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This is a social issue: One requiring an amendment to our constitution which clarifies what was intended by the preamble’s reference to “Promoting the General Well Fare”.

I have little hope. After 34 years as a healthcare executive, therapist, HIT visionary and above all: Advocate for fair and proper service access to all US Citizens; I doubt I will have my needs met as a patient:

I also doubt I will ever see harmony between payers, providers, patients and the media. It is far too easy to become distracted by the numerous disparities and factors giving rise to our overall US population cost and the rage between stakeholders. The distractions allow all who work in the industry to define a spot for themselves where they are comfortable: Comfortable with regard to salary, comfortable with regard to business processes, comfortable when they create a new service industry within the market under the argument of cost savings and quality improvement; comfortable, comfortable, comfortable. It is far too easy to reinvent ‘value added’ services and industrial segments. No ONE is in charge. No ONE is willing to step-up and claim they are the Great Oz.

I began my career as a paramedic and then received credentials in respiratory therapy, cardio-vascular technology and pulmonary physiology. My work unfolded as I was promoted to department director and then division director in the first five years; as DRG’s were settling in and hospitals began finding new ways to make money in ancillary services. Healthcare –because of its capacity to rename, re-market, leverage known waste into ‘new savings’ and offer new technologies without utilization controls and proof of social value has been very good to me. My upper middle class salary increased every three years and when it became apparent that HMOS would begin purchasing business logic to approve and deny procedures, define lengths of stay and pummel physicians with outcome data I learned enough about each sector to add consulting value on both ends. Because of the dynamic legislation across both commercial and socialized sectors any entrepreneur could make an excellent living as long as he or she was personable and able to rationalize their behavior in terms of improving quality adjusted life-years for the 85 year-old golfing buddy who needs a second CABG.

Then…in 1989 I began a ten-year period where I retreated to offering disease management programs for folks with moderate to end-stage lung disease. We accomplished a great deal of good for many people in the last years (or months) of their lives.

But in the end I found myself arguing for my ashen patients who had lost their oxygen prescriptions when they rolled off of Massachusetts Medicaid because of a $1.00 per hour bump in salary. I found new ways to ‘work the system for payment for their oxygen’. The oxygen they received through a small machine which cost $750.00 retail was billed to payers at $299.00 per month in 1989 dollars. In 1997 I flew to NYC and other areas of the North East to review individuals who were dependent on ventilators in acute care facilities. The call for help came from the hospitals as they accrued huge losses due to the prospective payment on these cases that were depending on their life support. One day as I was stepping off of the company Cessna the senior VP asked to review my list of cases from the day. Taking interest in an 80 year old woman on the list he asked “how long do you think this one will live Jeff?”; “Is the family willing to transfer her and liquidate her assets?” His self-justification for asking the question was a simple knowledge that he owned an excellent group of rehabilitation hospitals. He was not the type of fella to consider the pain associated with separating a grandmother from her grandchildren.

I left this venture to work in the design of web-based continuous care plans for persons with Chronic Disease. However, even separating myself from the ugliness of clinical care that we all see in our lives I found similar behaviors wherever I went. For example: I had an IT start-up CEO fly us out to the 1999 Managed Care Conference. We had just released a very cool integrated transfer management system the previous month. The founder asked me to place a sign in our booth stating MEDICAL LOSS RATIOs 69%!!!! In essence, he asked me to repeat the MLR of the one brand new client that had purchased our new system the previous month. I felt ashamed and refused. (ref. MLR is amount spent on medical care / member fees)

Eventually I found myself in NC as I declared I wanted to learn about policy. I was hired to work with what I envisioned to be a leader in Medicaid community care management and care coordination. The years I spent in the public sector with special programs under Medicaid only revealed the same type of rationalization for ‘stretching the truth’ or creating political and financial pressure for physicians. The eternal mind-set; we know this is the right thing so we need to keep the program alive.

