The Economist picks up the meme again

July 9, 2009 · Filed Under found on the net · Comment

I suspect this has caught the attention of many of our readers, but I’ll emphasize it anyway. The Economist often comments on technology and health-care. Recently, they talked up Health 2.0 a bit. What I was most struck by is the handful of comments. Most focused on how the Economist piece helped emphasize the shifting relationship between patient and provider, as well as the need for engagement! Wonderful stuff.

Tags: Economist, health 2.0, technology

Saving Lives, Old-School Style

December 9, 2008 · Filed Under general, positive patterns, reforming hc · 4 Comments

What if there was a simple, old-school style procedure that could save tens of thousands of lives every year?

Better yet, what if it could be implemented at minuscule costs (about $3 million to rollout nationwide), and would require very little change in anyone’s procedure or daily lives?

What if that procedure was something as simple as going down a checklist before running any procedure on a patient?

Tags: checklist, checklists, EHR, technology

Technology as a means, not an end

February 14, 2008 · Filed Under policy issues · Comment

I was part of a brainstorming session yesterday about the role of technology in health and health care, in preparation for a June 2008 Ix conference here in DC. Here is one of the quotes I captured from another participant:

Technology is always framed as an end and it is not. It is a means. The “end” for most people is getting the information and care they need.

The group went on to talk about how convincing docs to track their patients with electronic medical records is really not the point. Better health outcomes is the point.

Can we break that down a little further? If you had one minute to address the nation on the topic of health, what would you say? Put another way: What would your headline be?

Tags: EHR, EMR, technology