August 2nd, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Research
No Comments »
Monitoring vital signs remotely saves time and money for everyone: patients, physicians, facilities and insurers. Heart failure is a particular target because its increasingly common, its easily triggered (by as little as too much salt on food, for example), it costs so much to manage in the hospital, and it’s so easily avoided.
Remote monitoring equipment made even easier with wireless connections can take vital signs, and even ask standard questions every morning. The equipment puts patients in contact with nurses once they detect warning signs. That human touch is key. Case managers can screen out false alarms (avoiding alert fatigue) and can direct patients to the physician when needed. ACP Internist covered remote monitoring technology in its March issue. (Wall Street Journal, ACP Internist) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
July 13th, 2010 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
No Comments »
Anytime you come across a healthcare article that implies that every patient wants access to this or that — i.e. their medical record, patient-centered care, etc. — you can safely assume that the claim is wrong. Why? Patients are not a monolithic group –- they don’t all share the same motivations, preferences, beliefs or experiences when it comes to their health.
But let’s face. If you are trying to push an agenda, just saying some people want this or that is not the same as implying that everyone wants it.
Take the issue of patient access to physician notes in their medical record. Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) recently announced their OpenNotes study. The OpenNotes project will evaluate the impact on both patients and physicians of sharing, through online medical record portals, the comments and observations made by physicians after each patient encounter. Okay…so far, so good.
Things begin to fall apart, however, when RWJ cites “a recent study“ in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, as part of the basis for the OpenNotes research. According to RWJ, the study found that “most consumers want full access to their medical records.” Since when did six focus groups (64 people) constitute a representative sample, e.g. most people? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
July 2nd, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Humor, Opinion, True Stories
No Comments »
It’s been a very long time since I did an “Ask Dr. Rob” post. It’s also been a long time since I shot a spitball out of a straw and hit someone behind the ear during social studies class. I realize that just because it’s been a long time since I’ve done something, it doesn’t mean the world is better off with me doing it again.
Still, there have been some interesting questions that have come up and I think it’s time they should be answered. They’re both along the same line:
Question 1: What’s the difference between health care and healthcare? I see that you contribute to the Health Care Blog, but you write about healthcare all of the time. What’s the deal?
Question 2: What’s the difference between EMR and EHR? It seems that some people feel that it’s vile and uncouth to call it “EMR,” only accepting people who call it “EHR” into their secret societies of people who are smarter than everyone else. What’s the deal? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
June 16th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
No Comments »
Why do we physicians chart the way we do? Hopefully, we do it perfectly well and have no concerns at all. But where I practice emergency medicine, we are approaching maximum inefficiency in charting.
It all became much clearer when we started using our new EMR system. Let me make it clear, I’m not against EMR. In fact, typing and templates work better for me than dictating. My dictations were usually a mine field of blanks and misunderstood words.
Furthermore, if I wanted to use it, we have a new voice recognition dictation system in addition to our templated chart. Though admittedly, the voice recognition program clearly hates some of my partners, as evidenced by the way they grasp the screen and yell at it (‘Chest Pain, not west rain!’) and by its inexplicable use of profanity in the occasional chart.
But I digress. The problem as I see it is the evolution of the medical record. Why does the medical record exist? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
February 18th, 2010 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Expert Interviews, Video
No Comments »
This year, the Better Health team will be offering live coverage of healthcare’s largest tech conference: HIMSS in Atlanta, March 1-4. Three medical bloggers, Dr. Val Jones, Dr. Mike Sevilla, and Dr. Nick Genes will interview over 40 different exhibitors and stream their interviews live via UStream. You can ask questions of the interviewees by submitting questions to @drval during the event. Dr. Val Jones will report to ABC News, DC via Skype from the convention floor on Wednesday, March 3rd at 10:50am. Here’s a sneak preview of HIMSS:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v96kje6mCRU
Stay tuned to the Better Health blog for more information about HIMSS coverage… Or meet Dr. Val at HIMSS during her “Meet The Bloggers” panel discussion. Read more »
Monitoring vital signs remotely saves time and money for everyone: patients, physicians, facilities and insurers. Heart failure is a particular target because its increasingly common, its easily triggered (by as little as too much salt on food, for example), it costs so much to manage in the hospital, and it’s so easily avoided.
