Resolutions for 2012 on Health Train

  New Year's Resolution(s) The words I will try to never use in 2012. Transparent,Open Source,Actionable,Ground breaking,Serial entrepreneur,Pioneer,Visionary, Futurist, Venture Capitalist, Killer-App, G4,LTE, Cloud, Outsourcing, iOS, WebOS, Apple, Microsoft, Windows 8, Virus, Trojan, Worm, Ver.n, Friend-unFriend, Timeline, Circle-Uncircle, Social Media, Klout Score, Mashable, Scobleizer, Timeline, Google, Facebook, Twitter, IPO, Start-up, Kindle, Kindle-fire, I (anything),Smartphone, QR codes, Work from Home, Tablet PC, Groupon, Virtual Machine, Wireless, Youtube, Online/Offline, Chrome, Extensions, Add-ons, Hot Tech Trends, Outcomes, Meaningful Use, Incentives, ICD-10, SGR, Disruptive innovation, Physician pioneer, :Physician champion, ONCHIT, HIE, RHIO, Things I will try to do: No...

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Study Predicts Growing Use Of Social Media In Healthcare

  Facebook study reveals deeper penetration of social media into healthcare than most would have predicted. Patients seem more willing to adopt social media platforms that healthcare professionals. It seems that patients will classify certain health related problems according to social acceptability, fears of retribution by friends, or employers or merely embarrassment.  STDs appear to be highest on the list followed by cancer, neurologic problems such as aging, dementia, or mild strokes and/or memory loss.  Some parents do not want their children to know about serious or potentially fatal illnesses.. During my own social media contact with people (not my own patients) they will often inquire about their illnesses and express...

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Going the Distance

It is more difficult to maintain your privacy if you use the internet, even for something seemingly as benign as email or Google. Google is more ubiquitous than the  yellow pages and is far more accessible.There are many analytics engines sweeping Google, twitter, Facebook and other social media for statistics and trends in internet use ranging from your network size, who influences you,who you influence, your areas of expertise and other unmentionables.  Klout is one site that you can access to have some idea of what analytics is capable of assessing about your internet usage. Most of these programs are free with limited functionality but for a price a much more invasive biopsy of your presence is available. Caseblogs, Medical...

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Health Train Express Ends 2011

  No, Health Train Express is not ending in 2011, rather is signals the time for the annual wrap up on 2011’s big news, small news, and no news. All of this information need not be regurgitated here, but for those of you who automatically check here daily, I than you. I have posted a number of links that will feed your never ending quest for information: General News from the U.K. Social Media in Medicine: The Answer to the Doctor’s Lounge Best Hospitals 2011-2012 The Methodology Best Hospitals 2011-2012 Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs: This one is a little more difficult to list. There are a number of determinants, such as basic science, specialization, public health and others which will effect efficiency and cost savings. Listed in reverse order starting with: 10. Genetically Modified...

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Social Media in the Health Train

  It seems no matter where you look on the internet the buzz this year has been about social media. Health care is no exception and there are many beating the band how valuable and perhaps essential it will become in the future. Much of it will be dependent upon users preferences for efficiently using limited resources, the most important of which is time. For physicians personally time is the most critical limiting factor. The use of social media is financially negligible unless  one chooses a social media manager to direct it’s operations. The necessity for this is dependent upon how much resource your organization has to handle this task. The capital investment is close to zero. Physicians can easily acquire the knowledge on...

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Health Train Express Enters The Village with Sexuality Discussion and Google Plus Hangout

“It takes a ‘village” to raise a child” according to Hillary Clinton. Amazing as it seems the latest survey reveals that up to 80% of physicians use one form or another of social media to interact with patients. This despite precautionary warnings about patient privacy and confidentiality. The study did not reveal what form of social media they use; email, instant messaging, twitter, Skype or secured Google cloud documents. Google Cloud documents can be locked except for the intended readers.       Business uses the cloud for secure transactions and sensitive data, and there will be no shortage of offerings for medical applications. In fact, the cloud may offer a more cost effective and usable platform for a national health...

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Window’s Notification Alert !! bong!

  Today’s wake-up alert from The Washington Post “The Obama administration Monday named 32 health care systems across the country as “Pioneer” ACOs. These will be the first places to test out the new payment model; they’ll provide a bit of a sneak peak at what it could mean for the rest of the country. In other words, we may soon see our first unicorns. Unicorn, or not it is interesting that they chose 30 health systems which are already business entities and well integrated health systems. They are also located in unique health care markets. Jim Hinton, President and CEO of Presbyterian Health System (one of the lucky 30 chosen makes these remarks in the Washington Post article authored by Sarah Klif. “Jim Hinton: Health care has grown...