I found NC Medicaid to have a wonderful program. But, as in many situations in the past I felt boxed in to “the –insert corporate name- WAY”. I have found that questions as to data integrity or suggestions to reduce cost by deploying new technology that will remove a necessary contract with a friendly vendor to always be un-welcome. Many healthcare workers are content with status quo; some are not. So I became a consultant.
My last few years were spent listening to boards of directors who shared numerous conflicts of interest shift charity funding between duplicative projects. I thought the ARRA, HITECH and perhaps parts of the PPACA might make work more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I found myself asking an FQHC who had received $1M in stimulus funding to delay their deployment of telemedicine since they had no plan. I said this just as the checks were being written to purchase high resolution flat panels for the clinics and a local vendor was installing a new VLAN. This was my first day on the contract. After fifteen months they never did succeed with getting their VLAN up and running. I was however able to launch their desired remote-psychiatry service for children with ADDH. How…well I conferred with some geek friends, researched the legal security standards; drove to Best-Buy and installed a three clinic encrypted Skype service. My submitted expense report for the work was $250.00. The cost of the ARRA never implemented tele-medicine service across a new VLAN? $144,000

As a diabetic who is now retired after 44 year’s dancing with the disease and receiving SSDI at the age of 56 I feel as though I waited my entire career. My income is $2400 per month, I have some savings, little debt and many fond memories of the days with my patients. My insurance cost through my wife along with the ‘cost sharing’ pieces of my “cost of care”; roughly $1200 per month.

What I see happening is ONE MORE TIME…new products and services. Last week I was told my physician was to charge me an additional $1500 per year through the local university’s Integrative Health Program. The money evidently is to pay for better access and (I am not kidding) an interest in my LIFE GOALS.

The issue of the cost of health care in the USA has nothing to do with Physicians, Hospitals, HMOs, TPAs, Pharma, Therapists, Insurance Companies or any other entity. The problem is far greater than the sum of the parts.

A society has gone askew with its values when it treats “Well Being” and “Well Fare” as a commodity in a free market system. The value of “Well Being” varies for every person, or culture and when intertwined with the largest factor in “Well Being” in early life (Employment) the calculus becomes complicated enough to manipulate and confuse the masses.

Jeffrey Harris (BS, RCVT,RPFT,LRCP) All exams inflated salary beyond reasonable value for just one more Bozo on the Bus.
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Blessings

No Comments by  /  March 26, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy
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Duke Medicine offers to ‘show interest in my life-goals’ for $1500.00 per year!

 

My medical stuff for a 3 day trip!

My medical stuff for a 3 day trip!

February 2013

Last month my father called and complained of being ‘dumped by his primary care physician of 25 years unless he was able to pay an additional $2000.00 per year for concierge services. He said: “Jeff, Dr. Xxx’s nurse called and said that this new program would assure 30 minute follow-up appointments and 60 minute annual evaluations along with a 24 hour, 7 day per week personal communication with the primary care physicians in the practice. I told dad to pay the fee since he could afford it. With disgust, my 84 year-old father and former career NASA aerospace engineer told his Dr. to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.

Then; on a personal level: I started visiting the Duke Integrative Primary Care program. They have made wonderful changes to my treatment after uncovering several unknown nutritional and biochemical deficiencies. Unfortunately, they tell me today that they will be pleased to accept my commercial insurance but no Medicaid and no Medicare. They also now require that I pay $1500 per year in addition as a membership to the practice as they are limiting the practice size to 600 patients. The administrative RN tells me that this is the only way I can get the services one would expect from a ‘medical home’ such as appointments of sufficient length to “ADDRESS MY LIFE GOALS”. With a smile, the RN says: “Well, with your background Jeff, you know that it is impossible to do without additional funding”. My response was to illuminate (with colorful words) the purpose and methodology of practice re-design when implementing Medical Homes. I find it hysterical that Duke itself claims to be a leader in their own primary care system in the evolution of Medical Home concepts and adherence to Meaningful Use Criteria. I find it disgusting that their ‘offering’ of this concierge service is really nothing more than what over 3000 physicians have been providing through NC Medicaid’s Community Care of North Carolina contract for a decade. I find it nauseating that we are continuing to squeeze profit from a dwindling consumer base and refusing services which are noted to be ‘best practice’ to the poor. People are people I suppose…and subject to greed.
I am writing this as I leave the Duke Integrative Primary Care clinic today, probably for the last time. These folks diagnosed my metabolic issues and low testosterone: I feel better. If I did not ask for the appointment with my “10 minute visit primary care doctor” she would have never referred me to the clinic. I will now return to her and when I am able to afford it I will return for further investigation and treatment of the many factors that decrease my health related quality of life.

March 2013

Note: I returned to my PCP yesterday March 15th, 2013:

She was angry that I had been placed on testosterone since she had worked me up last year for prostatitis. Had she read the notes in the wonderful e-HR that inter-operates with only duke physicians she would have noted that prostatitis is now ruled out, neurogenic bladder is the new dx and that Dukes own specialty physicians had started testosterone replacement with the intention of having primary care pick up the prescription writing responsibility.

