Cliquez pour la vidéo en français 
The Danish government’s Morten Petersen discusses Denmark’s National e-Health Portal at the Health 2.0 Europe Conference.
Above the Fold
The New Frontier of Medicine?
By
I hear the same sentiment frequently from my physician colleagues. They’ll say something like, “I am just an expensive data entry person.”
All the bells and whistles, drop-down boxes and multiple windows to navigate in their electronic health record (EHR) require them to focus more on the technology than the patient. Contrary to intent, technology is slowing them down and distracting them. A lot of self-employed physicians using an EHR as well as those working on a production basis will feel this pain.
Rest assured my friends, it is not just you and your inability to use a computer or to change your workflow—as IT experts and administrators would have us believe. The EHR industry has failed to deliver the solutions. Could this possibly be the reason so many doctors have failed to adopt an EHR? (In 2007, the U.S. Office of National Coordinator for Health IT reported that about 50% of EHR implementations failed.)
“If There’s a Doctor on Board, Please Ring Your Call Button”
By BOB WACHTER, MD
Well, it happened again. Last Thursday evening, I was somewhere over Saskatchewan, returning from a lovely Mediterranean cruise, in that uncomfortable semi-conscious state that passes for sleep when you’re flying coach, when the airplane’s PA system rang out:
“If there’s a doctor on board, please ring your call button!”
If you’re old enough to remember the show “To Tell the Truth,” you know what happened next. In the show, four B-list celebrity judges guess which of three contestants holds a certain unusual job. Once the judges have made their guesses (guided by contestants’ answers to a series of questions), the real skunk breeder, or tea taster, or cemetery lot saleswoman is asked to stand. One contestant begins to rise, then checks herself and sits down. Then another. Finally the correct contestant stands. The audience lets out a collective “oooh.”
I’m guessing that the average packed Boeing 777 has at least a handful of doctor-passengers. When the call comes for a physician, I’m sure a few mutter, “no f-ing way” and go back to their Sudoku. But most, I think, respond like I do: we reach tentatively for our call button then, thinking better of it, stop, look around, start again, then finally push the damn thing. Even as we nobly hit the button, in our heart of hearts we hope that we’re number two – our guilt assuaged but our services unneeded.Continue reading…
To Med Students Considering Primary Care
By ROB LAMBERTS, MD
Dear Student:
Thank you for your consideration of my profession for your career. I am a primary care physician and have practiced for the past 16 years in a privately-owned practice. (At some point I intend to stop practicing and start doing the real thing. It amazes me at how many patients let me practice on them.)
Anyhow, I thought I’d give you some advice as you go through what is perhaps your biggest decision regarding your career. Like me, you probably once thought that choosing to become a doctor was the biggest decision, but within medicine there are many options, giving a very wide range of career choices. It is the final choice that is, well, final. What are you going to do with your life? ”Being a doctor” covers so much range, that it really has little meaning. Dr. Oz is a doctor, and he has a very different life from mine (for one, he’s not the target of Oprah’s contempt like I am – but that’s a whole other story).
Here are the things to consider when thinking about primary care:
1. Do you like talking to people who are not like you?
Primary care doctors spend time with humans – normal humans. This is both good and bad, as you see all sides of people, the good, bad , crazy, annoying, funny, and vulnerable sides. If you see mental challenge as the main reason to do something, and would simply put up with the human interaction in primary care, don’t do it. The single most important thing I have with my patients that most non-pcp’s don’t have is relationship. I see people over their lifetime, and that gives me a unique perspective.
Health 2.0 Europe Conference Videos
On April 6-7, 2010, Health 2.0, in collaboration with Basil Strategies,
held the Health 2.0 Europe Conference in Paris, France. At long last Health 2.0 has posted the videos from this conference (translating geek speak about digital video formats was harder than we
thought). If you
go to Health 2.0 TV you can find all of the best on stage moments,
including the hosts’ opening introduction to Health 2.0, the keynote
speakers, the panels, and the demonstrations. We want to start you off
with the panel that has been called the best panel ever at Health 2.0,
Patients and Online Communities. This panel discussion is about the
impact that cultures, languages and context have on care delivery in
different countries.
Make sure that you stop by the Health
2.0 website and check out the Europe 2010 Conference videos.
