Some of the successful CEOs I’ve ever met can barely talk, let alone read! And we all know many overly-academic types who are well read but haven’t got two farthings to rub together. But apparently it’s the deep academic nature of reflective life that means makes CEOs the success they are today. According to the Times a C.E.O’s library reveals the keys to their success. Funnily enough the “CEO” they focus on is not a CEO but a VC and a former journalist.

Fawning over the luck of the super wealthy and calling it something else other than an accident of birth and opportunity seems to be the NY Times latest fad this month. This one follows a disgustingly crass article about the richest of the rich, which went on and on about Sandy Weil of Citicorp without mentioning one pertinent minor fact that Uwe Reinhardt noticed about him. Despite his fabulous wealth Citicorp shareholders paid some $61,000 to cover his family’s out of pocket health expenditures and paid the tax on top of it. (The NY Times letters page beats up Weil and his ilk pretty well—not that he’d care)

I wonder how many of these libraries contain books about humility? Not many that get referred to when the subject of executive compensation comes up.

New York attorney
general Andrew M. Cuomo sent a letter to UnitedHealthCare
demanding that the insurer cancel
the launch of an online service that would rate doctors by the quality of
care they provide and the cost of their services. Linda Lacewell, an attorney
on Cuomo’s staff, noted that the program could be used to push patients toward
selected doctors. “To compound the situation, we understand that employers may
act on these ‘ratings’ to offer financial inducements such as lower co-payments
or deductibles to promote ‘cost-effective’ doctors to their employees."

The Wall Street Journal reports that state and federal officials are continuing
to ask tough questions about the status of non-profit hospitals. Yesterday,
the IRS released a study that notes that "many" hospitals spend less
than three percent of revenues on charitable care. The analysis is based on a survey of  500 non-profit hospitals. Meanwhile, Senator Charles Grassley
released a memorandum in response that suggests that Congress may set new rules governing how
much charity care non-profits are required to provide. 

Dr. Anna Pou, the New Orleans surgeon charged with second degree homicide in the deaths of four patients in
her care in the days after Hurricane Katrina, filed
a lawsuit accusing Louisiana attorney general Charles Foti of using the
case against her to "advance his political career." The suit argues
that Foti would better serve the state’s residents by investigating the inept
official response to the disaster."The real cause of loss of life is the
government’s abandonment of the patients and the doctors," the lawsuit
notes. "There can be no doubt that this will be the central issue in the
defense of this matter."

The thread on Dr. Pou and her case, which began more than a year ago when we ran a brief item about
the defense fund set up to help pay her legal expenses, has been surprisingly active for a long time. Various posters and acquaintances — including many doctors and other healthcare workers who have worked with her – have left messages of support,
encouragement and criticism. Many have had nasty things to say about Charles Foti. 
Bill writes in claiming to have an inside angle the case. (Note: These claims have not been verified.) He says:         

"Anna is also my friend and I promised her I would not talk about the
things we have talked about. I wish I could tell you more, but I made a
promise and I am therefore bound to keep it. What I can tell you is this: Foti was not the principle in the original investigation.  Instead Jullie Cullen, Director of the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office spearheaded the original investigation. The case against Anna will not go further than the Grand Jury. There will be no court case and the charges will be dropped. I wish I could tell you more, but I cannot. But please know this: what happened on the seventh floor was done out of love."

Val responds: "First of all I am an MD and I did go through Katrina and I do know Anna
Pou. But trying to be objective and somewhat logical here no one is
allowed or justified to "play God" and decide when another’s life
should end. However, we are bound to reduce suffering whenever
possible. It is completely bogus to say that you cannot give versed and
morphine together– we do it all the time in ICU or the OR etc."