She stated she would not write the prescription.

My next move was to walk her through the notes of the physicians she had referred my case to. I then told her that the Duke Integrative Medical practice would charge me $1500 per year if I needed to return to them for the prescription and that I would leave Duke and her primary care practice if she couldn’t address this with the other doctors on my health team.
My doctor says: “Well why would you leave, what is it that you expect?”
I followed with: “Dr. XXX; I would expect that you would have read the consulting notes prior to entering the exam room so we would not wind up in this tense situation where you are asking me to run all over the locality to describe your directions to my specialists as far as who prescribes what” ”Beyond that, I find your employer ‘Duke Primary Care’ attempting to drive my SSDI money as a private payment to their concierge doctors by not allowing the consulting physician to prescribe medications. In other words, he finds the chronic disease which is treatable with integrative techniques and then refers the patient to the front desk to get them enrolled with the two new primary care physicians in the concierge program.” “Furthermore, not only has this new system of care created a barrier to me getting the medications I need but it has done this by not addressing the educational issues that are clearly needed among their own medical staff.” “Oh yeah, one more thing I realize this is not your fault with the exception that you neglected to read the consult results. I believe this is due to the fact that you carry a case load of 2500 patients and become overwhelmed at times.” “Actually Duke has insulted both you and I. You call me whenever I need you and that is why I choose to be treated by your practice. In my view you have a nice start with your Medical Home right here. But your employer is selling a package wherein they differentiate the offering by noting that the concierge physicians are 1) more available and 2) interested in my ‘life goals’. I realize nothing will happen as a result of this discussion today because it relates to Duke Politics. However, if you think about it we have just touched on: Cost of Care, Quality of Care, Patient Satisfaction, Provider Satisfaction and reputation.”

She nodded, said nothing else; spent ten minutes reading my chart and looked up at me with a sad expression. She apologized for “not getting it right”: I responded with “You did not have enough information, you were not educated as to the changes in program marketing and none of this is your fault.” “I promise you that I will only take medications that are prescribed by you for chronic conditions once I return from the specialty consults. I count on you to interact with my other doctors and resolve conflicts on my medication list; but I need to trust the system of care.”
Dr. XXX of Duke and me are still together, we have agreed to how we will relate in the future and how we will survive in a patient-primary care relationship within the context of the Duke System. I think that what transpired over this last month models patient participation in medical decision making, cost control and providing feedback. I hope that my doctor stays with Duke, it seems their turn-over is quite high. Perhaps they should look at those data!

Dear Brother and Sister Patients,

You will find many physicians not agreeing with me when I state that all should have access to 100% of my health record, care plans and prescriptions. They might further disagree (for legal issues) with owning the responsibility of taking into consideration 100% of available information so may be less supportive of data exchange between electronic medical records. 

Please understand: We, that is you and I paid for a seamless ‘inter-operative healths record through ARRA-HITECH funding. Our purpose in asking for this feature was to make sure we did not fall victim to therapeutic misadventure e.g. a physician prescribing a medication that could interfere with your ‘well-being’. YOU NEED THIS as it is one issue, which we call poly-pharmacy that is responsible for well over 100,000 errors in medical practice per year. 

When your doctor gives you your visit summary which should include a problem list and medication list make sure that it correlates with other doctors in your treating team. You might just save your own life!

No Comments by  /  March 16, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy, Medical Errors, Self Advocacy
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Governor “Boss Hog” McCrory announces plan to rekindle indentured servitude in exchange for healthcare services.

 

Blessings

Blessings

Human Motivation: Our legislature no longer needs to play cards close to chest; this is a Power-Grab

To the multitude of people and organizations interested in the cost burden of health-care services on the average Constituent.  Please pay attention as you attempt to change the course of a system rooted in 100 years of free-market philosophy: Where human ‘well-being’ is exchanged as a commodity for common currency. In other words: “nothing personal, this is just business”.

On any given day, at least 50% of North Carolina’s existing Medicaid beneficiaries are working persons without access to affordable health insurance. Many…work more than one job to make ends meet.

This statistic glares in the recent event of Governor McCrory’s decision to give his cabinet a salary increase of 8% (average = $108,000 per year). His logic…”They must have a livable wage”. No other State employees saw such increases.

Ironically, on Wednesday February 27th, 2013 Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina signed into law legislation which prohibits NC from participating in the Federally Funded expansion to Medicaid. This single act will prevent one half million North Carolinians from becoming eligible for Medicaid Benefits. It appears he judges those without access to healthcare services to already have a livable wage?

