These were the words of our server this morning over a breakfast with Neil Calman, MD, who is in Washington, DC, to talk to our national legislators and researchers about health information technology.

How did this come up in conversation? Well, as our order was being taken, I noticed a brochure for her health insurance plan in her uniform. That visual alone said so much about how much health care means to us.

So I asked what she thought of her health care.

She told us that she was a breast cancer survivor for several years now, and that she had excellent cancer care. (She told us, “your patients have probably told you this - a part of you dies when you learn that you have cancer.”) After her treatment was completed, she was referred to her primary medical center to continue care. She said that whenever she goes to get care, though, her primary doctor is not available. She hasn’t seen her in awhile, and she told us it’s not the same. “Your mother knows everything about you.”

I asked if she had Internet access and if she used this to communicate with her care system. Yes, she said, but her primary doctor did not respond to her messages in a timely manner. “I know she’s very busy just like me.” She told us that she’s given this feedback directly to her plan. At the same time, she told us with some pride where she got her cancer care, and where she now gets her primary care. She also told us about several of her work colleagues who have been diagnosed with cancer. They are all aware of each others’ conditions.
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The last few days has brought work that is PCHIT-the Initiative centric, which is good. I always say that if there’s something I can do better, I want to know about it. Our Advisory Group meeting happened on schedule yesterday. The process of the preparation and hosting of the discussion will be very useful moving forward. Josh and I will summarize things here in the next few days. In the meantime, here’s a photo of this very accomplished group, at the Center for Information Therapy.

From left to right: Joshua Seidman, Ph.D., Deven McGraw, Susannah Fox, Veenu Aulakh, Ted Eytan, MD, Rachel Block, Charles Milligan, Jr., and Michael Barr, MD, MBA, FACP. Not pictured: Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD

You can read biographies of Advisory Group members by clicking on this link.

A lot of reflection and housekeeping happened this week, in prep for another journey next week to visit with another great community, Boston, Massachusetts. I was honored to attend The Health Affairs Silver Anniversary Gala as a representative of Group Health Cooperative and Kaiser Permanente, which was a presenting sponsor.

The first image is of myself and Rachel Block, from the United Hospital Fund of New York City. Rachel is one of the funders and mentors that I am working with on the PCHIT project. We had a very productive day together at our first advisory group meeting.

One more photo this week, of Barracks Row, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. I was introduced to this neighborhood officially by Lygeia Ricciardi who runs the Project HealthDesign Blog, in addition to a portfolio of work promoting consumer empowerment. There is a large community of talented professionals here who are both working to support a patient/person-centered health system, and willing to introduce diverse parts of this community to new arrivals. I highly recommend both the neighborhood, and the blog.