HealthContentAdvisors

McKesson & HP partner to provide EHR s/w and hardware for physician practices.

Interesting. Wolters Kluwer has set up a system whereby doctors will receive CME credit for clinical research done via their mobile phone.

Very thorough review of MSFT-Siemens deal to introduce MS HealthVault to German market and make it the system through which patients are provided medical info. HL7 is more widely used in Europe and Infobutton apps will likely catch on more quickly.

Julie Deardorff of Chicago Tribune writes about my recent blog on the AAFP’s FamilyDoctor.org site’s advertising high salt foods. Quotes me, AAFP VP Publishing, and Dr. John Spangler.

Good interview with David Blumenthal, Director, ONC, on meaningful use of EHRs and plans for national health data exchange.

Whole Foods to offer up to an additional 10% discount for employees who meet wellness measures that include nicotine use, cholesteral, and BMI targets.

Good short piece on why publishers are distributing content via Kindles even though there are business considerations.

Kent Bottles brings together topics from current books by Atul Gawande, Timothy Goetz, and an article by Jerome Groopman to consider the merits of checklists and use of decision trees in medicine. He also covers behavioral economics and choice and mentions the Thaler-Sunstein approach to offering nudges (libertarian paternalism) to guide healthful behavior. Conclusion: medicine and health are complicated. Seems to me that since computers are useful for dealing with complex calculations (even under stress) that it makes sense to use automated checklists and decision support systems to guide complex processes. Provided we can avoid GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) situations.

Interesting article on how Conde Nast is seeking to leverage brand value of Gourmet, Domino, and Cookie (defunct magazines) as well as current titles Wired and Lucky. Compares CN to Meredith, whose Better Homes & Gardens has used its brand to provide quality seals to products. CN-selected content (tested by Gourmet kitchens?) is one idea they should consider, IMO.

IUD manufacturer, Mirena (part of Bayer Pharmaceutical) has been using home parties, a la Tupperware, to spread word about benefits of Mirena IUD. FDC has sent warning letter to Bayer.

Everyday Health, the consumer health portal owned by Waterfront Media, files for $100M IPO. Positive sign for consumer health publishers. Everyday is one of the largest consumer health portals that relies on online advertising for most of its revenue.

Home page of Jan 2010 report from RWJF on PHRs.

ZocDoc, a online directory of doctors that has focused on NY and DC, is expanding to cover SF. Note, a key differentiator of ZocDoc (from the slew of other doctor ratings sites) is its integration with practice management systems for scheduling appointments so that users can find doctors with available appts. ZocDoc says they have integrated with close to 1400 PMS companies. Note, ZocDoc also encourages patient reviews of doctors, but only from ZocDoc users. Reviews of doctors remains a sticky wicket for all of the doc review sites.

Susannah Fox from Pew Internet started the conversation with her post about Google Health OneBox that lists results from Mayo Clinic, WebMD, ADAM, and MedlinePlus in a special position at top of search results. Great discussion in the comments ensued, including a couple from me.

Brief article describing MedeAnalytics revenue cycle management solution being adopted by St. Joseph’s Hospital in Maryland.

Info on work Tim Berners-Lee is doing for UK govenment to make sources of gov’t data more available and meaningful.

“Pfizer increased its spending on online professional promotion by more than 90% last year, according to a study, a sign the drugmaker is emphasizing alternatives to live sales reps for detailing certain products.” Study by SDI.

Thomas Goetz, exec editor of Wired, on why personalized medicine is really about personal data.

Really good interview, where Gomez talks frankly about outdated tech in hospitals/health IT (e.g., MUMPS) and talks about making CPOE easier to reap benefits of healthcare data-analytics.

HealthGrades announces new org structure and provides improved guidance for 2010. I just have to add that this may be the most poorly written press release I have ever seen.

CVS’ underperforming PBM unit names Lofberg new CEO. Lofberg is currently CEO of Generation Health, a genetic PBM.

Choronicle of Higher Ed describes some alternatives to impact factors. I agree that empirical data should be used in measuring importance, but a single # is not likely to be sufficient. Wouldn’t that strengthen the “Britney effect”?

