial medical systems in the world. Employers and payers have little control over medical care and attendant costs. Abuse was rampant and providers, patients, and payers were pitted against each other. Many cases ended up in the courts. Our theory was that by eliminating friction, we could better ensure appropriate care for patients and significantly lower costs. Over a 10 year period during which I was involved, that is exactly what happened.

Missing in action: The National Coalition on Health Care

Feb 12, 2009• 10

By Roger Collier

Browsing through some 2007 entries in Bob Laszewski’s Healthcare Policy and Marketplace Review blog recently, I came across Bob’s rave review for a health care reform proposal from the National Coalition on Health Care.

The National Coalition, for anyone unfamiliar with the organization, is (or ought to be) a health care reform powerhouse. Members of the Coalition listed on its website include the AARP, General Electric, Duke Energy, UnitedHealth, the AFL-CIO, Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield, the American College of Surgeons, the California Public Retirement System, the Episcopal Church, and the Salvation Army—a remarkable cross-section of business, health care, and social and community organizations.

Individual supporters listed include such BIG political names as former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush and former Senate majority leaders Bob Dole, George Mitchell, and Tom Daschle, as well as health economics luminaries Henry Aaron, Stuart Altman, Arnold Relman, Donald Berwick, and Uwe Reinhardt. It’s hard to imagine a more impressive list, or one with more potential firepower in the battle for reform.

The Coalition was formed in 1990, just as reform was becoming one of the top items on the national political agenda. It was established as a non-profit, non-partisan organization, with—in the words of its early materials—“members united in the belief that America needs better, more affordable health care and that all Americans should have health insurance.”

A Business Case to Tackle Obesity

Feb 12, 2009• 18

By Sarah Arnquist

In the grocery business, volume counts. Profit margins of mere pennies comprise the bottom line, and so health care costs rising at nearly double-digit inflation rates threaten to undermine the grocer’s business model.

Hence, one of the nation’s largest supermarket chief executive officers has his sights set on reducing rates of obesity among his 200,000 employees.

Safeway CEO Steve Burd looked at the numbers and concluded obesity is the root of a majority of his company’s health care costs. The way he sees it, chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, are his primary cost drivers. Obesity is behind them all.

Relying on his steadfast belief in the efficiency of markets, Burd led his self-insured company in 2005 to create a health plan that puts healthy behavior incentives squarely in front of his employees.

In the three years since, Safeway’s health costs increased only a half a percentage point, Burd told an audience of hundreds of health services and policy researchers last week in Washington D.C. In that time, most businesses have experienced about 16 percent increases in family premiums.

Beyond disgusting

Feb 12, 2009• 10

By Matthew Holt

If I worked on the editorial board of a “news” organization that was owned by a lunatic from South Korea
who is a convicted criminal whose cult has been justifiably accused of kidnapping beating, and enslaving its followers I would be very, very, very careful before I started comparing the people who support an improved national health care IT infrastructure to Hitler and suggesting that they advocate mass slaughter of sick people.