Tech Medicine Links for 6.26.8

Image via WikipediaAn article in JAMA suggests that radiofrequency identification devices (RFIDs -- pronounced "AR-phids," like a type of insect) can create hazardous electromagnetic interference. And RFIDs were touted widely as device that improve patient safety. Whoops. More coverage in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Also in JAMA: "Effectiveness of Home Blood Pressure Monitoring, Web Communication, and Pharmacist Care on Hypertension Control." Adding web based pharmacist care to home BP monitoring and web training significantly increased the percentage of patients with controlled blood pressures. (In contrast, home BP monitoring and web training only provided no benefits over usual care.)


This is a talk by George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente. (Via Jay Parkinson)

“Care delivery in the U.S. is uncoordinated, unfocused, inconsistent, unmeasured, extremely inefficient, perversely incented, excessively expensive and sometimes dangerous…Health care delivery is, however, the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the whole U.S. economy…Healthcare is full of smart people. Smart people do not kill the geese who lay lots of golden eggs. Health care is awash in both golden eggs and very smart people…We need to remember that the people who depend on a cash flow of fees to stay in business and serve patients will not, voluntarily, take independent steps to reduce the flow of those fees…In today’s world, more efficient and effective caregivers simply deprive themselves of income. Asthma: $200 to prevent, $10,000 to treat…Health care reform needs to be a “product”—purchased and paid for by high leverage buyers in a well designed, sophisticated and carefully targeted purchasing strategy.”

And Medical Economics discusses the micropractice:

The method is known as a micropractice, and it defies the conventional wisdom of practice management experts who urge doctors to boost their productivity by delegating nonphysician chores. A micropractice doctor typically works without employees in a space that's drastically smaller than what the average soloist has. Such austerity reduces the customary overhead by 40 to 50 percent, thereby lowering the break-even point and enabling micropractitioners to spend more time with fewer patients

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Labels: Harvard Medical School, Health care, Kaiser Permanente, new york times, wall street journal

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