So here are some facts:

My wife and I moved here in 2001 to participate in what was quickly becoming known as one of the best low-income chronic disease management programs in the United States: NC Medicaid’s Community Care of North Carolina. Working for Community Care of North Carolina, I participated as a team leader in implementing the first statewide care coordination and patient risk management systems in the US. Today, if you are in NC and on Medicaid’s CCNC program you probably have access to chronic disease management programs that are more organized and successful than ANY commercial service. This truth is illustrated by the externally validated reduction in emergency room reliance and improvements in chronic disease management indicators. The external validation has been provided by nationally recognized actuarial firms and schools of public health. In-fact, in North Carolina, one of only a few National Beacon Communities is a Community Care Network.

I enjoyed being part of this effort. Unfortunately I NOW SCREAM OUT TO MY FRIENDS: GET ME THE HELL OUT OF THIS STATE!

I am an example of many of those people in NC who were counting on Medicaid. One of the 60% who have been or are employed and cannot afford health-insurance: a 56-year-old male who within the last year was disabled from his diabetes; a disease diagnosed at age 10, a history of excellent self-mastery of illness. I received my first SSDI check in November. It will be two years before I qualify for Medicare and the $1200 per month premium simply does not fit a net monthly income of $2400.00. I would like to ask Governor McCrory, John Boehner and others of the same philosophy just what they consider affordable when it comes to healthcare cost as a percentage of annual wage?

Their answer unfortunately is either predicated on ignorance or selfishness. I judge that they are not ignorant in the least; although Governor McCrory of late seems to be believing some very questionable information which I have plenty of data to disprove.

How a boy from New England winds up in North Carolina:

 I came to North Carolina to assist the Community Care Program with the data architecture and clinical decision support data model for their Web-resident care coordination application CMIS. This model was a variant of one I had used previously while at Active Health Management the provider of the Care Engine Decision Support System to Aetna. Aetna purchased Active Health for $465 M in 2002. The system employed by North Carolina used similar data objects identified as Problems, Interventions, Goals and Tasks which were generated by Care Coordinators to create shared Care Plans for all Medicaid recipients who were high-risk and high-cost. Essentially, before most were familiar with the importance of Continuity of Care and Comprehensive Care Management: The Community Care of North Carolina Networks were leading the charge with over 600,000 people enrolled in their CMIS software. I feel blessed to have been a part of their success.

 So where are we eleven years later?

I left CCNC in 2006 to work on several national implementation projects utilizing components of what would become the standards for today’s Electronic Health Record. In 2009 I worked for my wife who was an assistance field coordinator for the Obama Campaign. Spending hour’s daily crunching data we were able to redirect or feet on the street to move over 4000 voters who were necessary to make NC a “Blue State” for the first time in many years. We did not do so will this last elections season.

Since 2009 it was obvious that I would need many of the health reform changes to have a satisfactory fall and winter in my life. The neuropathy accelerating, February 2011 was the last month in my career where I was able to work a full-time schedule.

I never worried about getting my needs met. Believing in my country I did not see how in the world Americans could decide to turn their backs on their brothers and sisters. I am quite naïve and I must admit my failure in ratcheting down a secure financial future with the knowledge that my chronic disease would take me out before the age of 60. I honestly was stupid enough to believe that healthcare would become affordable. I know better now…watching as we behave like toddlers in DC and seeing the disapproving looks on the face of men and women in my community when they speak of those ‘people’ who live on entitlements. Well, I guess they can include me in the group. I hope the next time I kneel to perform CPR on one of them (done this three times in my life); they ask me if I receive any entitlements before I start compression.

 

No Comments by  /  March 8, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy, Self Advocacy
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North Carolina Sacrificing Twenty Years of Community Medicine Excellence

Blessings

Blessings

NORTH CAROLINA! Who will you blame as it all falls apart?

Three days into office our new Governor, Pat McCrory introduced his new executive leadership team. I admire all of them. At the same time Governor McCrory adjusted each the salary for each position on the leadership team upwards by 8%.This occurred at a time when NC State Employees have seen no salary increase in several years. With no plans to alter the basic wage of a North Carolina State Employee, Governor McCrory justified the increase as follows: “Well, they all need a living wage”. The average salary of his staff exceeds $108,000!

