April 5th through April 8th:

• Headzoo » WP Anti-Wares - Now it looks like we have to worry about insecure wordpress themes, too.
• Electronic Prevention - washingtonpost.com - Nice writeup of the New York PCIP program. What the writer doesn’t realize, is that a patient portal is coming, so a visit isn’t always going to be required….
• Jack and Suzy Welch: Leader vs. Manager - ‘We’d wager it only comes into play when you don’t want to offend an employee who crosses t’s and dots i’s but couldn’t excite a busload of kids bound for Disney World. In such a case, what do you say? You got it. “You’re a good manager.”‘
• Generation Y’s Bad Rap - It’s not really that bad, according to Jack Welch. I agree.
• The National Physicians Alliance encourages all doctors to join our Unbranded Doctor Campaign — a national network of physicians committed to reducing the influence of pharmaceutical marketing on our profession. - NPA appears to be a grown up version of AMSA. They include consumers in their governance
• Macworld | Mac OS X Hints | Add more power to 10.5’s screen sharing - Economical screen sharing alternatives using Leopard
• Total Value, Total Return: Invest in Health Management Programs -
• Office 2004 for Mac Solution Center - Office 2004 downloads for Mac. Time to upgrade

United Hospital Fund, Empire State Building, New York City

On our last day in New York City, Rachel and the United Hospital Fund arranged for a presentation on patient-centered health information technology to the New York Business Group on Health, at UHF-NYC headquarters in the Empire State Building.

As I do with most presentations, I started with a thought provoking question, and this day’s was “When was the last time you looked at your medical record?” The responses, as expected, were extremely varied. Most had never seen their medical record, or seen it in disconnected parts. There were some answers that went like this: “I have seen my claims data in a PHR, but not my medical record.” I thought it was interesting that people were able to differentiate between claims data and a medical record.

At the same time I said, “I wouldn’t be here talking about this if I didn’t think you could do it,” and I meant it. As I posted previously, New York is having great success implementing EHR’s through their PCIP project, and are about to add patient access to these systems. A strong purchaser community can bring the next level of integration - that of a wellness ecosystem.

Several audience members pointed out, accurately, that there are things that can be done in an integrated health system that cannot be done in a dis-integrated one. At the same time, there was sharing of some innovative projects that are happening in the health plan community as well as the purchaser community. I left as impressed with the possibilities as I was when I came.

When I looked out the window at the brewing snowstorm at the end of my talk, Rachel reminded me, “You’re still going to Queens.” Of course I was, and I’m glad I did. More on that in the next post.

Today’s links are representative of the fact that we aren’t doing observations right now. Instead, we are preparing our first 90 day interim report for our partners. This means looking back on the last 90 days, and putting together our impressions at the interface between patient and health system, along with relevant background and policy information. We’ll post that here, of course.

PCHIT links for December 24th through December 26th:

• U.S. healthcare payers to limit IT investments in 2008 -
• ACGroup, Inc. Whitepapers - Nice overviews of the EHR market and physician practices
• PHRs: From Evolution To Revolution by Liz Boehm - Forrester Research - Interesting commentary on health plans, PHRs, and adoption. Are health plans ready?

I missed the 60 Day mark due to travel, so this is the 79 day DCVersary. Still a green light, and greater appreciation for this environment by the day. In what other community do people respond to intolerance by staging a hug-in?

There’s a few stray links below about a recent report on RHIOs, and new “innovation” in ISPs accessing the code within Web pages for their customers - a new first.

Links for December 11th through December 12th:

• Wash. Leads Metro Areas in Walkability - people who know me well know that this is a make or break for a city. Another reason to love Washington.
• Underuse of colorectal cancer screening in a cohort of (Fee for Service) medicare beneficiaries - The study excluded managed care enrollees, so it’s really a study of fee for service Medicare, an important asterisk.
• DCist: Hug-In at Rite Aid: ‘It Feels Nice to Hug’ - What a great way to battle intolerance.
• The Shopkeeper Whose Sign Was ‘Open’ - washingtonpost.com - 14th Street Neighborhood leader Noi Chudnoff has passed away
• ZIPskinny demographic information for 20009 - WASHINGTON DC - Demographic Information about my neighborhood
• Dupont Circle Business Networking - Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets - 17th Street is getting a makeover. It looks like Plan B is more elaborate
• The State Of Regional Health Information Organizations: Current Activities And Financing — Adler-Milstein et al., 10.1377/hlthaff.27.1.w60 — Health Affairs - I admit, I have at times gotten in trouble for not being supportive of RHIOs.
• Lauren Weinstein’s Blog: Google Hijacked — Major ISP to Intercept and Modify Web Pages - ISP Content filtering now hits individual Web pages
• What Is Management’s Role in Innovation? ? HBS Working Knowledge - Nice discussion in the comments. I think there is a role, and some of the comments talk about what that role is.

December 4th through December 10th:

• A Wellness Trust to Prioritize Disease Prevention - Brookings Institution -
• Blog Schmog - www.healthleadersmedia.com - Tips on how to blog well, from a blogophobe (self-described)
• Smaller percentage of small firms covering health - Washington Business Journal: - More individuals will be responsible for the cost of their care
• Revolution Health Group buys 2 Web companies - Washington Business Journal: - Revolution now has employees in Seattle….