By ROB LAMBERTS, MD He came in for his regular blood pressure and cholesterol check. On the review of systems sheet he circled “depression.” “I see you circled depression,” I said after dealing with his routine problems. ”What’s up?” “I...

By JOHN MOORE, CHILIMARK RESEARCH Earlier this week, GE announced the release of Centricity Advance, their solution for the ambulatory market. Centricity Advance is basically a build-out/rebranding of MedPlexus an SaaS EHR solution vendor that GE acquired in March 2010....

By JOHN GOODMAN Matt you can’t have it both ways. First you attack a well-known Harvard professor, Regina Herzlinger, for accepting an invitation to become a director at a company that only later was publicly accused of accounting problems. Then...

By PAUL LEVY Author Kathryn Schulz recently provided a newspaper exposition of some of the themes of her new book, Being Wrong, Adventures in the Margin of Error. As noted on her website, Kathryn has "a credible (if not necessarily...

By MICHAEL TURPIN Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?” Anonymous Growing up in the era of “Walk It Off” parenting, I was never allowed to get too in touch with my hypochondria....

By MERRILL GOOZNER The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported last week on a Food and Drug Administration-supported effort to encourage companies to share data about their failed Alzheimer's Disease drugs. Comment: We need more of this unmarket-like behavior. Consumer...

By Matthew Holt About a year ago GE started a campaign called Healthymagination. In the health care technology business GE had long been known for market leadership in big iron imaging like MRIs and CTs, as well as some diagnostics,...

By CHRIS THORMAN For nearly four years, the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) has been the lone entity recognized by the federal government to certify electronic health record systems. Since being named a recognized certifying body by Health...

By Matthew Holt Our friend Amy Tenderich does a wonderful job every year with her ever-growing Diabetes Mine Design challenge. We’re late to the party (it was announced last week) but here are the winners!

By PAUL LEVY Here's a notice about an upcoming WIHI program. The Image of Better (Radiation) Imaging Practices Thursday, June 17, 2010, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time Guests: James R. Duncan, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiology and...

By Hillary McCowen The Health 2.0 Goes to Washington conference in DC last Monday, June 7th was an exciting and successful event. Thank you to everyone who attended along with HHS and ONC, who helped us put on a great...

Calling all published and graduate student researchers who have used Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data! Nominations and applications accepted through July 16. To celebrate its 20th year of HCUP data, AHRQ will be honoring researchers who have addressed...

By ED PULLEN, MD A Radical Suggestion – Pay Specialists Less Since 1997 the number of US medical students choosing to go into primary care has decreased by more than 50%. It seems that sources as diverse as the Obama...

By JONATHAN BUSH Earlier this month I read in The New York Times (okay, someone read it to me), that hospitals and docs are saying “meaningful use” is just too much, too fast. I have to say, I would sympathize...

By ROGER COLLIER In addition to Medicare Advantage payment cuts and potential reductions in fee-for-service payment updates, PPACA includes various provisions intended to facilitate ongoing Medicare cost containment, notably creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board and the Center for...

By PAUL LEVY Two items about social media. 1) I often get the question in interviews, "How much time do you spend on your blog and other social media?" I often answer, "You wouldn't think of asking me how much...

By MARGALIT GUR-ARIE Back in the times when EHRs were just EMRs, they had a very simple and humble mission. The software was supposed to help providers of health care services better manage their business. EMRs were supposed to help...

Desperate and stuck in the middle I am the mother of an 11-month-old baby girl, Cassidy, who has CCHS (Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome), a very rare genetic mutation. Our union health care company recently changed "paperwork" companies,at which time we...

By EDWARD PULLEN, MD In Philanthropy It’s All About Relationships. Last night I spent an interesting evening as the local physician asked to come along with our local hospital on a philanthropy pitch to a local specialty group to contribute...

By MATTHEW HOLT They may have started with a Blues plan in a small state (Hawaii) and been moving deceptively slowly for a while, but having got Optum (part of United Healthgroup) on board last year, today American Well announced...