As we moved into the New Year one of the first agenda items for the NC legislature was the consideration of how NC will participate in the PPACA program. As my friends in the ‘biz’ know, our health reform law allows each State to expand Medicaid by creating new classes for eligibility. Medicaid is the federally supplemented health insurance program for the disadvantaged. Usually the State receives somewhere in the range of 60%-70% of Medicaid Healthcare Costs from the Feds while making up for the rest through State taxes. The expansion will be covered by 100% by federal dollars and then be reduced to 90% after a few years. In addition, the States are allowed to establish their own competitive market basket for insurance plans called a Health Insurance Exchange or share a joint system with the Feds.

For detail on health-reform I suggest you all start at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act).

So far this year our newly elected legislature and governor have worked the press nicely by illustrating how expensive Medicaid is and then describing it as a management failure since many aspects of the system regarding clinical care are shared by several divisions (Public Health, Mental Health and The Division of Medical Assistance). These folks actually believe that partnerships are dysfunctional. I guess I agree with regard to administrative costs but certainly not clinical and regulatory expenses since the majority of the covered individuals have co-morbid physical and behavioral health problems along with social environments falling far short of adequate when it comes to primary and secondary prevention due to critical access and affordability barriers. This is not my judgment just a parroted agreement that I hear from the experts in public health. If you want honest expert data and opinion look at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine Website.

As of this week, a final vote has passed through the legislature to prevent expansion and the creation of a competitive insurance market. Instead, the governor and legislature will consolidate and use an insurance eligibility system titled NC Fast or North Carolina Families Accessing Service and Technology.

I was working for NC when NCFAST was funded. It is far passed its original implementation deadlines and I have heard nothing but complaints from the numerous users I speak to at conferences during the year. By the way, unlike smart business people like our new governor purports to be, the NC teams have built much of their own technology, guaranteeing the job security of the staff at the DHHS Division of Information Resource Management (DIRM). Most of my mentors taught me to keep an eye on the work occurring in large commercial sectors and evaluate their offering prior to deciding to build something on my own. I guess there was nothing out there ?

So…no Medicaid expansion AND no Insurance Exchange!!!!

I moved to NC to learn about policy and community organization. Why? Well, in 2001 this was one of the best environments to nurture my growth…as a citizen and as a person. About 4500 physicians collaborate on best practices, assessment of the overall needs of our population as well as the independent needs of their own geographic region. During my tenure (2002-2006) our teams assembled and implemented a fully operational ‘single sign on’ web-native care coordination portal for Medicaid. When we started it served nine networks and contained 250,000 patients. Today, it contains 14 networks and 2 million individual patient records of which around 200,000 are actively managed by one of the 14 networks. You can see why I wanted to move here (grin).

The time spent here has been wonderful regarding my initial purpose and mission. That said, I have learned that our species is threatened and there is no one or no THING to blame. It appears to be a genetic mutation and it is not recessive. In well over 2000 years we have learned that we are a social species in need of a safe container to live: Supported by a community of others; We have learned that we are responsible not only for our-selves but also for our neighbors and children. We have learned that we struggle with a self-obsessive demon that tends to reinforce the opposite axiom: “Only a society of self-interested, competitive individuals will thrive”. Yet in the end, we are all interdependent unless you have figured out how to bury your own remains.

I moved here because of the cool progressive patient centered care-system being created. I had a blast and observed the success. Eleven years later I am disabled, on SSDI from my disability and living on $2400 per month. I think I deserve it since I worked 34 years and paid my taxes. I have a problem though: My diabetes and other co-morbid conditions cost me $500 per month in cost sharing. My wife’s insurance plan costs an additional $500 per month for me to be added to the membership. I had counted on becoming eligible for an affordable plan through an Exchange as it would include benefits for folks like me. Now, North Carolina has decided to keep me out of their pool. The Affordable Care Act is designed to subsidize folks with decreasing stipends up to 400% of the poverty level. Trust me there are a lot of us in this category. It will cost me a bit to have the legislation as my medical equipment will have a surtax and I will pay additional tax if I want a Cadillac plan that covers removal of tattoos placed on my body sometime thirty years ago in some place that I can’t quite remember (just kidding).

Guess I will leave the blog for the night, please drop by on occasion. I am now documenting how I use the Duke Information Portals to manage my care. This week I taught two physicians on my five member team who are not in the Duke System how to access my data. When we reviewed my clinical notes; Medications, labs and tests a major shift occurred in my plan of care. I now have one less physician and am on a new medication that is improving my quality of life by 40% of so. I will create a separate post for this experience as I expect to add the material to the collective education material arising from the e-Patient movement.

