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Is Hospital-Physician Integration Sustainable?

Reprinted courtesy of MCOL.

Perspectives on a Selected Key Topic |     April 2011/May 2011     |   Volume Three Issue Two

Will a material number of hospitals and their core medical […]

Lesson for Healthcare: Disrupt Your Own Business Model Before Someone Does it TO YOU

Healthcare needs positive role models for innovation…and we have a real-time mentor in Netflix.

If you have a Netflix subscription, you probably identify with the company as providing a convenient DVD rental service — order on the web, the DVD arrives by mail, send it back in the handy pre-paid envelope when you’re done.

Today’s ReadWriteWeb describes Netflix’ latest letter to shareholders and explains how the company is preparing for the demise of DVDs:

Part Deux: A Rebuttal to PHR Luddites

By now most people understand the promise of pharmaceuticals being customized to “YOU” based on your individual genetic code.  While this isn’t prevalent today, we understand that this will be possible in a few years.

Let’s take a minute to consider the mechanics of how this will occur. You’ve received a prescription, and it directs the pharmacist to tailor the medicine to YOUR genetic profile.

Consider two possible scenarios of how this transaction might happen. You’re on the phone with your pharmacist:

1) “OK, […]

A Rebuttal to PHR Luddites

Unlike some of my colleagues, I’m not losing ANY sleep over whether personal health record (PHR) systems ultimately will be adopted and used by patients.

In my mind, the issue isn’t WHETHER, but WHEN.

Yes, I know that adoption has lagged and that surveys suggest 7% or less of the U.S. population has used a PHR.

Stay with me on this one for a minute. You’d have to have two underlying beliefs to conclude that PHR systems won’t eventually emerge:

That health record data will persist […]

Through the Lens of Disruptive Innovation: Why Direct is a Hit and PCAST is an Outcast

(click on the graphics to link to original sources)

Regular readers know that I find Professor Clay Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation to be a useful lens to explain industry evolution. Let’s look at two recent health IT initiatives and see why one is working and the other is stalled.

Could Facebook Be Your Platform for Care Coordination?

My guess is you’ve probably never asked yourself this question. A quick preview:

Technical barriers aren’t the limiting factors to Facebook becoming a care coordination platform.
Facebook’s company DNA won’t play well in health care.
Could Facebook become the care coordination platform of the future? If not Facebook, then what?

1) Technical barriers aren’t the limiting factors to Facebook as a care coordination platform.

Can you imagine Facebook as a care coordination platform? I don’t think it’s much of a stretch. Facebook already has […]

List of Top 10 Health Plan Issues — Out of Whack!

Healthcare IT News just published its list of top issues for health plans in 2011:

Administrative Mandates (Compliance HIPAA 5010, ICD-10, etc.).
Care Management, Data Analytics, and Informatics.
Health Insurance Exchanges and Individual Markets.
New Provider Payment & Delivery Systems (ACOs, PCMHs, etc.).
Bend the Cost Trend.
Medicare and Medicaid.
Health Information Exchanges and EMRs.
Consumer’s Role in the Modernization of Healthcare.
Reform Uncertainties.
Payer/Provider Interoperability.

Dear health plan colleagues,

Wake up! The order of this list is totally out of whack.

#2: Care Management, Data Analytics, Informatics. Good…sounds about right.

However,

#2 can’t […]

Tire Kickers Need Not Apply: 8 First Impressions of the Medicare ACO Rule

On March 31, CMS released the long-awaited “Medicare Shared Savings Program: Accountable Care Organizations” document (ACO Rule). Read the details here (strong suggestion: unless you’re working on your PhD in ACOs, start with the fact sheets).

There are many surprises. Here are eight first impressions on this 429 page tome:

The bar has been set high…very high.  Tire kickers need not apply.
Don’t expect to see many or any small ACOs.
Patients will be confused by ACOs.
Concerns over maintaining competition and avoiding antitrust are […]

ACO Roundtable on blogtalkradio: Friday, April 1

On Friday April 1st, 2011 (yes, ‘April Fools day’) at 4 PM Eastern and 1 PM Pacific

ACO Watch: A Mid Week Review will host a special roundtable series on the ‘hot of the press’ Notice of Proposed Rules’ pertaining to the implementation of Accountable Care Organizations. For the published rule, click here.

The roundtable team will consist of Mark Browne, MD, PYA, aka @consultdoc, Vince Kuraitis, e-Care Management blog, aka @VinceKuraitis, and David Harlow, the Harlow Group, LLC,  aka @healthblawg, with Gregg Masters, aka @2healthguru, as moderator and host.

To listen live, […]

The New ACO Rule is Here…The New ACO Rule is Here…and more!

429 p. Proposed ACO Rule

ACO Fact sheet from HHS

Medicare Fact Sheet: What Providers Need to Know

HHS press release

Don Berwick’s article on ACOs in the NEJM

ACO Quality Performance Standards Summary

FTC/DOJ Joint Antitrust Statement on ACOs

TheHill article “Leaked memo reveals Dem strategy for defending healthcare reg”

The leaked memo