At least one doctor thinks they are. Dr. Wes Fisher writes that the rise of social media and the cost of travel (and reduction of sponsorship by pharma and device companies) spells the end of the medical conference business. I think he’s right that there will be a reduction in live events, but I don’t expect them to disappear.

HHS has an RFP for study on how to build claims db that will include payer records beyond CMS data. DB will be used for comparative effectiveness research (CER).

Health Data Management reports that Thomson Reuters Healthcare (Ann Arbor) is entering the HIE market with a data analytics platform.

Healthcare IT News briefly reviews the top 20 list from KLAS.

A must-read for every publisher to gain an understanding of the convergence of publishing, marketing/advertising and the blurring of the roles between publishers and vendors. Nike’s online campaign was much more than advertising, it included tools for fitness programs and for exchanging data. Or as AdWeek says, “a product experience”. Traditional publications and ads can’t deliver a “product experience” in print of online.

Health Content Advisors ranks #136 out of 400 top blogs on IT. Interesting that my writings about health content, which is inextricably connected to health IT, rates so highly. It’s an honor to be placed in the immediate neighborhood of top analysts from top IT research firms, considering that my blog is secondary to the consulting work I do. Must be my analytical nature!

Nice tribute to Paul Samuelson in the Boston Globe. Samuelson taught at MIT since 1940 and every student of economics has been touched by Dr. Samuelson. I honor him as a fellow U. Chicago alum, but also for negotiating one of the best textbook contracts ever.

Headline says it all. Gary dissects an actual memo used with TV journalists that promotes tying recent medical research to exaggerated claims of short-term benefits–and the specifically recommends against mentioning research labs or clinical work.

Article on the new building extension of MIT’s media lab designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. Contrasts Maki’s style of open space with lots of glass to original IM Pei buildling with limited windows. Interesting metaphor for move of technology from “black box” to enabling and thriving on “transparency”.

An indictment of doctors and drug companies that promote drug interventions for preventive care. Uses example of hormone drug replacement for women.

References CBO study (with link) that describes the allocation of marketing $$ to detailing, CME support, DTC and a measly $400 M in professional journals. Journals publishers need to reinvent themselves as a vehicle for reaching doctors/clinicians.

Conversation between Milken and Pfizer CEO Kindler

John Moore writes a brief post about MSFT’s announcement of long-term care provider Golden Living’s adoption of Amalga & HealthVault.

McClellan, former CMS adminstrator, MD, and PhD economist, will keynote Advanstar’s Center for Business Intelligence (CBI)’s Annual Strategic Medicare Policy Summit.

Nancy McKinstry interview: journals renewals are strong even with price increases; hospitals are spending more capital in 2009 than 2008 in anticipation of ARRA funds to come in 2010.

Humana will establish MinuteClinic for its own employees and will encourage all members to use MinuteClinic for basic screening tests for cholesterol, blood pressure, bmi–and will couple basic screenings with its own LifeSynch health coaching.

WebMD, HealthVault (MSFT) and GoogleHealth comprise the panel moderated by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. About 50 minutes long. Worth a look.

Very good analysis of trends in IT research. Essentially says that high priced IT research reports are becoming commoditized and used for lead gen that is paid for by vendors. Analysts can still make money consulting, firms can put on events, and carry out customized research. Totally in line with my writings and demonstrated in the content value pyramid in my Publishing for e-Patients preso (on Slideshare/janicemc). Like comment about individual analysts becoming branded more so than firms. Agree there, too.

Kent Bottles provides excellent summary of recent lecture by David Eddy, MD (the “founder” of EBM) who has consistently challenged the robustness of existing methods of clinical decision guidelines. Dr. Eddy believes the future requires more complex models that consider a larger number of factors and interactions that in effect provide more personalized medical treatment. Eddy’s own company, Archimedes, builds “virtual patients” that can be used for complex modeling of probable outcomes. I don’t know enough about Archimedes to judge its efficacy, but I think Eddy has the right approach. We know that more data are available about patients and outcomes and will accelerating adoption of EHRs, the amount of data will expand rapidly. Along with the improved data sources, there is clearly a need for more complex models to analyze the data and test the benefits of medical treatments.