Jonathen sounds more Perry Mason-like. "The charges were based not just on the eye witness statements that
indicated Dr. Pou, in her own words, told them she was going to
administer lethal doses but on the original autopsy reports which
showed high levels of morphine, including a morphine overdose test, and
Versed and Ativan. Mr. Foti was doing his job. And as for Anna, this
case is not about whether she is a nice or not nice person, whether she
is a competent or incompetent doctor.This is a case about a doctor who
told multiple eye witnesses that lethal injections where going to be
administered to the remaining patients on the seventh floor."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Merrill Goozner drew
attention to a post last week by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Paul Levy discussing a new treatment for severe asthma. Goozner noted
that that BDMIC is both
a clinical trial site for the procedure and a
consultant to the device’s maker, Ashtmatx of Mountain View California. Levy mentioned neither fact in his post.  Medical
journals have rules that disclosure of potential conflicts. So do newspapers.
Yet "the blogosphere operates without rules, even when the blogger runs
one of the nation’s leading teaching hospitals," Goozner writes. Levy says
he was "unaware of the relationship" at the time he wrote about the treatment.

Two years ago, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center ignored
the advice of consultants and pushed ahead with an ambitious $402 million IT
services contract with IBM. The deal was one of the most talked about of the
year. Did it pay off? UPMC CIO Daniel Drawbaugh says yes.

In Vermont, government
officials think "socialized data" could help develop a
new model for fighting chronic diseases. Government Health IT News examines
the ways that the Vermont Information Technology Leaders program, a
public/private partnership, is combining the regional health information
organization with traditional disease management methods. The article
examines similar efforts around the country, noting projects in Kentucky and Calgary. Orion Health’s Dr.
Chris Hobson, the star of a recent THCB podcast, makes an appearance to talk
about the company’s technology, which is being used in both Calgary and Vermont.  [Full disclosure Orion is a THCB sponsor.]

We are
looking for someone with media experience, but who is also savvy in the ways of
start ups. Great comp and even better working environment. We are located in
SOMA area of SF, just off Embarcadero and almost under the lights of AT&T
Ball park where Giants play.

Continue reading…

Today
I’m at the HealthCare Unbound conference in San Francisco, where
I’m on a panel on PHRs at the end of the day. Tomorrow morning
I’m presenting at the Silverlink/HealthWise session on Information
Therapy in Boston. You do the math and figure out where I’m spending
the night! Funnily enough as I type I’m sitting next to Josh Seidman,
the President of the Center for Information Therapy, who’s on a panel
here later today. Tomorrow I’ll be seeing his colleague Dorothy
Jeffress. At least those two have figured out the divide and
conquer thing.

First
up was Vince Kuratis. He told us the DM world was
ending (otherwise known as Medicare Health Support crapping
out).

Liz
Boehm, Forrester was looking at tech adoption among
seniors and trying to do it by same store growth versus new growth in
tech use by seniors as they age over time. Most growth in familiar
technologies; (e.g. replacement technologies like cell phones, DVD,
etc) was dominated by real growth BUT going online regularly and having a
computer at home are primarily from people aging in (new growth rather than
same store growth). And that means the adoption will take much longer.

Why
is this adoption rate so slow? Seniors have trouble seeing. Seriously. She
showed a cool slide that showed problems with vision that more seniors have
(focus, seeing at night, etc, etc). And hearing, and using the mouse and
interacting with websites, etc, etc, etc. And there are problems with cognition
(as you age your short term memory falls apart, as we all know!). Liz tried to
get the crowd to follow some basic instructions like standing up, sitting down,
hopping up on one foot; she said that most seniors have trouble
following those instructions quickly. I noticed that most people were too lazy
to get up and follow along (Josh and I did of course). So motivation is a
problem too (after all if a good looking blonde woman can’t persuade
a room full of geeky men to do anything, what hope do the rest of us have!).
Liz then gave a whole list of things that companies targeting them should do to
change behavior. Looks like Forrester is having trouble get its clients to
figure this out, and is having to go back to real basics on the whole matter.
To me that’s not particularly good news, as if they have to be
helping them with that. Here’s the data from Forrester.

Continue reading…

The Dossia Project, the sweeping personal health record (PHR) initiative backed by Wal Mart, Cardinal Health, Pitney Bowes, Intel, BP and other major employers, looks as though it is running into serious problems. The consortium is suing JD Kleinke’s Omnimedix Institute, the non-profit group which was hired to develop the system seven months ago. "They went ahead to file
a restraining order to prevent us from suing them," Ominmedix chairman
and CEO J.D. Kleinke said in an interview. "They’ve gone ahead and
filed a restraining order against us, a 13-employee, 501-C."