Latest from Our Bloggers
 Peter F Hayes |
To Live Another Day ........Or Not......Your Choice Matters Part 2 Thursday, June 9, 2011 To build off my blog from yesterday, a new headline from WebMd entitled "Infection Risk Lurks in Hospital ICUs" (dated 6/7) is really an eye opener. The article takes about the varying risk in our hospitals for central line infections. The numbers are very sobering, 25% of patients that get an infection will die. For the most part these infections are PREVENTABLE by focusing... |
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Peter F Hayes |
To Live Another Day ........Or Not......Your Choice Matters Wednesday, June 8, 2011 Two recent articles really drive home the point that "buyer beware" or in this case "patient be aware". It can literally mean the difference between surviving surgery or not, based on your choice of the surgeon and the where the surgery is performed. In the Los Angeles Times Booster Shots series on 6/6 the headline begins "70,000 Americans Die Needlessly...... |
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Peter F Hayes |
"Less is More" Top 5 "Don't" List Monday, June 6, 2011 Very interesting article in the American Medical News entitled "Panel targets Primary care "Don'ts" (dated 6/3/11). In the article it states the results of a panel of 15 physicians who analyzed medical literature to compile top-five "don't" lists of health care activities that are wasteful because they are not supported by evidence. In particular they recommend... |
 Leonard Fromer MD |
Raising the Bar: P4O Sunday, June 5, 2011 David Nash is the Founding Dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. On MedPage Today he writes about the subtle but critical shift in moving from Pay for Perfromance (P4P) to Pay for Outcomes (P4O). The implications could be profound. Our health system has been struggling in looking for unanimous definitions of quality. In defining value delivery, we need to... |
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Leonard Fromer MD |
Medical Professionalism and the Federal Debt Tuesday, May 31, 2011 It wasn't too long ago that we all concentrated on the military procurement process as being at the root of our Federal budget woes. Remember $600 toilet seats for military airplanes? Well, either they fixed how the military purchases things or that is still a problem but has been pushed off of our radar screens by health care and social entitlement programs' costs. In today's KevinMD.com social media blog,... |
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Peter F Hayes |
Medical Costs Skyrocketing Tuesday, May 31, 2011 An article in todays St Petersburg Times entitled "Out- of -Pocket Medical Costs Skyrocketing" highlights the rapidly increasing direct out-of-pocket cost to citizens for health care. The article indicates the average annual medical spend for a family of four is now about $8,000 in after-tax dollars. This figure assumes the citizen has some form of medical coverage, the numbers... |
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Leonard Fromer MD |
Patients, Innovation, and Value Monday, May 30, 2011 Wendy Lynch, writing in the HHCF blog, presents a wonderful piece on the power of consumers demanding innovation and the impact that can have when patients know the data on healthcare quality and costs. Her conclusion makes the point that we need reengineered health care, not just a cheaper way to do that we do now. Enormous value improvement in healthcare can be achieved with... |
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Leonard Fromer MD |
Investing in The Future of Healthcare Monday, May 30, 2011 Professor David Cottrell, Dean of the University of Leeds Medical School in the UK, is investing in technology that puts vital information in the palms of the hands of his medical students. He is providing a smart phone to each medical student, loaded with vital textbooks and clinical decision support tools. The cost is a virtual drop in the bucket when... |
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Peter F Hayes |
Castlight Brings Bargain Hunting to Health Care Saturday, May 28, 2011 Check out this San Francisco Business Times article about Castlight Health, an organization making real price and cost transparency information available to patients, enabling them to make more informed decisions. The model provides a consumer tool to engage patients in finding high quality cost... |
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Peter F Hayes |
Do want to pay $14,000 or $25,000 for A Hip? Friday, May 27, 2011 A recent article in the Boston Globe (5/27) highlighted the "big variation in the cost of procedures between the Mass hospitals". They used examples of a heart attack costing $9,700 at South Shore Hospital versus $19,000 at U Mass Hospital....similarly a hip replacement at Lowell General is $14,000 versus $25,000 at Brigham and Women's. If you think... |