Comprehensive article on HSAs and high-deductible health plans.

Schein will merge its animal health business with Butler; Schein to own 50.1%.

Good article that mentiones pricedoc.com, healthcarebluebook.com, and outofpocket.com, sites that provide info on prices for various procedures or office visits by doctor.

Another story that critiques overly simple health care rating schemes. IMO, ratings needs to be based on analysis of outcomes, using real data, not observations from a third-party, which are subject to error.

Excellent post and comments. I just added my own comment (7th in list).

Good commentary on public reaction to public health announcements and EBM. More “infodemiology”, that is, providing trustworthy information and monitoring public response to epidemics, is needed.

IDC Health Insights report on EHR vendors ($4,500)

Sponsored by Google, survey lists most popular resources used to find medical info. Surprise! Search engine/Google is at the top, followed by peer-reviewed journals. No category for online clinical information resources, such as UpToDate, MDConsult, DynaMed, as far as I can see. If no breakout were given on survey, Search Engine category may incorporate these resources too.

FDA would need legislative action to approve new db, but given the ability to track more data from electronic records and online user-input, federal db makes sense.

Study of search behavior indicates that online search is often used to confirm or refute one’s internal knowledge. Hm, sounds rather Bayesian to me.

Good review of press related to new mammogram guidelines. Interesting that so many who say they want EBM, object when they don’t like the data. “Don’t like” often means they stand to lose business or stature.

Article describes how students are sharing for-fee medical articles in a Napster-type environment.

With pressure from patient groups and regulators, hospitals have make significant progress in reducing hospital-acquired patient infections. Checklists and focus on solving the problem (using best practices from other institutions as one means) are noted as key to changing the procedures and culture at hospitals.

MD who wrote this post suggests that Kolata’s article is biased toward the big pharma position, since her only sources were from pharma.

Does technology interrupt the communication between doctors & patients? That’s the question posed by this book. Sounds interesting.

New site that compiles info about neuroscience research.

Great example of the how new sources of data will transform medical research.

Jay Parkinson on specialized providers v. general hospitals.

Review of Adam Bosworth’s company, Keas, which uses custom “care plans” that collect personal data - directly or indirectly.

Consumer Watchdog wants change to HHS ruling that gives providers the authority to decide if/when a patient’s healthcare information security has been breached.

Karen Overstreet, named executive director of Lippincott CME unit. Interesting that she’ll report to the Medical Research division, not education. Has there been a re-org?

FDA will use data from Wolters Kluwer’s Pharma Solutions Source Lx Patient Studies Suite that captures patient-level Rx data and Pharmaceutical Audit Suite (PHAST) that captures Rx transactions to follow trends in flu medication prescribing activity by region and other patient demographics.

American Academy of Professional Coders offers free app to help convert ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes. See aapc.com.

New edition will include feeds from Factiva and use Factiva Smart Search. Need to check on pricing.

HealthPort Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of healthcare IT solutions to hospitals and health systems, has set its IPO terms to six million common shares being offered at between $14 and $16 per share. It would have an initial market cap of approximately $360 million, were it to price at the high end of its range. HealthPort is owned by ABRY Partners. www.healthport.com

New study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, estimates that there are 67,000 fewer active physicians than calculations have suggested. The physician work force is also younger than previously estimated, with a greater proportion of doctors in their 20s and 30s and fewer who are 65 and older. By 2020, there will be 957,000 physicians, according to the new estimates, rather than the 1.05 million previously projected. Only 9 percent will be 65 or older, or half as many as had been predicted.

Team that developed InnovationRx at the Innovation Company bought the rights to the company and relaunched it as Aprexis Health Solutions. Aprexis focuses on patient adherence, with adherence to prescription drugs the focus.

WK Health announces new customer who will use Provation, now branded as Provation Order Sets, powered by UpToDate Decision Support.

UnitedHealth exceed analyst estimates despite declines in #insured, due to increases at drug unit.

Argentina the latest country to launch medical tourism program to encourage visitors to plan vacations centered around medical procedures (cosmetic and fertility are top treatments for medical tourists in Arg).

