NCQA ACO Accreditation Overview
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is launching a new accreditation program for Accountable Care Organizations on November 21st. ACO accreditation is an independent evaluation of healthcare delivery organizations' ability to coordinate the…
Behind the Scenes in Washington: Lobbying for HealthCare
I have a lot of family and friends who like to complain that nothing ever gets done in Washington. While it's true that the political process often winds up in…
The Positive Power of Talking Heads
Last week I wrote about the power of patients getting together and trading stories. As I wrote then, meeting in-person is simply unmatched. But now we have something almost as…
Will HITECH Money beThere Tomorrow?
It is a great question with no sure answer. Times are tough as they say. Everything is “on the table” when it comes to the government and its budget and…
Celebrate Nurse Practitioner week!
As proclaimed by Texas Governor and Republican As proclaimed by Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful, Rick Perry, it’s Nurse Practitioner week! In celebration of National Nurse Practitioner week, here…
VisionCare’s FDA Approved Telescope Gets Implanted
VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, Inc. is a privately-held company that researches, develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary implantable ophthalmic devices and technologies that are intended to significantly improve vision and qual VisionCare…
Price Transparency Is Nice, But All-Payer Is Better
For all the talk about consumer driven medicine (it’s the basis for Republican plans to turn Medicare into a voucher program), why doesn’t anyone talk about pricing transparency in health…
What is Self-Management?
We need new models for health care because more people are living longer lives, which is good! ☺ But this means more people with long-term health problems requiring more of…
Meaningful Use and Documentation of Vital Signs
Jim Tate, Meaningful Use Expert Jim Tate, Meaningful Use Expert Sometimes things are not what they seem. What can appear simple can become complex upon closer examination. Lately I’ve been…
Bigger Carrots and Painful Sticks to Improve Medication Adherence
As you’ve probably read by now in the New England Journal of Medicine (Full Coverage for Preventive Medications after Myocardial Infarction), so-called value based insurance design, which waives co-pays for…
