• The Health Wisdom Blog™ (by OrganizedWisdom): The Getting Results Toolkit: 41 Essential Tools You Need To Build a Green Start-up and Go 100% Virtual - Organized Wisdom details its ROWE (can I call it that officially?) setup. Tips on going paperless and staying virtual.

• Definitions: EHR, EMR, HIE, etc. - From nahit

• Health Record Bank - Grant Soliciation - Documents from the Washington State Health Care Authority's Grant Solicitation Process. This information would be useful to any agencies/philanthropies who would be looking to spur innovation among health care organizations in partnership with leading edge technology companies. I think they’ve done a nice job here.

First Look: Hello Cupcake - We get a new cupcakery in Dupont Circle - a trend toward food dominance in DC over New York?

Opening Day

Community Platforms: Here Comes The CIO - Interesting commentary about social platforms being integrated into IT shops. Yes, it has taken a long time. This reminds me of Nicholas Carr Big Switch philosophy - what will happen to IT in big enterprises in the future, if the Web2.0 wave creates more demand for lightweight solutions than an organizationally based IT shop can manage/understand?

Details of iPhone 2.0.2 Firmware 3G Connectivity Improvements? - Mac Rumors - An attempt to harness the power of crowds to avoid a tragedy of the commons, 21st century style. I thought this was interesting because of (of course) a parallel to health care. AT&T initially didn’t tell anyone why it was so important that every user upgrade to the latest firmware - now it appears it’s because those who don’t will unnecessarily tax the cell towers serving a specific area. Imagine the behavior this might create - “Are you using iPhone 2.0.1? Would you mind upgrading to improve everyone’s service?”

With that little bit of awareness, maybe this situation might happen. How about someone tapping a colleague on shoulder to say, “Are you seeing a specialist for that condition? Would you mind going to see your primary care physician first to improve everyone’s health care experience?” Those of you in health care will quickly understand why this doesn’t happen due to the incentives out there, but it’s a nice thought.

Let’s see if Apple and AT&T’s foray into community organizing around resource use (intentional or not) provides any lessons for us.

• Living Well : Transforming America’s Health Care - A nice overview (I think) of the current state of health care, produced by the Federal Health Care team at IBM. It also details what IBM is doing to support the wellness of its 500,000 employees worldwide.

These are Adam Szerencsy, MD and Neil Calman’s slides from the recent discussion in Oakland, “Patient Online Access in the Safety Net,” hosted by the California Healthcare Foundation.

Adam and Neil are from the Institute for Family Health, and as you can tell, have learned a lot in providing online access to their patients in New York City.

This presentation had special meaning for me for several reasons. The first is that Neil’s organization was the first to host me outside of my integrated health system environment, to learn about applying PHRs to the care of all patients. The second is that I got to watch Adam lead the rollout of IFH’s patient portal from the initial thinking through to watching him prepare his patients for its eventual rollout, when I got to watch him practice in Bronx, New York. You can read the story (and see the pictures at this link) about what that day was like. I still remember it as strong affirmation that there are really exceptional physician leaders among us, who with the right tools can be freed to do great things for their patients and their communities.

I spied bike sharing in Rome earlier this summer. Now DC is getting national attention as the first American city to start a program. Interesting comment/issue at the end in this movie about bike helmets. They are not provided, and they can’t be mandated

Where the magic happens

I had the opportunity to talk about participation (of patients, families, and communities) in health care and the design of the health system today at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, at the invitation of AHRQ’s Director, Carolyn Clancy, MD, with attendance of experts including Jon White, MD, Director of the Health Information Technology Portfolio for AHRQ.

What can I say except it was a great experience at a place I and many people who do what I do have thought highly of for a very long time.

The slides I presented are below. I want to thank the students in the University of Washington eMHA program for doing a run-through with me. One of the suggestions I was given was to know what I “wanted” in giving this presentation to AHRQ. I told the group that I thought about this, and it was - to inspire them. I think that’s both enough to want, and a lot to want.

The session is/was a reminder to me that in 2008, people who are studying health information technology (a) have a good grasp of the idea that it’s a tool to improve health and health care and (b) the importance of involving patients and families in their care. That, and we should look outside our borders, to places like Africa, to think about innovation in IT beyond the computer.

Inspiration is a 2-way street. Thanks again Bill, Carolyn, Jon and AHRQ for the warm welcome.