MVP Health, a regional health insurer in upstate NY, VT, and NH, will reimburse physicians for using RelayHealth’s WebVisit (TM) for patient consultations. MVP is partnering with Mohawk Valley Medical Associate (MVMA) to offer physician’s immediate reimbursement for implementing Relay’s webVisit.

presentation materials from Sept 24, 2009 webcasts on CAHPS Clinician and Group Survey

Concerns about patient privacy loom over electronic health records segment. George Hill of Leerink Swann estimates that by 2020, data mining could represent a $5 Billion industry.

Preview of next week’s Connected Health 09 conference in Boston. Focus: new devices and communications tools will help patients take more control of their health and leave hospital visits for severe events.

New device from Fitbit that tracks exercise & sleep & can be used to monitor calorie intake, too. Fitbit is joining a fast-growing segment of devices that help monitor healthy behavior & can be used by payer segment to evaluate lifestyle of insured populations.

Dr. Rob on medical costs and medical codes–and plug for his interview with Ira Glass for This American Life’s series on medical costs to be aired weekend of 10/17-18, 2009.

Quest Diagnostics’ MedPlus group, launches its Care360 ambulatory EHR on Oct.24. MedPlus will market the EHR to teh 150,000 physicians that already use its other Care360 apps and will offer hosted solutions for smaller practices. Quest’s MedPlus has the advantage of having existing relationships with these practices who use their other Care360 apps.

Developed in collaboration with the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Elsevier’s Brain Navigator tool, a “GPS system” that provides 3-D software to navigate the brain, adds new features for visualizing injection pathways and printing and exporting images. Interesting to note that this collaboration is with Elsevier’s Science and Technology Books division. Great example of how STM publishers can leverage their content through IT/R&D partnerships.

According to 2006 Kaiser Foundation study, nearly 1/3 of US companies that offer health insurance also offer some sort of wellness program. And, the focus on wellness has increased since then. This article describes some of the programs and $$ incentives for reaching wellness goals.

Very interesting. Healthy Advice Networks, which markets health info to physician practices with content sponsored by pharma and health and wellness brands, partners with HealthScape Consumer, a joint WK Health and Nielsen longitudinal panel to provide data on the effectiveness of sponsoring/promoting in Healthy Advice Network.

RightHealth is dba name of Kosmix, a Mt. View California search technology company that initially focused on the health space.

Digitas Health lists 140 possible uses of Twitter in healthcare. Nice.

Florida-based video sharing site that posts videos for docs to use for patient education.

Halamka names Quest’s Care360 e-prescribing solution as the “cool technology of the week”. Quest is offering a free six-month trial of the service.

Focuses on overpayment to Medicare Advantage providers.

Video to promote upcoming conference on media convergence. Clever and entertaining presentation of info about media trends.

Uwe Reinhardt offers a primer on how to read health insurer’s 10-Ks.

Peter Jasco, who has written several previous in-depth reviews of Google Scholar, provides an update and describes why GS won’t serve as a citation analysis tool. Hmm, what does that say for “infodemiology” results mined from Google?

FDA to hold hearings on use of social media by pharma.

Quest Diagnostics, known primarily for its lab testing business, offers its Care360 e-prescribing s/w for free during a 6-month test. Quest is also beta-testing a Care360 EHR for small to midsize practices.

Cogent opinion piece with good comments about future of scholarly publishing. Theme: journals as brand, not necessarily as primary distribution vehicle. Also, journals as just one component of scientific research content assets.

NEJM series on health reform; this time why Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model could rein in costs.

Great piece on Dave DeBronkart, aka e-Patient Dave, who is a founder of the new Journal of Participatory Medicine. Journal and its community aspire to change the culture of medicine so that patients have a more active role in all aspects of their healthcare and most of all, so that patients have full access to their medical records.

WK’s Adis R&D Insight adds “intelligent forecasting” from its pharma research service inThought to its drug pipeline info service.

Zagat tool for rating/recommending doctors incorporated into BCBS of Georgia’s online site for members. Makes sense to offer recommendations within a system.

Good post on how the proliferation of ratings and awards for hospitals is diluting the effect. Also, high ratings doesn’t always equate with a good match for a specific patient.

