Archive for 2007
Progressive healthcare organizations have already caught the Internet wave
November 3, 2007
This is a quote from Bill Crounse, MD, of Microsoft reflecting on his recent experiences at internet conferences and tracking HIT trends. He notes the high expectations of consumers which have transformed other businesses beyond bricks and mortar. He cites leading institutions that are both payor and provider, like Group Health Cooperative which have also exploited the Internet.
On a related note, speaking of leadership, don’t miss the presentation by C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, from the Cleveland Clinic at the HIMSS Virtual Conference next week on “eEnabled Medical Practice”. One of the leading forward-looking thinkers in Health IT, Dr. Harris will cover “office based work flow, clinical decision support, health maintenance management and protocol management.”
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CureHunter
November 1, 2007
More health 2.0 search tools come on the market each month. Curehunter has an interesting spin for those interested in digging deep into evidence-based medicine on specific diseases. It presents search results which show the evidence for various treatments in a systematic hierarchy. Then a specific number of studies are citied. The research interface provides these in a folder format. It also provides the Network Graph which displays the topic graphically in a star diagram which relates your search topic with other topics.
Worth checking out for those who want a more detailed and scientific research of diseases, conditions and treatments.
Share this:Visible Body to Launch Mid-November
October 31, 2007
A very creative application called Visible Body is about to launch. It explores anatomy in a way similar to Google Earth explores the world. You can explore by body system or specific body part down to a bone or organ. Zoom and can be moved in 3-D. It requires a download and Flash Player 8. Customized deployments are available but the basic product (maybe basic is not the right term) will be available for free.
Check out the demo and sign up for the official announcement.
Share this:Medicine 2.0 Blog Carnival
October 30, 2007
The carnival is hosted by The Health Wisdom Blog this week and includes a note about the Health 2.0 conference Spring Fling now being set for March 3-4, 2008 in San Diego. In announces the new blog by John Halamka, Chief Information Officer at Harvard Medical School called Life as a Healthcare CIO. And there is a mention for Fathom SEO, a local Cleveland SEO firm which has a new booklet on a list of the six best Web 2.0 health tools.
Share this:Medworm and RSS Email
October 25, 2007
Frankie Dolan, Devon, United Kingdom writes a blog called Frankie Speaking Frankly. She has developed an application called Medworm which searches for RSS feeds related to health. A new twist on healthcare searches and a useful one. A more interesting approach than his search page is the Medical Blog Tag Cloud which has hundreds of terms from the Medworm database which link to articles – you can email, select a feed or discuss.
In her blog he discusses the pros of viewing email via RSS for physicians. A novel concept which would allow one view of information via feeds and the indispensible email. One of the challenges today is managing information from multiple source applications – RSS aggregator, Web, Email, etc. With a single view, the world is brought to your scene in a single view. This can be done currently in a iGoogle page. How about a Medworm widget for Google?
Share this:eHealth Initiative Unveils a Blueprint
October 24, 2007
The full title of this white paper is “eHealth Initiative Blueprint: Building Consensus for Common Action” and represents a consensus vision for improving health care IT. While I haven’t digested it completely, it does have an excellent section on consumer health. It also addresses issues for all of the other major players in health care IT including pharmacists, payors, hospitals, public health (often ignored in the US), etc.
Disconvergence in Online Communities
October 23, 2007
In an article by Thomas H. Lee M.D. on iHealthbeat, he discusses the momentum around online health communities and “Will the movement be completely disruptive to the health system and obviate the need for clinicians altogether?”
He notes that these communities “all exhibit the unexpected power of decentralizing knowledge, creativity and connectivity.” But will not likely replace the patient-physician relationship. He creates the term “Disconvergent Fluidity” by which he means the ebb and flow of online communities – here today, gone tomorrow. While these communities have a wealth of information on individual experiences in health care are they enough of a revolution to solve real problems in health care. Will the critical mass be there and sustain itself toward real change?
Google to Announce Google Health Next Year
October 19, 2007
In Information Week, there is a report of an announcement from Google (Marissa Mayer) at a Web 2.0 conference that Google will announce its offering early next year.
“Google has developed a prototype online platform for its health offering that incorporates personal medical records, health care-related search features, diet and exercise regimens, a localized ‘find a doctor’ application, and other elements.”
And, “While the focus will be on improving health care and making records more accessible and portable for patients, Google will also improve life for physicians.”
As the article notes, Microsoft appears to have been first to market with a health product but it will be a fair comparison to be made once Google Health is finally launched.
Share this:Reimbursement for eVisits
October 19, 2007
In a report in Modern Healthcare titled, “ Virtual visits: the new ATMs?“, the experience in Minneapolis of reimbursement for evisits at $35 each is discussed. Fairview Health Services uses MyChart from Epic Systems and has 34,000 enrolled and has received reimbursement for 1000 visits so far. In many cases there is a copay which varies based on the insuror. In a Florida practice which is cash-based, patients don’t seem to mind paying fees which start “at $15 to $20 for a prescription refill, $25 for chronic condition management.” This is the trend that many in the EMR/PHR world have been hoping for – a method of reimbursement which would help motivate physicians and patients both to adopt secure electronic communication. Will this trend spread? I hope so, but many third parties are still skeptical.
Share this:My Blog Cited by the National Library of Medicine
October 18, 2007
Thanks to Tech Medicine (Joshua Schwimmer) for finding health care blogs which are now examples on how to cite blogs by the NLM. eHealth is cited as an example of blog names using upper an lower case in their names (see example 11.)
Is this a sign that medical blogging has made it into the mainstream?
