The Readmore 2014

Yesterday HHS announced that CMS will involve physicians in a five year demonstration project encouraging small and medium physician practices to adopt electronic health records.

Excerpt from Secretary Leavitt's announcement:

“This demonstration is designed to show that streamlining health care management with electronic health records will reduce medical errors and improve quality of care for 3.6 million Americans. By linking higher payment to use of EHRs to meet quality measures, we will encourage adoption of health information technology at the community level, where 60 percent of patients receive care,” Secretary Leavitt said. “We also anticipate that EHRs will produce significant savings for Medicare over time by improving quality of care. This is another step in our ongoing effort to become a smart purchaser of health care -- paying for better, rather than simply paying for more.”

Conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the demonstration would be open to participation by up to 1,200 physician practices beginning in the spring. Over a five-year period, the program will provide financial incentives to physician groups using certified EHRs to meet certain clinical quality measures. A bonus will be provided each year based on a physician group’s score on a standardized survey that assesses the specific EHR functions a group employs to support the delivery of care.

The CMS demonstration also will help advance Secretary Leavitt’s efforts to shift health care in the U.S. toward a system based on value. The Department is working to effect change through its Value-Driven Health Care initiative, which is based on Four Cornerstones: interoperable electronic health records, public reporting of provider quality information, public reporting of cost information, and incentives for value comparison.

For more info check out the HHS Press Release.

Thanks to the Medicare Update blog for a tip on this new project.

West Virginia and Unicare rolls out a simple solution to fighting the obesity problem in West Virginia (WV ranks as the #3 heaviest state). The project involves giving West Virginia physicians a small body mass index (BMI) calculator wheel and training in how to use the wheel to recognize obesity earlier, especially in children.

Thanks to Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at Health Populi for the tip on the project.

Don't miss this week's Grand Rounds hosted by Paul Levy of Running a Hospital. Paul's edition focuses on personal experiences by health care bloggers and how it caused them to change their behavior and beliefs.

Take some time today out of your busy schedule and read a couple of the linked stories.

While on the topic of blog carnivals - also check out the latest edition of Medicine 2.0 hosted this week at The Health Wisdom Blog.

First big lions in West Virginia, now bigfoot sightings (more details) in Pennsylvania. The "big lion" sights in West Virginia certainly give new meaning to the motto of "Wild and Wonderful." Here's hoping that it wins the election.



UPDATE (10/31/07):

The votes have been tabulated and West Virginians have overwhelmingly chosen a return to our motto of "Wild, Wonderful." The Governor's Office just released the following press release:

CHARLESTON -- Tabulation of the results from the final round of voting for West Virginia’s official roadway welcome sign was completed this morning and 57.5 percent of the nearly 49,000 West Virginians who voted said they want the state to be known as “Wild, Wonderful,” the governor announced today.

“Wild, Wonderful,” which was on West Virginia’s Interstate highway welcome signs from 1975 until 1991, is the clear winner with 28,046 votes, followed by “Almost Heaven,” with 17,591 votes and “The Mountain State” with 3,120.

Residents cast 41,284 votes using the state’s online voting system, while 7,473 voted by telephone. In total, since the slogan contest was announced Sept. 5, more than 110,000 votes were cast by West Virginians.

“I’m delighted we had such a large number of West Virginians who took the opportunity to choose their favorite slogan,” Manchin said. “I truly want to thank everyone for their participation and for the creative suggestions many provided during the first round of voting. We had a lot of worthy entries, but it is clear that West Virginians love to call this state ‘Wild, Wonderful.’”

The governor now will take the results to the Legislature in January and ask that the members codify the people’s selection so that they can be assured their wishes will be consistently followed. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to make this slogan our official welcome,” he said.

If you are interested in Dr. Parkinson's business model check out doctokr (doc-talker) based in Vienna, Virginia. For more what doctokr is and how Alan Dappen, MD. provides his unique service check out about/services.

Thanks to Dr. Val for the referral. I particularly like this quote from her post:

"The physical exam is a straw man for reimbursement. Doctors require people to appear in person at their offices so that they can bill for the time spent caring for them. But for longstanding adult patients, the physical exam rarely changes medical management of their condition. It simply allows physicians to be reimbursed for their time. Cutting the middle man (health insurance) out of the equation allows me to give patients what they need without wasting their time in unnecessary in-person visits."

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at Health Populi looks at some early statistics of how Iowans feel about the state of our health care system. The survey was sponsored by CodeBlueNow, a consumer-led health advocacy group.

I found it particularly interesting that Iowans believe "health care services should stress disease prevention over high-technology cures." I wonder if a poll in West Virginia would show a similar statistic.

Contrast this statistic with some data coming out of the Leadership West Virginia Conference saying that West Virginia's health care system is dysfunctional and in peril. Dave Campbell, CEO of Community Health Network said that "$10 billion a year is spent on health care in [West Virginia], but only 3 percent of that is spent on preventative measures." Chronic disease is a huge problem in West Virginia.

Citing respiratory disease and diabetes as two treatable problems that are causing health care rates to rise in West Virginia, Campbell goes on to say that of the "$4 billion a year spent in hospitals, we know that $1 out of every $10 is avoidable. Over $400 million would be avoidable if people had earlier access to prevention and primary care."

Guy V., this post is for you after our weekend discussion.

Larry Messina beat me to the post. I agree - quote of the day from award winning author, Pat Conroy in a letter to the editor appearing in today's Charleston Gazette.

"Because you banned my books, every kid in that county will read them, every single one of them. Because book banners are invariably idiots, they don’t know how the world works — but writers and English teachers do."

More on the the story involving the suspension of two of his books, Beach Music and The Prince of Tides, from high school English class at Nitro High School.

The emailed letter to the editor was in response to an effort lead by Makenzie Hatfield, a George Washington High School senior who the article indicates is working to for form a coalition against censorship. Hatfield emailed the author about the situation and received the response.

Just another example of how the ease of modern communication (email, internet, blogging, etc.) can put anyone (student) in contact with anyone else (author). The world is flat.

Conroy also weaves in the Hatfields & McCoys and ends with my other favorite quote from the letter.

"I salute the English teachers of Charleston, West Virginia, and send my affection to their students. West Virginians, you’ve just done what history warned you against — you’ve riled a Hatfield."