The Health Care Blog – Page 998 – Everything you always wanted to know about the Health Care system. But were afraid to ask.

Above the Fold

Google Health — A serious test drive

Jun 5, 2008• 9

By Matthew Holt

After all the fuss, I thought that I should take Google Health for a real test drive. So I did. Given that it contains a gazillion screenshots, I did it in the form of a slide show and uploaded it to the slideshare.net website. To view it, you’re best off using the full screen mode (which you can get to by opening “view” (the middle of the three links below the slides, and then clicking the “full button” on the bottom right in the slide on slideshare).

| View | Upload your own

I’d of course love your comments about my conclusions.

Consumer Reports on Health: Worse Than Average

Jun 4, 2008• 9

By MICHAEL MILLENSON

Maybe no one at Consumer Reports has a mother.

The first rule of effective consumer information is “tell it to Mom.” That is, explain why something is important in the kind of language you would use when speaking to your mother. Unfortunately, the folks at Consumers Union have now, for the second time, put out purportedly pro-consumer health care information that no one’s mother could love. Their latest offering is at best mildly helpful and at worst seriously misleading. The only explanation I can think of is that the CU folks believe so firmly in their own good intentions that they ignore the impact of what they are actually doing.

Obama’s health plan may promise less but accomplish more

Jun 4, 2008• 11

By Diana Dutton & Hal Holman

Hal Holman is a professor of Medicine at Stanford University, and Diana Dutton is a research fellow at the London School of Economics and a former director of health services research at Stanford. The married couple supports Obama.

Obama
Many people think Hillary Clinton has a better health plan than Barack Obama. She repeatedly tells voters her plan will cover everybody, while Obama’s will leave out 15 million people. Newly emerging data tell a different story.

Since 2006, Massachusetts has been running what amounts to a pilot test of Clinton’s universal mandate plan, requiring all uninsured residents to buy private insurance or be penalized. The state regulates participating insurers and subsidizes costs for lower-income people. Yet after two years, nearly half of the uninsured still aren’t covered, despite strenuous outreach. To boost enrollment, Massachusetts has stiffened fines – up to several thousand dollars. Nevertheless, many people remain uninsured, citing more pressing needs. Clinton insists her mandate wouldn’t force people to buy insurance they can’t afford, but that’s exactly what’s happening in Massachusetts. The state has had to exempt 20 percent of the uninsured because they couldn’t afford even subsidized premiums.

Clinton’s plan would also likely fall far short of universal coverage. She hasn’t said how her mandate would be enforced, but has mentioned the possibility of garnishing wages. Without affordable insurance, a universal mandate means little.

Diabetes Mine, revamped

Jun 4, 2008• 1

By Matthew Holt

No. 1 health care blogger Amy Tenderich has revamped Diabetes Mine and made it even better (as if that were possible!).

More on consumer targeting for health plans

Jun 3, 2008• 4

By Matthew Holt

Wrapping up this morning’s Silverlink seminar….

Stan Nowak, Silverlink CEO, says we’re all part of an experiment in response rate from credit card marketing departments (previous speaker Fred Jubitz had talked lots about that!). It’s not cheap to do, but the best companies in consumer marketing are doing it because those experiments (sending out all those letters) can offer a small percentage lift. And they’re good at predicting who will do what based on these segments.

Microtrends, Consumer Health Segmentation, and more ….

Jun 3, 2008• 3

By Matthew Holt

I’m at a seminar put on by Silverlink (FD, they’re a THCB sponsor), but shockingly they haven’t asked me to speak! (By the way this seminar is like a rock band on tour, click here for the schedule). Here’s a quick hit on the first three speakers.

Dispatch from India: Tyranny of the IIT

Jun 3, 2008• 2

By Jay Srinivasan

Can one institution hold the key to all innovation? Could it be that one very tiny minority is the brain trust of a whole nation, and the font of all knowledge, insight, wisdom, entrepreneurial energy, and superior practices? Iitlogo

If this sounds silly to you, that is what Indians promote and practice. As a culture, we are obsessed to wear the badge of such alma maters as the Indian Institutes of Technology or Indian Institute of Management on our sleeves. Those diplomas have become the yardstick by which we evaluate and weigh a person’s worth, personality, effectiveness, capabilities, capacity to achieve, and integrity.

I should acknowledge that I do not belong to that club — that elite band of super men and women, who have been annointed by the Western media as capable of the most incredible feats. Does it bother me? It used to, but no longer as I’ve grown more comfortable in my own skin. It has prompted me, though, to reflect on our middle-class need to identify with and project an exclusive membership.

In Indian hospital care, the past and future co-exist

Jun 3, 2008• 8

By Sarah Arnquist

Walking through the government-run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, India feels like stepping back 50 years in time. The nurses wear white dresses with those funny paper napkin hats. Exhausted people overflow the stuffy waiting rooms. Family members sleep and eat on the hallway floors while waiting for their sick loved ones, who lie on thin cots crammed together like sardines in the dim wards.

Before you get the impression that this scene depicts all health care in India, follow me to Rainbow Children’s Hospital or Apollo Health City located an hour away in the most affluent neighborhood of this city of 7 million. These corporate hospitals offer sparkling clean facilities, the latest technologies and even luxuries like flat-screen televisions in the super-deluxe patient rooms.

Apollo is the largest hospital corporation in Asia and a significant player in the international medical tourism industry. On a recent sweltering afternoon, Radhey Mohan, general manager of international patient services, gave me a tour of Apollo’s Hyderabad campus and told me about future plans to expand Apollo’s medical tourism business.

While these corporate hospitals offer state-of-the-art medical services
to foreigners seeking a bargain, such care is a dream for most
Indians.

Readers respond to Google Health launch

Jun 2, 2008

By THCB StaffGoogle’s recent launch of its Health Beta personalized health records provoked great commentary from THCB’s expert contributors and thoughtful comments from readers. Generally, readers acknowledge Google’s system is not flawless, they are enthusiastic something tangible finally exists.

But the privacy concerns persist.

In response to Matthew’s "Serious test drive," E-patient Dave wrote,"The privacy issue is simply huge. I don’t know why the advocates don’t get it. The lay people I talk to *all* express concern about it; some flat-out say "No WAY I’m giving them my data."

He continued,"I’d feel a lot better if all the enterprises that want to get into this great opportunity (and it is one) would work to get HIPAA updated to cover their case."

Keith Schorsch’s post on whether consumers care about Google Health also generated a lot of comments — mostly from people who shared his skepticism.

"While I agree that there certainly is and can be value in a PHR for
consumers, I think this is the right discussion. Do consumers even know
what a PHR is and that it is an option for them? I think Forrester’s
data shows that something like 75% of consumers don’t," George Van Antwerp wrote

Interview with Kerry Hicks, HealthGrades CEO

Jun 2, 2008• 2

By Matthew Holt

HealthGrades has been busy. The publicly traded, pure-play provider ratings company is changing the way it offers ratings, it’s publishing a book, and it’s starting to rate drugs. It’s not alone. Last week, Consumer Reports announced it also is getting into the business of rating hospitals and using a model developed in conjunction with the Dartmouth crowd. Plus, there’s the CMS effort.

Given the way that ratings are evolving and HealthGrades’ partnership with Google, (more to come on Google from me separately soon) last week was a great time to talk with HealthGrades Chairman & CEO Kerry Hicks. (Sadly it was before the Consumer Reports announcement but fascinating nonetheless).

Listen to the Kerry Hicks interview.