The Caboose

I suppose the health train express should not have a caboose because that implies the end of the train. However I missed an important addendum from Mike Leavitt's blog which he writes as he travels through Africa, attempting to analyze Africa's challenges, clinical overload, a far cry from the paperwork overload providers face in our country. Mike makes some comments about HIE and RHIOs, the subject of which motivate my original blog. The post which follows here is an important link for you to understand what has been done and what will take place over the next five years. Don't miss the TRAIN !!!http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/community/background/ from Mike Leavitt's blog:"Today we had an important meeting at HHS related to electronic medical record standards. The development of standards...

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Hot Weather and HotTopics

Stop, don't click away just because you think you have arrived at the wrong site. As I promised there were going to be some fresh changes at Health Train Express. Not only has Elvis left the building, but so too has Health Train Express.Every summer at this time of August I mention how fast the summer has gone by. Well, just when I think it's over...it's not. The forecast for the next week is 100-107 degrees. As Yogi Berra has said "It ain't over until it's over".So too is my forecast about P4P, RHIOs, and EMRs. No one can easily predict the outcomes in this arena. However it certainly fuels entrepeneurial minded providers, third party administrators and a variety of industry vendors into a fury of Category 5 storms.One of my favorite blogs is that of Phillipa Kenneally, The Entrepeneurial...

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Transitions

Fellow bloggers: When I first began “blogging” about three years ago I intended it to be a newsletter for a RHIO that I was heading up in my area of the country. About a year ago I chose to rename it “Healthtrain Express”. The term recently coined by others came to my mind in 1989 (that definitely dates me) It was in the pre-DRG, pre RVU, pre managed care (ie, the “golden days”) that my residents often wistfully mention..I often tell them that no “age in medicine” is trouble free. It’s the nature of the “beast”. Healthtrain express conjures up the rapid changes that constantly occur in medicine. For those of you who have read “Future Shock “ by Alvin Tofler , this has always applied to medicine. I highly recommend this reading. It also denotes a vehicle...

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Change in Direction

For the past three years I have been beating the drum about the development of HIE and RHIOs. I have not come to any final conclusions about the destiny of this "visionary" prospect. There are a great deal of positives and negatives regarding HIE and EMRs.I will deal with some of the negatives first.1. Most providers complain about the complexity and bureaucracy of practicing medicine, in regard to regulatory requirements, the hurdles of reimbursement, and exponential increases in business overhead.2. The burden of Health IT may outweigh the benefits.3. HIT is very expensive4. Automation and the impersonal nature of IT does not really fit in to the paradigm of medical care. Despite patient enthusiasm for all things technical most providers are reluctant to introduce an infrastructure that...

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Mike Leavitt Sec HHS joins blogger world

HHS Secretary Leavitt Launches Blog To Boost Health Care DiscussionHHS Secretary Mike Leavitt this week launched a blog to foster public discussion and exchange ideas on health care issues, The Hill reports."If I can do it justice, we will continue," Leavitt said, adding, "If not -- we won't." Leavitt, who plans to write all his blog entries himself and read "as many of the comments as time allows," said he will "wade in a little deeper into blogdom" this month.Unlike some blogs, all comments will be screened prior to being posted, The Hill reports.One day after his first blog posting, Leavitt already had received more than a dozen comments, including one that had to be removed because it was inappropriate or offensive, according to a spokesperson (Retter, The Hill, 8/1...

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