ePatient Dave is In The Room

  Some of us talk about the “elephant in the room’ which everyone knows about but ignores. We also may make the same mistake about the person across from you in the examination room. Watch this video….Dave deBronkart is not only articulate and entertaining at this TED talk, he has some original ideas about communicating ideas to patients. Let’s see if Google or some other software can develop this one. If Facebook and twitter are worth so much money, how much would these advances make for our patients. del.icio.us Tags: deBronkart,TEDx,elephant in the room follow  ideas on twitter  glevin1   facebook/gmlevin ...

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Darwinian Social Media Engagement

The Health Train Express enjoyed an enormous response to our series on social media for medicine. Many asked questions, so I am including some more advanced feature sets from which to obtain material, organize your SM entries, to analyze your network as well as to organize it. Forrester has released a new report, Accelerating Your Social Maturity: How To Move From Social Experimentation To Business Transformation, which you can also find as a new chapter in the newly updated paperback version of the Groundswell book. While this  report is written with the larger enterprise in mind, much of it applies to your neophyte media presence. It serves as a framework for your social media programs. Five Stages of Social Media Maturity offers...

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How would you like it?

  Imagine if you will, a transformation of computer power and interfaces that would allow real virtualization in space transmitted by your hands, and body movements, similar to what the Wii or Kinect do with gaming. Here is a technology looking for an application, perhaps in neurosurgery or operating in a closed body space, virtualized and harmonized with MRI and/or PET scans. Oblong’s radically condensed G spatial operating environment. Yes Doctor, you too can be like Tom Cruise in the “Minority Report”. Try this on full  screen with HD Hollywood imitates life. And sometimes life imitates Hollywood. John Underkoffler, who led the team that came up with the interface that Tom Cruise’s character used in the 2002 movie “Minority Report,” co-founded a company, Oblong Industries, to...

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The Individual Mandate & AMA

The American Medical Association announced yesterday that it was supporting the ‘Individual Mandate” in Obamacare. This is puzzling, because the AMA has always defended personal liberty, freedom and the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. If one thing offends most healthcare providers it is this mandate, since it smacks of being unconstitutional and loss of a significant freedom. It surpasses even the internal revenue service’s income tax and the manner in which it is collected. While the mandate is being strongly opposed by at least 30 states and awaits judicial reckoning it is even more puzzling why the AMA would come out prior to any judicial decision.  Perhaps the AMA announcement is meant to sway public opinion and judicial...

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21st Century Medicine, Part II

  “The Revolution will Not be Televised” (Gill Scott Heron). The Black Panther video from the late 1960s is just the opposite of what is taking place in America in the 21st Century. Although much of the proposed changes appear to be transparent, all of medicine wonders what is really happening in committees in congress, behind closed doors of insurance company lobbyists and our representative as well as hospital negotiations for CMS reimbursements.  What is the AMA doing? Is what happening, The revolution will not be televised? img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('739b462b-3feb-4035-92e9-02cf389e99bc'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cRQD65aL7Ek/TftaCqigiII/AAAAAAAACnc/5aOmJS3NuL4/videob65197211966%25255B52%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800"...

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Medical Schools for the 21st Century

This is the first in a series of articles on changes in education, the physician workforce, and what is driving changes. Many studies have been done to analyze the physician/population ratios in different areas of the United States. In addition to their being an overall shortage of physicians, there is a disparate imbalance of primary care physicians (formerly called family doctors and/or general practitioner) and specialty physicians.   This general statistic does not delve into specific oversupply of specific specialties.  In some cases there is a severe shortage of psychiatrists, and mental health professionals.  The statistics also do not account for physicians who function in a primary care role, but are not statistically...

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What does Bon Jovi or U2 have to do with The Health Train Express?

These images came to mind while I was reading what Brandon Betancourt (a pediatric practice administrator had to say about  your staff (and you) putting on a consistent show for your patients. KevinMD in his blog shared Brandon’s take on enabling consistency in the practice on a daily basis and at moments of fatigue and near burnout periods of the day. I can only add a small addition to Brandon’s excellent allegory about performers, stage hands, physicians and their staffs.  I remember as a medical student and training asking myself how I could build my stamina and reliability for my patients. I used the same methodology of pretending I was an actor, performing for each patient encounter.  I pictured myself as a third person...

