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Medical Home “Model” Transmogrifies to: The Medical Home Movement
Part Medical Home 101, part strategy session to rescue primary care, part revival meeting — the National Medical Home Summit held earlier this week in Philadelphia was an amazing event.
The optimism, energy, and dogged persistence of attendees and presenters was pervasive. The event was standing room only with another 200 people tuning in to a live Internet video cast.
Dr. Joseph Scherger captured the mood of the day when he proclaimed:
The Medical Home “model” has […]
Dorothy Tillman Update: Vindication!
About a year ago, we read about about Dorothy Tillman’s heroic efforts to get a copy of her aunt’s  medical records.
Here’s a recap:  On a Saturday evening Dorothy took her 86 year old aunt to a hospital in Montgomery, Alabama. Frustrated after an overnight stay in the ER which she said yielded “little treatment”, she requested a copy of her aunt’s medical records before leaving. When she was told that it was hospital policy to request records “in writing”, Dorothy escalated her […]
Obama Budget: Hospitals Should Warrantee Admissions for 30 Days
Warrantee
War`ran*tee", noun. A written assurance that some product or service will be provided or will meet certain specifications.
Today when we buy practically any consumer item we expect a warrantee.
What’s the “warrantee” after you are discharged from a hospital?
Last September I wrote a post posing the question “What’s the Best Way to Get Hospitals Involved in Care Coordination? ” The short answer was: Pay them to do it, take money away when they don’t — make hospitals accountable for their […]
Spider Webs of Care Coordination Networks
We have learned that coordinating care of patients — particular care of Medicare patients — is complex and time consuming for physicians.
A breakthrough study quantifies just how complex and challenging care coordination really is.  The study is reported in the February 17 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine and is entitled Primary Care Physicians’ Links to Other Physicians Through Medicare Patients: The Scope of Care Coordination :
We found that in a single year for just fee-for-service Medicare patients, the typical primary care physician needs […]
Why Clinical Groupware May Be the Next Big Thing in Health IT
by David C. Kibbe MD, MBA
What would you call health care software that:
Is Web-based and networkable, therefore highly scalable and inexpensive to purchase and use;
Provides a ‘unified view’ of a patient from multiple sources of data and information;
Is designed to be used interactively – by providers and patients alike – to coordinate care and create continuity;
Offers evidence-based guidance and coaching, personalized by access to a person’s health data as it changes;
Collects, for analysis and reporting, quality and performance measures as […]
How Should Fed HIT Dollars Be Spent? Cat vs. Dog POV.
“Where’s the single best place to get up to speed on how the Feds should spend $20 billion to advance health information technology (HIT)?”
A colleague asked me this question a couple of days ago, and at first I hesitated. Then it struck me — Matthew Holt’s The Health Care Blog has become the focal point for discussion of this critical topic.
Matthew’s very recent article — Cats & dogs: Can we find unity on health care IT change? — summarizes the two […]
Great Lawyer Jokes
A friend sent me these in an email this morning and I could hardly stop laughing:
These hilarious exchanges are from a book called ‘Disorder in the American Courts’.
They were recorded verbatim and published by Court Reporters that had the torment of staying calm and remaining professional while these exchanges were actually taking place.
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you […]
Latest HWR Proves Dr. Sidorov Missed His True Calling
Dr. Jaan Sidorov conclusively demonstrates his love for showmanship and rock by performing the latest Health Wonk Review at the Disease Management Care Blog.
This unretouched file photo shows Dr. S in his more serious and younger days.
Complimentary Issue — Medical Home News
Would you like to receive a complimentary issue of a new publication — Medical Home News ? Click on the link and then on “Sample Issue” in the upper left corner.
Here’s a preview of the first issue:
Introducing Medical Home News
An Annotated Guide to the Medicare Medical Home Demonstration (MMHD)
Subscriber’s Corner
Johns Hopkins Lipitz Center to Assist Practices in Medical Home Demo
National Medical Home Summit to be Held March 2nd – 3rd 2009
Thought Leader’s Corner
Industry News
Catching Up With… Paul Grundy, MD
I’m honored […]
New NRC Report Finds “Health Care IT Chasm,” Seeks New Course Toward Quality Improvement and Cost Savings
by David C. Kibbe, MD MBA
Like the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 2001 counterpart report, "Crossing the Quality Chasm," a new report from the National Research Council of the National Academies is complex, full of new ideas assembled from multiple disciplines, and is likely to have seminal importance in framing public policy from now on . "Computational Technology for Effective Health Care:Â Immediate Steps and Strategic Directions " […]