Clinical Site Services, a service provider to CROs and service companies to help them with their site performance, launches its own site that provides health info with the goal of attracting users who may be prospects for clinical trials. Bus model rests on selling ads/sponsorships to CROs, etc. Interesting; will check it out later today.

Uses MarkLogic for QualityAnalytics product that facilitates reporting quality measures and adds search features.

Thomson Scientific launches upgrade to TPharma that includes consensus analyst forecasts for strategic drugs across major pharma therapy areas & combines the forecasts w/ downloadable revenue models for drugs in over 100 indications.

Inverness Medical Innovations to buy Free & Clear, a regional health services provider focusing on wellness and prevention.

Post about new feed that aggregates tweets from 25 patient safety experts on Twitter.

More on FDA’s social media & pharma developments.

change:healthcare, a HC08 innovator, launches ability to post questions on Twitter about healthcare price info (e.g., Rx drugs) and other health issues — with focus on helping people save money.

HHS considering notification requirements for cases when the security of de-identified patient data used in research is breached.

Advertising may help increase book publishers’ profits, but it is unlikely that books will become less expensive: they are already inexpensive. Readers are unlikely to invite advertising, unless books become totally free.

Good review of why there is skepticism among doctors & others (including me) about how investment in EHRs will provide “magic bullet”. Key issue is the quality of the EHR systems being sold by many of the big health IT vendors. Key quality factors include: ease of use, interoperability, low downtime.

Dr. Denis Cortese, CEO Mayo Clinic, interviewed on Charlie Rose week of July 20 2009.

Obama visits Cleveland Clinic on July 23, 2009. This is the press release from CC.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe describes why the current system for reporting doctors in the NPDB isn’t working.

Jbat puts Twitter’s emergence in the context of Google in 2004 and suggests that small-to-medium sized businesses will be the lifeblood of Twitter. These SMBs need to continously find better/faster/cheaper ways of marketing their goods & services and Twitter can help. I like the comment from a reader that describes Twitter as a new “marketplace” for buyers & sellers. That’s what I said of online directories 5-6 years ago.

AP creates new technology for tracking usage of articles and wrapping reuse rights into code in each article. In principle, the concept could work; in practice it may flop due to too many restrictions on links.

Rand study analyzes effect of rising health care costs on employment, output, and value-add to GDP across 38 industries over the period 1987-2005. Concludes that HC costs had adverse effects on all 3 measures, esp. in industries w/ high % of employer-sponsored insurance.

Scribd succeeding where others have not by keeping it simple. Straightforward rev share (20% to Scribd; 80% to publisher/author) and easy to use platform. Let seller set terms.

Physicians Interactive, owned by PE company Perseus, buys Skycape, the leading mobile platform for medical info delivered to physicians.

Assessment of the effectiveness of Pharma ads in medical journals. Haven’t read the article through yet, but looks to have good data.

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn’s commentary on recent PWC report. She points to stats abt patient involvement that break down survey results by type of insured. Most notable stat: 61% of those covered by employer report their reason for lack of involvement: “I do not know where to go to find good information”.

WSJ points out key issue in using Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, or KP as models for health reform: these are integrated systems that facilitate sharing info, coordinating care, and can impose standards.

Key median ratios for the 134 health systems rated by S&P declining in all categories in 2008.

WebMD launches Medscape Mobile for iPhone & iPod Touch. Free content includes: Drug db, drug interaction checker, Medscape medical news, CME from Medscape, & WebMD Health Dictionary.

Boston area advertising firm, Pangea, uses QuizEngine, its content-focused advertising platform to engage readers.

DoD has successful pilot PHR program, MiCare, that uses GoogleHealth & MSFT HealthVault.

NPR story on Comparative Effectiveness (CER) of treatment for irregular heart beat. Quotes Carolyn Clancy of AHRQ, but doesn’t draw any conclusions.

Good insight from John Moore at Chilmark on acquisition of Medem by Medfusion.

Zynx to provide order sets directly through eClinicalWorks EMR.

Paul Levy shares some learnings from BIDMC’s performance improvement efforts.

