December 27th, 2011 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, Adults, Cloud Computing, Doctors, Gaming, Health, health care, Health IT, HIMSS, Hospital Care, Insurance, mHealth, Microsoft, Mobile Apps, Mobile Health, Mobile Technology, Nurses, Patient Engagement, remote monitoring, Seniors, Social Networking, Telehealth, Telemedicine, Women's Health, Young Adults
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Bill Crounse, MD, Senior Director, Worldwide Health, Worldwide Public Sector Microsoft Corporation shares his insights and describes four leading trends and technologies that will transform health and health care in 2012 and beyond.
These leading technologies include: cloud computing, health gaming, telehealth services and remote monitoring/mobile health.
Telehealth, Remote Monitoring, Mobile Health
I’d like to focus on telehealth and remote monitoring/mobile health since I feel telehealth is the nucleus of patient care, and telehealth can help reduce health care costs, and improve quality health care for patients. Telehealth technology combined mobile technology such as smartphones will make monitoring patients conditions easier and more efficient, and “cheaper and more scalable.”
Patient Quality Health Care
Through the Accountable Care Organizational Model (ACO), the core concept is to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
December 27th, 2011 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Benefits, Healthcare Insurance Industry, Healthcare System, Incentives, Insurance Companies, Marketplace, medicaid, Medical Care System, Medicare, Obamacare, Stakeholders, Vested Interests
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The difference between the healthcare system and the medical care system is very clear to me. The stakeholders in the healthcare system are patients, physicians, government, hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, pharmacy middlemen, and healthcare insurance companies.
Government, hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, pharmacy middlemen, and healthcare insurance companies are secondary stakeholders in the healthcare system.
The primary stakeholders are patients and physicians. They also comprise the medical care system. Without the primary stakeholders there would be no need for a healthcare system.
The secondary stakeholders have long ago taken over the healthcare system. All businesses and the government deal with the hand they are dealt using their best judgment. The people running the business or government pursue their vested interest. The difference between businesses and government is businesses work to make as big a profit as possible. Government, depending on the political party in power, pursues fulfillment of its ideology.
Since 1942 and the Economic Stabilization Act of President Roosevelt Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
December 27th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Capitation Medicine, Cost, Fixed fee, HMO, Incentive, Insurance Coverage, Mangled care, Money, Money For Nothing, non-provider, Payments
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My dad’s wife called to ask if I could see a friend of my brother’s. This 30 year old woman had been “put through the ringer” by her HMO dermatologist. He looked at her nose diagnosed a “pre cancer” and treated her with freezing. Then he put her on a cream. The “wart” is still there and she can’t get in to see the doctor (actually a physician’s assistant) for 2 months.
Welcome to capitation medicine.
This evil creation of your local managed care plan pays a doctor Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
December 26th, 2011 by Debra Gordon in Opinion
Tags: Airlines, Apology, Baggage, Customer Service, Customer-centered, Delta, Excuses, Experience, Health Care Workers, Hospital, Lost, Patient-Centered, Patients, Practice, Problems
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One of the hot phrases in health care these days is “patient-centered,” as in “patient-centered hospitals,” “patient-centered practices,” and “patient-centered medicine.” For all of you out there working on creating such “patient-centered” systems, let me provide a bit of advice based on a recent experience my family and I had with Delta Airlines. For if you substitute the word “customer” for “patient,” you get what every business, whether in health care or not, should be focused on — the person receiving, nay, purchasing, their services. The ones you hope will return, again and again.
I’m actually writing this as I sit in the lobby of a hotel in Park City, Utah. It is a gorgeous day outside, crisp and cold, just perfect for the skiing my family had in mind when we booked this trip; it’s a short trip– just 3 days on the slopes before we head home — so every minute counts. Unfortunately, despite plenty of time sitting in airports yesterday (i.e., no tight connection), only 2 out of our 6 pieces of luggage made it here. Fortunately, one of those was the suitcase filled with skiing togs. Unfortunately, one of the missing pieces was my son’s new snowboard, also filled with all of his ski togs. So while my boys are out on the slopes (the snowboard kid wearing my ski clothes), I’m sitting in the lodge awaiting our luggage. It is nearly noon — half of the day gone, one-sixth, possibly one-third, of our vacation gone–and I have not yet set foot on the slopes. Sure, I could head over and buy all-new ski stuff. . . . but that isn’t the point.
The point is how this was handled. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at A Medical Writer's Musings on Medicine, Health Care, and the Writing Life*
December 25th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in News, Opinion
Tags: Device, Distraction, Doctor, Documentation, Electronic, Electronic Devices, Forms, Health, healthcare, Hospital, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Mandatory, New York Times, NYT, Paperwork, Time-consuming
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I admittedly snorted out loud when I read a New York Times article earlier last week regarding increased physician distraction due to electronic devices, especially with the advent of the smartphone with its emails, text messages, calls, and other alerts that ping intermittently throughout a typical work day.
There is no question that electronic devices distract physicians as the article pointed out… But that’s like complaining about a leaky faucet when there’s a flooded basement and a hole in the roof.
The bigger problem that should be mentioned is hospital bureaucracy which probably creates just as much if not more unintended distractions for physicians and nurses.
What many patients and lay public may not realize is that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
