US FTC Commissioner Doubts Benefits of ACOs
This is a different version from what we hear in the news but if you read through all of it Rosch may have some very good points. Right now hospitals…
Physician Websites: Five Good Ways to Connect With Patients
An important part of managing a patient over a long period of time is communicating with the patient. Most follow up cases in medical practices have niche requirements and consequently…
Yanking Avastin’s Breast Cancer Indication –the Right Thing To Do
As expected the FDA today removed Avastin’s approval for use as a breast cancer treatment. The drug will remain on the market for other cancer indications, so if a physician…
Can EMRs Do More Harm than Good?
Apparently yes, according to this New York Times report: Apparently yes, according to this New York Times report: Poorly designed, hard-to-use computerized health records are a threat to patient safety,…
Vaccines in the Pipeline and Vaccine Economics
EXCLUSIVE ARTICLE - The last three of these posts touched on a variety of vaccine topics. What else is on the horizon? Vaccines for a wide variety of infectious and…
Massachusetts: Land of Affordable Health Insurance
The Commonwealth Fund just released a sobering analysis (State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003–2010: The Need for Action to Address Rising Costs) revealing that total premiums for family coverage…
ACO Update: A Third Horse Enters the Race
A few months ago, we noted that the release of regulations for ACOs would trigger an ACO services race across the healthcare landscape, where market participants would be sprinting to…
PFCD Panel Discussion Promotes Adoption of Health IT
Earlier this week, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) hosted “Health Information Technology: An Invaluable Tool for Managing Chronic Diseases” at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. We were honored to…
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…