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The Issue in Health Care is NOT Money

  Contrary to what poor or affluent people think, money does not solve all problems of health care,  and it will never stop the issues of caring for one another in a health system. I believe the entire national budget could be thrown at health care and there would still be a problem of ‘not enough money’.  There is more than enough funding to maintain good health, wellness and treat those who are no longer healthy and/or well. Precious resources are expended on studies, fighting fraud and abuse, having analysts draw graphs that either intersect dangerously at some time in the future, or have in the past. My favorite one is the exponential graph rising vertically into infinity. The issues are much like the impasse about the...

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Ticket Price Increases on the Health Train Express in a Time Calling for Austerity

  Like the airlines, who are not too big to fail, medical practices will need to find ways to increase revenues. It’s too bad our patients don’t carry  baggage  into our offices so that we could have a surcharge modifier such as –0000 for each item. However physicians can emit a sigh of relief with the announcement from on high at HHS, as brought to us by the American Medical Association, in AMED News.  Included in that news are: Physicians meeting criteria in 2011 to earn federal electronic medical record incentives will have more time before the Dept. of Health and Human Services requires them to satisfy tougher standards for attaining additional bonuses. The move is being viewed by physicians and health policy observers...

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Touchfire with Health Train Express

  Another bold innovation (and why didn’t I think of this before?) The beauty of this is that it offers another functionality to the iPad form factor. without the burden of extra parts.  Although the iPad offers a keypad feature, users complain there is no tactile feedback which touch typists use unconsciously to type. And the addition of an external keyboard adds to more clutter. This flexible plastiform rubberized overlay is held in place by magnets which attack to the border of the iPad’s frontface. It gives the user tactile feedback much like a normal keyboard. It also has other features attaching it to iPads official cover. All in all a dandy device for the  clinic, by the bedside or in the hospital....

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Health 2.0 in Social Media

  Monitoring the social media stream today in #hcsm #medicine #healthreform and find that Facebook will offer a page and/or referral to FBers who are depressed and suicidal. Is this the first step into Health 2.0 and is social media going to bypass formal developments in the Health 2.0 Challenge? Mobile apps already support API for all the social media platforms, twitter, facebook, and Google +. Twitter is very restrictive as to which APIs can use twitter’s API however health 2.0 would gain them many more users that do not compete with Twitter’s plans. I predict that Social media will bypass the present vision for formal  health 2.0 apps, and developers should re-think their game plans or be left behind even before it happens. G+...

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And The Webcina Winners are:

  Webcina announced it’s winners for their contest for social media participants. Although Healthtrain Express failed to make it to the podium I enjoyed participating and ‘spilling my beans”. My reward was to be able to read these fine stories..Stories that should excite all of us in social media. I read the winning blog posts, and found them all to be far better in appeal and content than my illiterate meanderings. Here they are: The Tap Code by Katherine Leon Transient Global Amnesia and Social Media by Susan McKinnon Suzanne Ezekiel’s Journey  Her contribution includes her vivid youtube video portraying the effects of her disease. It is one of the most telling and vivid descriptions that leaves the observer breathless and battered. ...

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G+ Hangout with Health Train Express

  At 6 PM PST/ 9PM EST on Google + Hangout please join us tonight December 12, 2011 for a discussion on health care and reform. Proposed agenda: 1. Effect of social media on medical  practice and business. Do you use it for;  marketing, communication, patient care. 2. Will Obama care be repealed? totally or partially 3. Will SGR formula be enacted or put on hold again this year? 4. Will you become part of an accountable care organization 5. Bring your own topics. 6. Discuss selection of special invited guest as ‘keynote speaker”  for next week’s hangout to be held on Tuesday December 20 2011 at 6PM PST. BruceGarber.tv On next Tuesday we will host a special invited guest, +Bruce Garber, whose interests are in video production...

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No Ticket Required on Health Train Express

Just like my office walk ins are always accepted. The same here on the Health Train Express….my plan for a subject often changes drastically when I surf the web, check my tweet box, Facebook, and Google +. Healthcare is not all that unique. I find similar challenges in business  on Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Business is also perplexed just what to do with social media. In healthcare there remains a large part of the workforce that are neophytes with health information technology and  how to use it. Questions arise about return on investment with EMRs, Health Information Exchanges, Outcome studies, and Analytics. The jury will be out for several or more years for many reasons. Statistics have a way of flowing in slowly...

