Home, sweet medical home

The concept of the Medical Home is emerging as an antidote to America’s fragmented health care landscape. Several large employers and physicians are pushing the concept, driven by different incentives but united in the effort. Medicaid plans have become early adopters of the Medical Home, too. The Medical Home is not a new concept; pediatricians [...]

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The true costs of cigarettes = $222 a pack, and the Rolling Stone ad

A pack of cigarettes ranges in price from a low of $3.35 in South Carolina to a high of $6.45 in New Jersey. But the real personal costs of cigarettes — per pack smoked — are 66 times greater (in the case of that smoking South Carolinian). The analysis can be found in a new [...]

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Docs' mistakes in medical records, straight out of Sermo

79% of Americans are interested in reading their medical records, according to a recent survey. That’s a good thing, because doctors can make mistakes recording notes in medical records that can lead to unintended health consequences based on faulty data. Doctors are chatting about finding mistakes in their own patient medical records. The chat is [...]

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Health Care IT by way of Hollywood and Hip-Hop

The double-barreled news of Dennis Quaids’ twins receiving heparin doses 1,000x the prescribed dose while receiving medical treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, coupled with the tragic death of Kanye West’s mother following cosmetic surgery, focuses this health care paparazzi’s lens squarely on the role of information technology in health care. The Cedars-Sinai Chief Medical Officer [...]

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As costs rise, employers drop health: Mercer (with a Wal-Mart health update and a gift card from Highmark)

Employer costs for health coverage are rising twice as fast as general price increases. This is leading to more employers dropping health coverage for employees. Mercer brings us this evidence in their new health cost survey, to be published in March 2008. The consultancy found that health costs increased 6.1%, equivalent to 2006 cost increases. [...]

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