Op-Ed: The Government EHR
No, you didn’t miss anything, there is no Government EHR. But should there be one? And if so, what should it look like?
The argument in favor of a Government EHR goes something like this: If we have 19 Billion dollars to spend on EHR adoption, why not spend a small fraction of that money and buy or build an EHR and make it freely available to all physicians and hospitals? Not a bad idea. I would add that, if we must, we could spend the rest of those billions on training and supporting physicians in their efforts to computerize their records. So how would a Government go about accomplishing such monumental task?Continue reading…
It’s My Life, It’s Now or Never
By LISA SUENNEN
You can walk into a pharmacy any day and buy a test kit to find out if you are ovulating so that you can undertake family planning activities. You can buy home testing kits to screen for high cholesterol, presence of the HIV virus, even illicit drug use. You can also pony up $500 and buy yourself a genetic test kit from 23andMe, a retail DNA testing service, to find out what might be in your genetic blueprint. Hey, you can even visit a fortune teller if you feel that is how you want to make pre-emptive healthcare decisions.
While some might look askew at how you get information to make choices about your life, it is rare that someone steps in and tries to stop you from doing so. In general, the American way is to say, “Hey, you’re an adult and it’s your life. If you want to engage in self-actualization, whether or not it has a scientific basis, that’s your beeswax.”
As medicine has evolved to a point where over-the-counter testing has become more and more accessible, many consumers have responded to the perceived advantages of privacy, convenience and the heightened ability to make health decisions early. In fact, these are part of the key principles espoused by those who believe that consumers have a right to their own healthcare information. The idea is that the information is about you, the healthcare consumer, and thus should be both readily available to you and yours to do with what you wish. And yet, that is not always the case. Often it’s not even close. Continue reading…
Trust Me I’m a Doctor vs. Physician Quality Report Cards
By
In Quality Measures and the Individual Physician, Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, questions the usefulness of feedback report cards for individual providers. She states, “Only 33% of my patients with diabetes have glycated hemoglobin levels that are at goal. Only 44% have cholesterol levels at goal. A measly 26% have blood pressure at goal. All my grades are well below my institution’s targets.” (http://danielleofri.com/?p=1169)
It would be better for Dr. Ofri’s patients if these numbers were higher. I think even Dr. Ofri would agree with that assessment. And yet Dr. Ofri’s response to these low scores is that “the overwhelming majority of health care workers are in the profession to help patients and doing a decent job.” And more upsetting is Dr. Ofri’s conclusion where “I don’t even bother checking the results anymore. I just quietly push the reports under my pile of unread journals, phone messages, insurance forms, and prior authorizations.” (http://danielleofri.com/?p=1169)
Three Wishes
By ROB LAMBERTS, MD
So I was walking down the hallway in my office, mildly distracted,
when I kicked something. It was a USB “thumb drive.” I picked it up
and inspected it, trying to figure out who had dropped it. The side of
the drive had a picture that I couldn’t make out, as it was all smudged
with something. I pulled out a tissue and rubbed it, thinking it may be
a clue as to whose drive it was.
There was a sudden rushing sound and a strong wind. Out of the thumb drive emerged a large blue figure wearing a turban.
“Are you a genie?” I asked
“No, I am David Blumenthal, the health IT ‘czar.’” he responded.
I hung my head down, “I guess this is about the fact that I write the word healthcare instead of health care. I was wondering how long it would be before the feds came down on me for that.
“No, that’s not my realm. That would be the job of the Department of
Language Security, and they’ll be appearing in some creative way next
week to get on your case about the whole healthcare thing. It has Matthew Holt and Maggie Mahar in a big tiff.”
Announcement: eHealth Initiative Posts New Positions Experienced Applicants Encouraged to Apply
The eHealth Initiative (eHI) is growing! We encourage you to take a look at our new job openings and spread the news amongst your colleagues and friends. eHI is a Washington, D.C.-based independent, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare through information technology.
- Director of New Business Development
- Senior Level Director of Programs
- Manager Public Policy
As with all positions at the eHealth Initiative, applicants must have the ability to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment. The eHealth Initiative offers an excellent employer paid benefits package (health care, 401K, generous vacation time, flex time) and is an equal opportunity employer.
To view job descriptions or find out more go to http://www.ehealthinitiative.org/careers.html