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Health Train Conductor

Do you remember in days of old the train conductor would come by and punch your ticket. The shape of the punch hole looked quite a bit like # . # now represents the hashtag on twitter as well as other social media platforms.. Speaking from my anecdotal story of one in the cohort, I found them to be confusing at first, especially if there was a hashtag salad of multiple #s. The  Hashtag Project. Hashtag Project is organized and administered by the Foxepractice.com Consulting Firm.  In addition to their epractice modules and advice on Web 2.0 they provide a full menu of services. If you don’t have time yourself to dive into social media (and few doctors do) they can set you up and your staff can do the daily operations. Put your efforts...

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HealthTrain RaP

  Some of you already know about Zdogg and Dr. Harry, so this may seem lame, but for those of you who have not seen them, they are the “rappers” of medicine. On another front, today I held the first Google + Medical Hangout with a friend  +Bruce Garber (with  his waiver regarding HIPAA). He had an eye problem which I was able to diagnose using Google + Hangout with an ordinary webcam. If your webcam is good enough with HD and you have a good video graphics card, it works well.  I hope you will all join me tonite at 5PM PST for my medical hangout on Google +. Let me know what prominent doctors  you would like to be in the hangout and I will invite them for tonite or next Friday nite.  You are all invited to participate. Admission is FREE !!!   del.icio.us...

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Health Train Hangout with Newt Gingrich

  I spend an inordinate amount of time on social media, Google + and Google Hangout in  particular. Most of the time on sites relevant to healthcare and medicine. I also attend events worldwide on SM in general, research large business consulting firms such as Forrester. Now and then I bump into a Presidential candidate. Watch this one, and you might see me. img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('b6734f24-f8f5-4fd2-88cc-94fc83868bbe'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "";" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MTpXaoq2tWk/TuJeyjt5yxI/AAAAAAAADHA/Lo6K5Ksj77Y/video1f320a173831%25255B19%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none">Speak withi a Presidential Candidate from the comfort of your Couch...

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Social Media Lawsuits??

  Is it safe to socialize? It seems bloggers are not immune to large legal settlements. A judge decided that bloggers are not journalists. (from Mashable) In a case that’s sending a frightening message to the blogger community, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that a blogger must pay $2.5 million to an investment firm she wrote about — because she isn’t a real journalist. Judge Marco A. Hernandez said Crystal Cox, who runs several blogs, wasn’t entitled to the protections afforded to journalists — specifically, Oregon’s media shield law for sources — because she wasn’t “affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, periodical, book, pamphlet, news service, wire service, news or feature syndicate, broadcast station or network, or cable television...

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Social Media and Art Galleries

  Regina Holliday brings to life in her art work much of the confusion in healthcare and the misery and heartache it brings to patients. If you have been to a medical meeting she is the lady in the back intently  painting her reaction to the subject of the meeting. I’ve known about Regina Holliday for several years. Although we have never met, I hope someday to meet her, I feel I know her well and her family as well. I want to share her latest art work which she has shared on her Facebook pages. Here are some of her paintings, and her comments: Halloween night: “I boarded an Airplane at 7:30pm at Regan National on October 31st still wearing my Wizard’s Robes.  I spoke the next morning before the folks at OCHIN.  My Presentation...

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Health Reform Politicization

Those of you who read Health Train know that I invite others to post here. Since I am a physician I cannot write as well as some devotees to journalism. I have many other sources listed on the blog in the lower portion of the right hand banner. Later this week  I will be featuring a new source.”Reforming Health” written by Naomi Freundlich  an award-winning journalist, policy wonk and health advocate with over 25 years experience writing and thinking about health care, medicine, and the absolute necessity of creating an equitable, affordable and high-quality health care system that offers coverage to all who need it. The discussion of health reform and policy must be in an open and transparent forum which Health Train Express attempts to encourage. The diversity of opinion will...

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Don Berwick Controversy

Dr Don Berwick resigned from his position at CMS this past Thursday.He resigned with little chance of being approved by congress in a long delayed hearing process. President Obama doomed him to failure with the ‘rush’ to appoint him to the position as head of CMS while Congress was not in session. Dr. Berwick is an outstanding physician and analytical expert, His experience and record as President of the Institute of Medicine (I.O.M.) portended significant accomplishments at Medicare and HHS. He is such an individual with strong convictions and integrity. He is now the first to admit the difficulty and challenge of framing and implementing changes in not only HHS,CMS but our entire Federal and State systems of government. In a world of politics...

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