Electronic Health Records should be more than just records When we implemented an electronic record in a large multispecialty group by in 1998, it was called an electronic medical record. The focus at the time was how to recreate the paper record electronically. We were focused on how to use the data that was collected to improve care,… Read More »
I recently read an article, What is Disruptive Innovation? by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Rory McDonald from the Harvard Business Review, that got me thinking about disruptive innovation in healthcare and why it is so difficult. Incumbents, or the supply side, focus on improving their products to their present customer base and inherently ignore the… Read More »
Personal, human care needed to address both physical and emotional needs My wife recently went to visit her very active parents. Her dad, while out walking the dog before light, tripped and fell. As he is on blood thinner, and he took a hard fall, they proceeded to go to the emergency room. Through the course of the… Read More »
Embedding a liaison to help transition people from SNFs to home lowers costs Whether you are an accountable care organization (ACO) or operate under a bundled payment, or any type of value-based payment model, skilled nursing facility utilization and cost are a major area of focus. Not only is it a major source of healthcare expenditure, but people… Read More »
As we move to value-based care models, where we place our focus becomes very important. With limited resources both in dollars and human capital, knowing where to spend our energy is dependent on knowing information driven by data. Sometimes dictum is driven more from thought than fact. We focus a great deal on those with multiple chronic diseases,… Read More »
We live in an ever-changing healthcare environment. No matter where you look, or what you hear, there is ambiguity and difficult situations. When things get tough, we have a tendency to become anxious, and this anxiety leads to behavior and thought processes that we need to name and hopefully keep in check. One such behavior is that of… Read More »
There is a great deal of discussion around the cost of care at the end of life. The spectrum ranges from, “this is where we need to put all our focus,” to the press around “death panels.” In order to really understand the scope, we need to look and see what the data tells us. It is estimated… Read More »
Value’s variables often affect each other Value has three variables: quality, service and cost. Many times we confuse one of these variables for the other. As these different variables each affect value differently, it’s important to understand what activities falls under each variable and how they interact. For example, we want to increase quality and service while decreasing… Read More »
Debate over rights and true consumers hinders achieving value Healthcare costs have been on the rise for many decades and there have been multiple attempts and models to curb spending. We are presently shifting to value-based payment models under the theory that unlike previously in a fee for service world, paying only for what increases quality and satisfaction… Read More »
There is no one solution to specialized vs. general care As I read an article by Richard Gunderman about the proliferation of hospitalist care and what it means for the continuity of care needed in a value- based world, it made me think about the bigger question of which is better: general or specialty care? We see this… Read More »