Showing posts with label health data exchanges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health data exchanges. Show all posts

Friday, June 24, 2016

The Affordable Care Act, Accountable Care Organization and the Election

Better Together Health 2016 Event - Better Together     Are we really

The Affordable Care Act has stimulated many changes in health care. What is  considered good or bad depends upon the viewpoint of the provider and/or patient.

We have not yet seen the details of the Republican plan so Health Train Express will not offer our evaluation. Decisions based upon political rhetoric are at the least foolish, and at the worst dangerous.

It is doubtful if the ACA will be repealed entirely. Significant amendments ill be made. Other than some displeasure in the provider and health insurance industry patients who are able to access care are at less risk of not getting urgent care.  Even that presents problems in terms of provider accesss and the high deductible and premium expence for most receiving a partial subsidy. For those who are indigent, they have not expenses.

The progress of the organization being promoted by Medicare and some private insurers is the Accountable Care Organization (ACO).  The progress of developing this organization is fraught with many barriers. The ACO is an HMO on steroids.

Perhaps the closest organization to an ACO is the Kaiser Permanente model. The Counsel of Associated Physicians Group recently held a symposium, Better Together Health 2016 Event - Better Together.

The speakers represent a broad spectrum of the view on Accountable Care Organizations.

ROBERT PEARL, MD   CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ACCOUNTABLE PHYSICIAN PRACTICES
Robert Pearl, MD, is Executive Director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and President and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. Dr. Pearl serves on the faculties of the Stanford University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Business. Dr. Pearl is a frequent lecturer on the opportunities to use 21st century tools and technology to improve both the quality and cost of health care, while simultaneously making care more convenient and personalized.

SENATOR JOHNNY ISAKSON    (R-GA), CO-CHAIR, SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE CHRONIC CARE WORKING GROUP

Senator John Hardy Isakson (R-GA) is serving his second term in the U.S. Senate, and was recently tapped to lead the Senate Finance Committee’s Chronic Care Solutions working group with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). The work of the bipartisan committee is to begin exploring solutions that will improve outcomes for Medicare patients requiring chronic care. Isakson is the first Georgian since the 1800s to have served in the state House, state Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He also serves on the Senate HELP Committee, Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate Ethics Committee, and the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

TIM GRONNIGEr    DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, DIRECTOR OF DELIVERY SYSTEM REFORM AT CMS
Tim Gronniger is the deputy chief of staff and director of delivery system reform at CMS. He was formerly a senior adviser for healthcare policy at the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC), where he was responsible for coordinating administration activities in healthcare delivery system reform. Before joining DPC he was a senior professional staff member for Ranking Member Henry Waxman at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, responsible for drafting and collaborating to develop elements of the Affordable Care Act. Before joining the Committee staff, Tim spent over four years at the Congressional Budget Office.

CECI CONNOLLY    PRESIDENT AND CEO, ALLIANCE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH PLANS

Ceci Connolly became president and CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans in January 2016. In her role, she works with some of the most innovative executives in the health sector to provide high-quality, evidence-based, affordable care. Connolly has spent more than a decade in health care, first as a national correspondent for The Washington Post and then in thought leadership roles at two international consulting firms. She is a leading thinker in the disruptive forces shaping the health industry and has been a trusted adviser to C-suite executives who share her commitment to equitable, patient-centered care.

KAREN CABELL, DO    CHIEF OF QUALITY AND PATIENT SAFETY, BILLINGS CLINIC

Dr. Karen Cabell is the chief of quality and patient safety and a practicing internal medicine physician at Billings Clinic, an integrated medical foundation healthcare organization, located in Billings, Montana. Dr. Cabell has implemented diabetes, heart failure and HTN disease management registries along with point-of-care tools for patients and clinicians to better manage chronic disease. She was involved with Billings’ rollout and adoption of an electronic health record implementation since 2004 including all clinic sites and regional partners to include 15 other hospitals with clinics across a 500-mile radius. Dr. Cabell has been instrumental in gaining alignment between the EHR, quality and patient safety as well as strategic planning to support Billings Clinic’s organizational goals of clinical excellence, operational efficiency, market growth and development, and financial strength.

REGINA HOLLIDAY    PATIENT RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ARTIST, AUTHOR

Artist Regina Holliday is a patient advocate known for her series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records, and for founding the Walking Gallery movement. The Walking Gallery consists of more than 350 volunteer members who make statements about the lapses in health care at public meetings by wearing business suits or blazers painted with patient stories. Holliday’s experiences during her husband’s illness and subsequent death inspired her to use painting as a catalyst for change. Backed by her own patient and caregiving experiences, she travels the globe heralding her message of patient empowerment and inclusion in healthcare decision making. Holliday’s mission is to demand a thoughtful dialog with officials and practitioners on the role patients play in their own healthcare.

MARC KLAU, MD

ASSISTANT REGIONAL MEDICAL DIRECTOR, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PERMANENTE MEDICAL GROUP
Dr. Marc Klau has been with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group for 31 years. He is currently the regional chief of Head and Neck Surgery, providing leadership for 100 surgeons.  He is also the Assistant Regional Medical Director for Education, Learning and Leadership. He now oversees the new KP School of Medicine and all of the Southern California Kaiser Permanente residencies, as well as continuing medical education and leadership.