According to study conducted by AON, employers want enhancements to existing health insurance system rather than a complete overhaul. Key changes requested: more info on comparative effectiveness, more focus on wellness and preventive care, and changes to reimbursement policies.

Chronicle of Higher Ed on Elsevier’s Cell Press’ beta site for “next gen” journal article. At first glance, I’m impressed by the added-value that Cell Press is providing to their users. I’m also a little (just a little) annoyed at the commenters who dismiss the efforts because of Elsevier’s high profits (estimates are inflated in one comment) in their journals business. STM publishing segment needs innovation to respond to needs of the scientist and researchers who use the info and data.

CHH Medical Supply convicted of Medicare Fraud for unneccessary power wheelchair prescriptions.

GAO report (links to full report included) analyzing resource needs for FDA to manage growing responsibilities in medical device/product segment.

More on the “Free” as business model debate. See my comments on the post.

Using tag cloud to help understand key terms and contents of a book, Google Books now makes it easy to glean substance of books in seconds. Pretty cool.

Connectyx’ MedFlash portable PHR enters sales agreement with Healthy Directions, a vendor of “science-based vitamin & nutritional supplement formulas” and other wellness products. By end of August 2009, Health Directions will offer the flash-drive MedFlash EPHR through its distibution channels. Comment: press release alludes to fact that the Healthy Directions’ audience, on average, is more interested in health & health-related products, than the general population and therefore is more likely to be interested in tracking their health-related behavior. Given the behavior of Healthy Directions’ audience, it makes sense for vendors of PHR technology to focus sales efforts on this group.

Massachusetts and Vermont ban on pharma and medical device companies’ giving gifts to doctors (anything from coffee mugs to trips) goes into effect today.

Concerro, a vendor of SaaS workforce management s/w to hospitals acquires CommandAware, which provides hospitals a turn-key solution for emergency response.

Very good article (although long) that lays out reasons why incumbents have difficulty adopting new technologies. I’d add that many large incumbent scientifc publishers have to innovate through acquistions because of the problems described in Nielsen’s article and because of constraints put on them by the financial markets (if they are public). Accounting for acquisitions allows them more freedom to “buy” vs. “make”. I totally agree about the need for scientific publishers (in fact, all publishers) to become proficient in IT. Technology is a key input to all content products & services; without constant innovation, publishers will get disrupted by new entrants. This relates to last week’s article, “Health Content is Rapidly Losing Its Value”.

Using IVR technology, Doctors on Demand allows patients to call in and leave info, then get contacted by MD. Physical visits are required at least 1/year.

UBM’s CMPMedica discontinues 2 print pubs and cuts unspecified # positions; some digital presence of pubs: Infections in Medicine and AIDS Reader will continue.

WK Health announces new research reports that incorporate data and analysis gleaned from their Adis R&D Insight, WK Healthcare Analytics (NDA), and other resources to suppy focused analysis on specific markets. inThought is targeted to financial analysts, health care suppliers and drug manufacturers. Seems like a logical extension to their data services.

Interview with new CEO of Elsevier Health Sciences, Michael Hansen. Describes EHS businesses and where they are focusing for growth (clinical decision support systems; outcomes analysis)

AHRQ proposes expanding CAHPS surveys to include patient attitudes about health It. Harvard & Rand will conduct a field test in 2009.

ContentNext, the parent company of PaidContent.org, which is now owned by the Guardian, confirms recent layoffs and realignment.

Anas Younes, MD on why he Tweets.

Jay Parkinson’s Hello Health healthcare model is highlighted. Hello Health offers a model for providers of health care that utlizes technology to improve efficiency and communication between patients & doctors. For now, Hello Health requires direct payment from patients, although patients can seek reimbursement.

Glaxo’s CEO, Andrew Witty, discusses changes in R&D organization, which has moved from “industrial-scale drug discovery processes” of the past 15 years that relied on “an industrial process based on large-scale applications of technologies like genomics, proteomics and combinatorial chemistry” which didn’t deliver on their promise, to more focused research that is “more of an art than a science”.

Discussion draft of House’s health reform bill “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.” 852 page pdf doc.

