Filed under possible sleepers we're-keeping-an-eye on:
Alex Gibney, the Academy-award winning film maker behind the widely acclaimed "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" will show segments of his newest film, a feature length take on Maggie Mahar's "Money-Driven Medicine" at the Families USA Conference in Washington D.C. this week. Directed by Andrew Fredericks. Screening open to the public. Wed. 8PM. Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. 1127 Connecticut Avenue. NW. IMDB entry here.
As an annual meeting of progressives should start, the Families USA conference of health advocates began in Washington D.C. this morning with applause and cheers of the announcement of President Obama's imminent signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the anticipated adoption of a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
I missed the day's first talk by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has been making headlines lately for his adopted role of Medicare kickback watchdog. (He's the only Republican I see on the agenda.)
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) spoke next and promised successful passage of broad health reforms after the economic stimulus legislation is finalized. Vague on details, but full of enthusiasm gleaned from the opportunity seen in the current economic crisis, Hoyer said, "This is our moment."
"If we fail, if we have to revisit this issue in 10 or 15 years," he said, "I don't want even want to think about how bleak the picture will be then."
By Adrian Gropper, MD
Transparency, in the form of a complete, patient-centered and accessible health record is a policy principle that can drive the next wave of health care innovation. Investing exclusively in institutional EHRs will further stifle efficiency, innovation and improvement. Web-based clinical summaries (CCR+DICOM+PDF) that are available for patient control foster patient-centered care, clinical collaboration, and research, and must be included in health care reform if we are to effectively improve provision of health care for patients and clinicians.We’ve been stuck on interoperability long enough to realize that EHRs are a tool and not a solution. To frame the problem, the National Research Council weighs in with a timely assessment and vision. A great summary by David Kibbe highlights the caution: “that current efforts aimed at the nationwide deployment of health care IT will not be sufficient to achieve the vision of 21st century health care, and may even set back the cause if these efforts continue wholly without change from their present course.” In the same vein, a recent Booz, Allen, Hamilton report, sponsored by the Federation of American Hospitals, reminds us that “Other countries experience shows that EHR adoption does not automatically lead to interoperability.”
If you’ve just read a health-related headline that’s caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick) it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
On reading further you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, like “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumors eventually. (Not to mention that the study was funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)The most important rule to remember: “Don’t automatically believe the headline.” It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called “Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know?” Probably not. Before spraying your newspaper with coffee in the future, you need to interrogate the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Bazian (the company I work for) has interrogated hundreds of articles for "Behind The Headlines" on the NHS health news Web site, and we’ve developed the following questions to help you figure out which articles you’re going to believe, and which you’re not.
It looks like the stimulus package is going to spend a whole lot more on Medicaid AND subsidize the purchase of COBRA for laid off workers. Unlike the “let them eat cake” brigade who’ll decry this as extending welfare to the worthless, I have no problem with it. So long as it really is only a temporary measure,
But let’s be clear—Medicaid is dumb public policy. It’s divided between paying for care for the poor and paying for mostly long-term care for the elderly and chronically disabled, and also has subsidies for hospitals in poor areas thrown in. Then it has S-CHIP as its bastard relation. Furthermore, while the Federal government giveth, the states (which are broke but can’t borrow—California alone is $45 billion in the hole!) are by necessity going to have to take away.
The pilot of the US Airways flight that crash landed safely in the Hudson River earlier this month after taking off from Laguardia Airport is rightly being praised as a hero. But how significant of an accomplishment was it, really? In 1977, the pilot of a KLM flight on the runway at Tenerife's Los Rodeos Airport faced a similar test of his decision-making skills. The outcome was very different.
Vascular
disease and the conditions that produce arterial problems consume
roughly one- third to one-half of the $2 trillion annual spend in
American health care. The science and systems exist today to dramatically improve the quality and cost related to cardio-metabolic
conditions but almost nothing has been done to implement these new
tools since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published “Crossing
the Quality Chasm” in 2001.
The most glaring
example of the failure of medical and political leadership in these
matters can be found in the treatment of chronic conditions, which
consume 70 percent of our health care dollars. “Crossing the
Quality Chasm” was a stinging indictment of American medicine,
describing a system that is in need of fundamental change, with many
professionals and patients concerned that the care delivered is not
the care that we need. The report described a system that harms too
frequently and routinely fails to deliver its potential benefits.
A few weeks ago, I joined five of my peers in health care leadership throughout the country to help launch Health CEOs for Health Reform, a coalition dedicated to transforming health care and creating a more sustainable health system.
In mission, we committed to moving past policy concepts toward a detailed blueprint that would reconcile legislative goals with operational realities of the health care system. Our goals are lofty and the challenges immense. What struck me in recent months, with the current state of the economy, is the tremendous sense of urgency we all feel and the confidence we have that now is the time to truly transform health care.
I read Michael Millenson’s post The Inevitability of Health Care Reform: This Time, the Politics Have Changed with great interest and personal reflection. What is different this time around? What do I think a handful of health CEOs can really do to change a system entrenched with waste and cost that does not add value to our very customer – the patient?
The virtual health home is
the “other half” of the patient-centered medical home. Some might
say it’s the better half. Though related in purpose, the two “homes”
differ dramatically in perspective. While both place the patient at
the center of care:
The difference is astounding.
The BBC (British Band of Communists) has created an appalling piece of propaganda suggesting that the American health care system is an unfair mess. And they’re not exactly too polite about the rest of America, including setting up some doubtless fake multi-millionaire with a spendthrift wife to look ridiculous while saying that we shouldn’t be sharing the wealth.
And if you want to watch it, luckily it won’t be shown here on TV. But those communists have now invented something call YouTube, so you can see it there. But I’m sure none of you realists will want to watch it, and instead will join my call to make sure that these tax-subsidized radical extremists are banned from these shores.
And of course, these are the fools who claimed that spaghetti grows on trees.
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