JANET MARCHIBRODA

Artist Regina Holliday is a patient advocate known for her series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records, and for founding the Walking Gallery movement. The Walking Gallery consists of more than 350 volunteer members who make statements about the lapses in health care at public meetings by wearing business suits or blazers painted with patient stories. Holliday’s experiences during her husband’s illness and subsequent death inspired her to use painting as a catalyst for change. Backed by her own patient and caregiving experiences, she travels the globe heralding her message of patient empowerment and inclusion in healthcare decision making. Holliday’s mission is to demand a thoughtful dialog with officials and practitioners on the role patients play in their own healthcare.

DIRECTOR, HEALTH INNOVATION INITIATIVE, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER
Janet Marchibroda is the director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Innovation Initiative in Washington, DC. She has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare and is a nationally recognized expert on the use of health IT to improve healthcare quality.

LEANA WEN, MD  HEALTH COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE CITY

Since taking the reins of America’s oldest health department in Baltimore, Dr. Leana Wen has been reimagining the role of public health including in violence prevention, addiction treatment, and urban revitalization. Under Dr. Wen’s leadership, the Baltimore City Health Department has launched an ambitious overdose prevention program that is training every resident to save lives, as well as a citywide youth health and wellness plan. She is the author of the book, When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests, and is regularly featured on National Public Radio, CNN, New York Times, and Washington Post. Her talk on TED.com on transparency in medicine has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times.




Better Together Health 2016 Event - Better Together

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Is Sunday a Day of Rest for Social Media ?



Sunday may or may not be a day of rest in social media, depending upon your lifestyle. If you use Social Media for business it may give you time to prepare your social media stream for later in the week, scheduled by an increasing number of social media add ons, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Hubspot and others.

Sunday may be a time to socialize about Friday and Saturday's movies, dinners, parties, weddings, and other events.
Social media has been accepted and internalized among young people. Everyone has it and is dong it. The line between social and business is evaporating, just as it has in real life.  More deals go down on the golf course, at the coffee shop, restaurants, and during times of transportation.  It's easy enough to bring along all your digital documents and share them on google + or just 'bluetooth' them across the desk or table. Google drive, dropbox, skydrive, amazon and others all provide shareable storage for free or little charge

Physicians can share medical consults and discuss difficult diagnostic challenges anywhere at the clinic, hospital, operating room or from the automobile (smart) that will be driving itself very soon. Powerpoint, Slideshare, Prezi, offer different and imaginative presentation modes. Since  Youtube was bought by Google the two share log ons and also integrate and synchronize via Google plus.  Google continues to add some private and secure modes for video conferences . They call it "Helpouts".  And for MDs it is  HIPAA compliant which allow patient - provider secure and confidential communications In additon to these open social platforms, there are physician specific sites, such as SERMO, and DOXIMITY





When it comes down to it, we are all connected socially.  Our responsibility remains to our patents, and no matter`how exciting the technology is, will it help you to deliver care, or is it just a  'toy" ?

Friday, February 7, 2014

Small Data

Health care and health reform are being influenced by seemingly unrelated spheres of influence. Many industries are effected by these same interactions in banking, transportation, defense, technology, basic science, education and government.

The age in which we live is both exciting and terrifying. Now that I am a septagenerian I see it is both. And somehow we will survive, grow stronger and thrive.

The catalyst is largely information technology and cyber technology, whether it is functions for gathering data, analytics,pseudo artificial intelligence, or robotics.  All of it is shaped by bits and bytes.  Even the basic materials of the integrated circuit and computer microprocessors will undergo basic changes perhaps away from silicon to carbon or even biological compounds such as the building blocks of DNA, nucleic acids.

Rather than having a simple bit or byte, nucleic acids as we know them, offer 4 different subunits that form a lexicon for building proteins from amino acids.

Big Data is often quoted in health care for analytics, for biological and research discoveries.















We in health care are now being continuously bombarded about the essentiality of gathering more and more information. Our government is underwriting some of the costs and also placing a large burden upon not only physicians but all providers, and hospitals to enter health data into the IT infrastrucure for some future use, some of which is still not defined, and some which is truly unproven.  Despite this billions of dollars have been and will be spent on this endeavor.

There have been some precautionary notes offered from other sectors:

Viewpoint: Why your company should NOT use “Big Data”


The latest trend is “Big Data”. The original concept of Big Data was the concept of using all of the information a company collect that was being thrown away due to costs and capacity constraints. With the rapidly declining cost of storage and retrieval, combined with machine learning, we should be able to find insights in all that ‘garbage data’ and use it to make better decisions in the core business. At least that’s the theory. As far as the basic theory goes it’s all true, but it’s not the full story.

Like a lot of trends, the drive to mastering Big Data has gone a little overboard. Google searches for the term “Big Data” has grown from practically nothing in 2010 to almost 200,000 searches a month by the end of 2013

It has become so ingrained in company cultures that to say you don’t want to use Big Data is a bit like saying you are against data-driven decision making. It would be career suicide to say Big Data is a waste of company time and resources.

The graph below depicts the exponential growth of big data over time.












The details can be found at the original article on ViewPoint