November 9th, 2010 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Dr. Felasfa Wodajo, Health Apps, Healthcare Apps, Healthcare Technology, iMedicalApps, Medical Technology, mHealth Summit 2010, Mobile Health, Mobile Health Apps, Mobile Medical Apps
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The explosion of smart phones, originally led by the iPhone 2007, has catalyzed the explosion of mobile medical apps which our readers are surely familiar with. But, along with the proliferation of medical reference apps and interfaces to electronic health records (EHRs), there is a much broader world of mobile medical devices and simpler phone interfaces collectively termed “mHealth,” which is an area of intense interest for governments, industry and care providers.
This year, this interest has been punctuated by nearly half a dozen different mobile health meetings — many that iMedicalApps has attended and participated in. Perhaps, the largest one of all — the mHealth Summit — is now in session in the Washington Convention Center, sponsored in part by the Foundation at National Institutes of Health (FNIH) — an event we are currently attending. This type of sponsorship is an indication of the importance mobile health (or “mHealth”) is now reaching. To further accentuate this, the keynote speaker to launch the event was Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the NIH himself. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
November 9th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: American Medical News, Dana Lewis, Doctors and Social Media, Dr. Kevin Pho, Engaging Patients and Physicians Online, Facebook, General Medicine, Healthcare Human Resources, Healthcare Social Media, Hospital Social Media Managers, Hospitals and Social Media, KevinMD, Lee Aase, New Hospital Position, Patients and Social Media, Physician-Driven Online Visability, Seattle Children's Hospital, Social Media In Medicine, Social Networking For Doctors, Social Networking For Patients, Swedish Medical Center, The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, Twitter, Wendy Sue Swanson, YouTube
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A social media manager is becoming an imperative position for hospitals.
Medical institutions are waking up to the fact that they need to engage their patients and physicians online. Nowhere is there more fertile growth than in the various social media platforms that are prevalent today — like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
American Medical News recently profiled the phenomenon, highlighting the position of social media manager, which some institutions pay between $60,000 and $80,000 per year.
As it stands, many hospitals are tiptoeing into the world of social networks, guided by the able hands of select online mavens like Mayo Clinic’s Lee Aase and Swedish Medical Center’s Dana Lewis. However, convincing executives of the return on investment remains a challenge. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
November 8th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: 33 Charts, American Physician, Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Future of Medical Practice, General Medicine, Government-run Healthcare, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare reform, Hospital-Owned Practice, Institutional Medical Service, Institutionally-Employed Doctors, Medical Practice Ownership, New Doctors, Physician Ownership, Private Practice Medicine, Private Practitioners, Texas, The End of Private Practice, Wall Street Journal
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I didn’t need the Wall Street Journal to tell that the days of “private practice” are numbered. According to recent numbers, fewer and fewer medical practices are under the ownership of physicians. Even in my corner of the economically secure State of Texas, small practices are folding faster than beach chairs at high tide.
I was driven out of private practice in 2004 by rising malpractice premiums and plummeting reimbursement. In Texas at the time the trial attorneys ran the place and medmal insurance carriers simply couldn’t keep up with the greed.
Medical practices are just too expensive to run and the services that physicians provide are dangerously undervalued. You do the math. Sure it’s a complicated issue. But the end result is institutionally-employed doctors with institutional pay and the risk of institutional service. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
November 8th, 2010 by DavidHarlow in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Video
Tags: David Harlow, Doc Fix, Election 2010, HealthBlawg, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Politics, Healthcare reform, Medicare SGR Cut, Swing To The Right
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Like Tom Friedman, who lampooned some of this year’s unreasonable campaign rhetoric in a recent column, I, too, would be in favor of reality-based political campaigns, but that seemed to be too much to ask for this year. Instead of truth, we now have truthiness.
The joke news shows (and their joke political rallies) seemed to be more popular than the evening news. (I wish Jon Stewart and his 200,000 fans on the Washington Mall last weekend had stayed home, canvassing for their candidates of choice.) Fact-checkers told us that many political ads this season were in the “barely true” or “pants on fire” zones according to the Truth-O-Meter. But in the end, the buzzwords seem to have worked their magic, and many “insiders” are out, and “outsiders” are in.
The angry and the impatient on the campaign trail have, in some cases, adopted the line from the movie Network: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore,” perhaps forgetting that while that line garnered the Howard Beale character strong ratings, network bosses arranged for his on-air assassination when his ratings fell.
The Utopia tune below, “Swing to the Right,” comes to you from the Ronald Reagan era, and perhaps we are seeing the generational swing of the pendulum back to the right. It does seem to happen every 30 years or so. But don’t blame me — I’m from Massachusetts (home to a Democratic sweep on the recent election night).
The last two years have seen a tremendous amount of change in Washington. The question of the moment, of course, is: How will the election results affect implementation of healthcare reform? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
November 8th, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACO, Barriers To Success, Complications of Chronic Diseases, Defensive Medicine, Dr. Stanley Feld, Government-run Healthcare, Health Insurance Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Politics, Healthcare reform, Healthcare Reform Act, Hospital Systems, Lack of Patient Education, Lack of Patient Responsibility, Medicare, New U.S. Healthcare System, Overtesting, Preventive Medicine, Primary Care, Repairing The Healthcare System, Waste in the Healthcare System
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Accountable Care Organization(ACOs) are not going to decrease the waste in the healthcare system. Waste occurs because of:
1. Excessive administrative service expenses by the healthcare insurance industry which provides administrative services for private insurance and Medicare and Medicaid. A committee is writing the final regulations covering Medical Loss ratios for President Obama’s healthcare reform act. The preliminary regulations are far from curative
2. A lack of patient responsibility in preventing the onset of chronic disease. The obesity epidemic is an example.
3. A lack of patient education in preventing the onset of complications of chronic diseases. Effective systems of chronic disease self- management must be developed.
4. The use of defensive medicine resulting in overtesting. Defensive medicine can be reduced by effective malpractice reform.
A system of incentives for patients and physicians must be developed to solve these causes of waste. A system of payments must also be developed to marginalize the excessive waste by the healthcare insurance industry. Patients must have control of their own healthcare dollars.
By developing ACOs, President Obama is increasing the complexity of the healthcare system. It will result in commoditizing medical care, provide incentives for rationing medical care, decrease access to care, and opening up avenues for future abuse.
The list of barriers to ACOs’ success is long and difficult to follow. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