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More Meaningless Bureaucracy

  Here is the latest from the Obama Whitehouse. Obama Creates Rural Council To Advise on Health IT, Other Issues    On Thursday, President Obama signed an executive order establishing the White House Rural Council, which will advise the president on various issues affecting rural communities, AHA News reports (AHA News, 6/9). The executive order includes just about every Department (25 to be exact) of the Executive Branch of the Office of The President. I am sure there are many rooms at the WH that have conference tables big enough to have all at the same table.  As an oxymoron, it even  included the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs.  Trust me, “We’re from the government and we are hear to help you.” del.icio.us...

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Health & Communications

Gary M. Levin M.D. Many of the barriers to teaching our patients, care-givers and health professionals have dissolved thanks to the digital age, the internet, mobile applications, and an open door between information technology and medicine at all levels, from practitioners to personal health records, to hospitals, government, data integrators, analytics, biomedical applications, and basic research.  New applications developed to bridge the void between previously unintelligible scientific information (scientists, clinicians) and user friendly software for patients and professionals alike. Much like the Ronald Reagan era our health system  is tearing  down the walls between ‘east and west’. (providers/caregivers—patients) Health...

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Physicians Take Back Your Hospital !

  Physicians, Take back your Hospitals ! I was listening to Piers Morgan interviewing Jack Welch, former head of General Electric. Jack Welch led General Electric from a $30 billion dollar company to one worth over $130 billion dollars. Watching the interview one thinks, how could he not succeed ? “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” “Change before you have to. Control your own destiny or someone else will. Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.”“The Internet is the Viagra of big business”(Jack Welch’s quotes) In listening to Jack Welch speak one realized he has the remnants of a slight stutter, a challenge he overcame...

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It’s Not Easy Being Right

Justice, and the American Way The Title of the Post today is a take off from Kermit the Frog, “It’s not easy being Green” (unless you are Al Gore) There is some good news in the fight for ‘freedom” and opposing laws that are counter to the U.S. Constitution. ATLANTA (AP) - Judges on a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday repeatedly raised questions about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, expressing unease with the requirement that virtually all Americans carry health insurance or face penalties. All three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel questioned whether upholding the landmark law could open the door to Congress adopting other sweeping economic mandates. The panel is made up of two Democratic appointees...

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Prezi A novel way to present

  I decided to use a  new presentation application for variety.   NHIN-National Health Information Network on Prezi...

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Where to Go Not to Die (Hospitals)

Thomson Reuters today announced the top 10 Health Care Systems. And there are surprises in the list. Advocate Health Care*  ― Oak Brook, IL
 Cape Cod Healthcare ― Hyannis, MA
 Care Group Healthcare System ― Boston, MA
 Kettering Health Network* ― Dayton, OH Maury Regional Healthcare System ― Columbia, TN
 Mayo Foundation**  ― Rochester, MN
 North Shore University Health System ― Evanston, IL
 OhioHealth* ― Columbus, OH
 Partners Healthcare ― Boston, MA
 Spectrum Health** ― Grand Rapids, MI Health Train’s first observation is that there were three systems in the Boston, MA market, one of which is in a relatively small town on Cape Cod. Secondly many are in what I consider, smaller markets and finally there were only...

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Graduation Season in Medicine

  Here’s a great graduation speech by Zdogg MD who also blogs. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('85e9a79b-ee14-4b3d-b5c3-bf89c4aa81e3'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CJUCFXE2rSo/Tewjdl2UHXI/AAAAAAAACi8/FTuZSEO3GBA/video992728d6e2d1%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"> Zdogg raps at  ZDoggMD I cannot add much to this soliloquy except to say  “Right On”  Remember those days when we were fresh as picked carrots or celery. Ready to overcome all obstacles, then chewed up by life, medicine, and finally our wonderful government....

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Mature Physicians May Quit

Mature Physicians May Quit Rather than Recertify Although many statistics elaborate on how much money physicians earn, these figures, and averages are very distorted.. Averages are very misleading. A few extremely high earners will distort the average. Real statistics including medians, standard deviations, probability factors would reveal the truth about physician earnings.  As overhead continues to rise and reimbursements decline, as well as patient volume being forced to expand Health Train   predicts a rapid decline in physician-surgeon numbers. Many have already abandoned their private practices and have joined group practices, not only to relieve stress, but also as a transition to a non clinical or even non medical career,...

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