The financial burden of patient harm at the hands of hospitals is likely more than $100 billion annually, but if those same hospitals had access to reliable, real-time data it would go a long way in curbing both harm and costs, according to a new survey. Pascal Metrics, a Washington, D.C.-based patient safety organization, recently […]
When the problem is noncompliance, the solution often has nothing to do with pills. Patients often don’t follow treatment plans because they are taking care of someone else or they don’t have a ride to the doctor’s office or they don’t have the money to buy the medications. The California Healthcare Foundation is taking on […]
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
All it takes is a single visit to the doctor’s office to place one’s pride and self-esteem a dozen notches below baseline. I didn’t think much of my appointment, knowing it was just a routine scan at the dermatologist’s office, a new annual pilgrimage resulting from a diagnosis called Middle Age. Entering the room, the […]
The story of a woman who survived the Boston Marathon bombing is a sad but perfect illustration of the tension that often comes up in a patient-doctor relationship. The tendency in American healthcare is to treat, treat, treat. When a patient says, “No more,” or simply, “No,” this disagreement can break down communication. Last week […]
Getting your medical test results directly from the labs means less bureaucracy. Patients can now get their lab results directly from the labs without having to go through their healthcare provider. According to the ORC, 42% of Americans think having access to their test results would improve patient care and now they can finally access […]
On Monday, the Obama administration announced new rules which allows patients to get lab results directly from the lab that ran the tests without consulting the ordering provider. This is part of an effort to empower patients as consumers and reduce errors. It has been postulated that this will give consumers of healthcare more control over […]
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Healthcare is not all about the patients. Yet. We are getting there, slowly but surely. The combined forces of “but we’ve always done it that way” and “but we make a lot of money from that” are putting up a good fight. But reimbursement changes, consumer-driven healthcare and startups are almost strong enough to start […]
Communication is an evergreen problem in healthcare. Whether the problem is a patient with low health literacy or a doctor who can’t explain complicated subjects in a simple way, important messages do not get from one person to the other. There have been many efforts to get doctors to communicate in a more direct, less […]
In 2012, Emily Helck was diagnosed with breast cancer. Watch the viral video above to see the progression of her cancer treatment. These photos are true breast cancer awareness, and they aren’t wrapped up in pink ribbon. “Cancer is embarrassing,” she told ABC News. “As a friend or co-worker or acquaintance, it’s hard to know […]
Every day we write about new technology that drives new trends in healthcare. Sometimes it’s easy to see how cancer treatment or diabetes care will be different in five or 10 or 15 years. Other times it’s harder to see what the future of healthcare will look like. The picture is still fuzzy even if […]
We will highlight Build My Health's revenue practice management tools, which could help physician practices add up to $250,000 to their practices.
Hospitals struggle to get doctors and nurses to wash their hands. That’s a serious problem, since hand washing is one of the keys to reducing healthcare acquired infections that afflict more than a million patients a year and kill over 100,000. And it’s one of the reasons you should try your best to stay out […]
The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has launched an ambitious objective: All patients with disabilities or chronic conditions will have individualized care plans by 2015. And, those care plans must be accessible online or via a mobile app. They should have a personalized budget and a digital care plan in less than two years. […]
Regina Holliday is a well-known patient advocate, activist and artist. A widow and mother, she fights for patient empowerment through her paintings, writing and even her Twitter. (Follow her. You won’t regret it.) She is also the mind (and paintbrush) behind the Walking Gallery, a movement devoted to patients and healthcare leaders wearing their stories […]
If you want to build your own spectrometer or water quality sensor, visit the open source scientists at the Public Lab booth at the World Maker Faire in NYC this weekend.
Missy Krasner landed at Google Health in April of 2006 — a time she calls pre-social, pre-quantified-self and pre-internet-of-things. Google wanted to create a central repository for consumers to collect and store their health records, and make the APIs available for developers to build on top of. We all know how that turned out: Google […]