Nice to see that Els has iPhone apps for popular medical info products from Mosby/Saunders, including Mosby’s iTerms Flash Cards, Saunder’s Q&A Review for th NCLEX-RN Exam and many more.

Nice piece by Ellen Goodman on the importance of helping doctors focus on providing healthcare, not reimbursement rates and other business issues.

Good recap of Google Book Settlement, Book Rights Registry, and orphan works rights proferred to Google under the settlement. Interesting that Google, the company that champions free content, is now being feared for possibly planning to charge “exorbitant” rates once they get near-monopoly rights over orphan works.

Great post by Richard Scoville on how some community health centers are relying on registries of patient records & outcomes to improve overall care. Unfortunately, most EHR systems aren’t set up to interoperate with registries, which nixes the whole idea of meaningful use!

RWJF launches consumer health care confidence index in partnership with Survey Research Center at U. Michigan, which conducts the “Surveys of Consumers” monthly survey of 500 households.

Dan Clancy responds to Bezos’ comments about Google Books. All publishers–in all platforms & for all audiences–should be following Google Books Settlement and the G Books program!

Merger, which was called off last fall due to market conditions and lack of buyer for Porex, is back on. HLTH still seeking buyer for Porex. WebMD will be surviving company with Wygod as Chair and Gattinella as Pres/CEO. All stock transaction. WebMD has been a publicly traded sub. of HLTH.

Sponsored by CTIA (wireless ind assoc), Congress, administration officials, & experts to meet to discuss “mHealth solutions to America’s chronic care crisis”. Good quote from Obama at end of article. “We need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, let doctors focus on practicing medicine, and encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines”.

IBM bets on mobile tech to reach parts of pop that don’t use pcs–and of course those who use both.

The Healthcare Financial Mgmt Assoc will publish a detailed report this fall on how to implement best practices in revenue cycle mgmt (RCM). Preliminary results given at HFMA’s annual meeting in Seattle. Bullet point results listed in article.

Good article on recent research by TNS Healthcare on shifting relationships between Pharma and doctors. No major revelations, but some good data.

Round 1 research reports from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Project HealthDesign available via this link.

Obama administration says it can find $313 B in healthcare savings to help pay for reforms.

John Moore summarizes his thoughts on the recent Microsoft Connected Health conf. Key point: MSFT has shifted some focus from consumer apps to enterprise apps, in large part because of the faster uptake & more clear business models.

Allhealthcarejobs.com, which was launched in 2006 and is reported to have sales <$1M, is acquired by jobs site Dice Holdings for $2.8 million.

Sramana Mitra on some well-positioned health IT and health content companies. Mostly focused on IT companies that help to save costs.

AMA & Covisint are working together to build a portfolio of Web-bases services to physicians and on June 11, announced that the portal will be launched nationally in early 2010 and will provide a link to Microsoft’s HealthVault PHR platform.

Thomas H. Lee, MD writes about effect of IT on role of physician. Comparing what IT has done to publishing (and journalists), Dr. Lee posits that some basic functions of doctors can indeed be automated. This is an important theme and I will write more on this topic soon.

LifeShirt,a wearable remote patient monitoring system, completes prototype of next-gen shirt. Current version embeds sensors to collect respiratory, cardiopulmonary, & other data from patient. Can also connect to peripheral devices and transmit data to vendor’s db for analysis. New version will integrate all sensors, extend battery life, & make upgrades easier. Sounds cool, but what about washability?

Ed Felten’s suggestions for data.gov & general role of feds in serving as info provider. Great points: “Private actors….are better suited to deliver govt info to citizens and can constatnly create and reshape the tools individuals use to find and leverage public data.”

The government says sipping red wine improves the benefits. Glad to know I’m doing it right!

Steve Outing provides a list of suggestions for newspaper company executives. Food for thought for publishers in other segments, too!

Class action settlement against First DataBank (Hearst) that publishes benchmark drug prices and McKesson, a drug wholesaler, will result in some payments to consumers who bought these drugs, along with some price rollbacks, but not a significant change.

Healthcare Informatics’ June issue with HCI 100 list of top health IT vendors.

Drug interaction/adverse effects info tool added to MSFT’s HealthVault.