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Archive for the "Health Policy/Reform" category

Is HITECH Working? 7 Observations Mom Could Understand

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Albert Einstein
by Vince Kuraitis JD, MBA and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA
If you’re like many folks we talk with, you understand the importance of the HITECH Act legislation — yet feel overwhelmed by the complexity and details.
This series of blog posts is for you. We address [...]

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Pilots, Demonstrations & Innovation in the PPACA Healthcare Reform Legislation

Here’s a bit of trivia that will make you the hit of the next cocktail party you attend.  How many times are the words “demonstration” and “pilot” mentioned in the newly passed Federal healthcare reform legislation — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)?
Answer:

“demonstration” — 312 mentions
“pilot” — 80 mentions

This weekend I’ve been trying to [...]

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Is Gawande Right? Are Pilot Programs the Key to Delivery System Cost Reductions?

Atul Gawande’s most recent New Yorker article “Testing, Testing” addresses the critics who lament that there is no master plan to curb delivery system costs in pending health reform legislation.
Gawande retorts: “Is that a bad thing?”
…and he answers his own question by describing the value of pilot programs contained in both the Senate and House [...]

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Feedback Rolls in on Halamka’s New Stance on Standards: Cats Pissed, Dogs Thrilled

Continuing his stunning reversal of long held perspectives, Dr. John Halamka’s blog post today suggests Guiding Principles for HIT Standards Committee:

Keep it simple; think big, but start small; recommend standards as minimal as possible to support the business goal and then build as you go
Don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good enough”; go for the [...]

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The Real Secret Sauce of Medicare’s Participation in Regional Collaboratives — Network Effects

Last week I asked whether Medicare’s Biggest Change in 40 Years is on the horizon. That post described and discussed implications of Medicare’s new direction for the medical home — the shelving of Medicare Medical Home Demonstration (MMHD) and the refocusing on the recently announced Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Initiative (MAPCI).
In that post I touched briefly on the [...]

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Dr. Blumenthal, I Mistakenly Received Your Email Intended for Judy Faulkner, CEO, Epic

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P. National Coordinator for Health Information Technology U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Dear Dr. Blumenthal,
I was honored to receive a personal email from you today. However, after reading it, I conclude that you must have intended to send this email to Judith Faulkner, CEO of Epic Systems.
I really liked what [...]

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Three Years Of Medical Home Demonstration Preparation Down the Drain?

Do you remember the scene in the movie Animal House where Bluto Blutarski laments “…seven years of college education down the drain?”
Why aren’t primary care physicians expressing similar laments about  the shelving of the MMHD (Medicare Medical Home Demonstration) in favor of the MAPCI (Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Initiative).
My colleague Jaan Sidorov, MD and I pick [...]

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John Halamka’s Stunning 180: “Dogs and Cats Should Live in Harmony”

The King of the Cats has just acknowledged that indeed cats and dogs should co-exist peacefully.
Dr. John Halamka — Vice Chair of the HIT Standards Committee of the ONC and one of the most vocal and influential figures in health IT — writes a blog post this morning entitled “The Genius of AND”. Halamka reasonably summarizes the [...]

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Medicare’s Biggest Change in 40 Years on the Horizon?

Earlier this week CMS issued a typically cryptic Announcement indicating that they were shelving the Medicare Medical Home Demonstration (MMHD) and instead would focus on the recently announced Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Initiative (MAPCI). My blog post from Tuesday provides details and asks the question “What does all this mean?”
Today’s blog post will tackle:

Medicare’s biggest change [...]

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