 

Peace.

This photo was taken as I prepared for a three-day trip. This is just my medical stuff!

 

Much fun at the check in gate!

Much fun at the check in gate!

No Comments by  /  February 9, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy, Presentations, Self Advocacy
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Mostashari, policy committee take critical look at CommonWell | Healthcare IT News

Please read my comments. This material is important for consumers to reflect upon. Basically, the lack of partnership between healthcare IT vendors on the creation of information exchange and data protection standards places you at risk. 1) for leaking protected personal information and possible identity theft and 2) having wasted your tax dollar on the promises of a data exchange technologythat would decrease the likelihood of your suffering the effects of a therapeutic mistake.

As it stands now Oligopolies are forming which will make your data inaccessible unless it exists in the hands of big corporate America. Beyond that, it appears data are already leaking into commercial mailing lists.

Mostashari, policy committee take critical look at CommonWell | Healthcare IT News.

No Comments by  /  April 8, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy, Healthcare tools and software, Medical Errors, Self Advocacy
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Quality and Efficiency in Small Practices Transitioning to Patient Centered Medical Homes: A Randomized Trial | Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

Please visit my friends at Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative; they are stepping up to remodel medicine for you and I.

As you know: Untangled Health is deeply committed to the Medical Home Concept. Had I not fought to establish these types of relationships with my primary care providers throug the years I would not have the health I enjoy today in spite of my chronic disease.

Quality and Efficiency in Small Practices Transitioning to Patient Centered Medical Homes: A Randomized Trial | Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative.

No Comments by  /  April 4, 2013  /  Posted in: Cost of Care, Health Economics and Policy, Self Advocacy
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Why Only Business Can Save America From Health Care | The Health Care Blog

Why Only Business Can Save America From Health Care | The Health Care Blog.

 

Ongoing dialog this week. Check it out.

No Comments by  /  March 26, 2013  /  Posted in: Health Economics and Policy

Trouble Across the Pond. Once again, no one to blame but everyone. Look at the entire system for your answers.

A good day

Once again my friends, any system which places organizational success in the media, executive bonus, or ridiculous ‘service excellence’ survey results over clear-cut measures of process, and medical outcomes first will lead to suffering. Suffering of patients, families…our identity?
Recently, in Raleigh NC a large hospital system has been cited for Medicare fraud (Wake Medical). As the story unfolds the CEO stated that a single mid-level manager from Patient Services changed physician’s orders to charge Medicare for multiple episodes of care as opposed to observation days only. I find the sacrifice of lower level employees horrific. I also know this to be a common behavior in the US.

These problems are systemic and global. They specifically speak to a decline in the humanity of ‘human services’.

There is a lesson in this video from across the pond.
Pay attention to the proposed Standards and compare to what we have or do not have at home.
Consumers of services (yes us patients):

Please do not accept lip service as transparent publications on safety and quality and cost are promised under the new health-reform act. Scream out for standard reporting, standard methods of measurement and reliable statistics.

No Comments by  /  February 9, 2013  /  Posted in: Health Economics and Policy, Medical Errors, Self Advocacy, Uncategorized
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Grieve please! Step out of your head and grieve.

cemetary at duskGoodbye little angels: Thank-you for the gift of sacrifice; providing one more opportunity for us to share common bonds.

Your day brings us together: BLOWING AWAY our capacity to…
Explain,
Politicize,
Theologize,
Secularize and
Personalize…

I hope.

Perhaps we will take this moment to sit together
And grieve…

Take a chance, dispense with our differences and share the love…

Yes, LOVE
The Glue of the Universe

Jeffrey Halbstein-Harris: December 14th, 2012

Would someone clean this mess up? "Oh...that is our responsibility; never mind"

Would someone clean this mess up? “Oh…that is our responsibility; never mind”

No Comments by  /  December 15, 2012  /  Posted in: Uncategorized
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Step-up and submit your ideas to the private sector : Healthcare Information Technology Optimizes Hospital Experience

Information Quest has created a $100,000 competition which solicits ideas which will optimize the in-patient experience. So…all of you e-patients, patient advocates; geek-patients; participating patients: We have opportunities to actually influence product design. If you have ideas, your submissions could be the most valuable in the market for the creation of products you actually want to use!

 

No Comments by  /  December 1, 2012  /  Posted in: Health Economics and Policy, Healthcare tools and software, Medical Errors, Presentations, Self Advocacy, Uncategorized
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