Category Archives: primary care

primary care

Automation is good. Robocalls are bad.

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Neil Versel

I just got a robocall from my primary care physician’s office asking first if this was actually me — not that anyone would actually lie — and then if I had received a flu vaccine this season. Well, the practice … Continue reading →

Posted in data mining, EMR/EHR, health it, Healthcare IT, patient safety, physicians, practice management, primary care, public health, quality | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

My first portal experience

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Neil Versel

Yes, after all these years of writing about EMRs, EHRs, PHRs, patient portals and the like, I have had my first real personal experience with a patient portal, courtesy of my internist. He still has a small practice, with four … Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Button, clinical summaries, consumerism, EMR/EHR, health information exchange, health it, Healthcare IT, Meaningful Use, personal notes, PHR, practice management, primary care | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Podcast: This time, I’m the interviewee

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Neil Versel

In a rare turn of events, I’m the one being asked the questions on a podcast by Sivad Business Solutions, which hosts regular audio discussions on a variety of business topics. I give kind of a high-level view of health … Continue reading →

Posted in accountable care organizations, EMR/EHR, health reform, interoperability, Meaningful Use, medical errors, mobile, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, patient safety, podcast, primary care, quality, reimbursement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

To Avoid Readmissions, Hospitals Trying Post-Discharge Clinics

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Katherine Rourke

In recent years, hospitals have been under increasing pressure to keep their readmission rates low. The next bump in the road comes in October 2012, when Medicare will begin cutting back on reimbursement for facilities whose readmit rates are too … Continue reading →

Posted in health information exchange, hospital administration, hospital operations, managed care, Medicare, primary care, Research, Telemedicine | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Why healthcare is so troubled, and what consumers are doing about it

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Neil Versel

Consumerism hasn’t completely caught on in healthcare, but it has gained a bit of a toehold. Consider these two slides shown Monday at the Healthcare Unbound conference in San Diego: Look at the bottom of each slide, starting with the … Continue reading →

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So many blank spots on the clinical data map!

Posted on November 21, 2010 by Katherine Rourke

EMTs collect a lot of data on their trip to the emergency department — and usually, data treating ED physicians will want pretty badly when they see the patient. But in virtually every case, most of that critical info transfer … Continue reading →

Posted in EHRs, emergency department, EMRs, health information exchange, health it, hospital administration, primary care, Telemedicine | Comments Off

Can Priceline-style tactics transform medical practice?

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Katherine Rourke

What will it take for consumers to feel comfortable paying doctors directly again? And an even bigger question: Do you see the broad mass of consumers developing those sorts of relationships with hospitals anytime soon? Continue reading →

Posted in accountable care organizations, hospital transformation, physician relations, primary care, Telemedicine | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Video: Accountable care organizations, the Steve Jobs way

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Katherine Rourke

Why not sic Steve Jobs on the accountable care organization model? As healthcare consultant Anthony Cirillo sees it, Jobs is one of few execs out there who really understands how to build complex things in a lean, functional way. Continue reading →

Posted in accountable care organizations, hospital administration, hospital operations, hospital transformation, physician relations, primary care | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Passing the buck, or, why PCPs *are* the problem

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Katherine Rourke

With primary care practices stressed to the limit, someone’s going to have to do a better job of fielding the 5PM to 9AM gap in care. Telemedicine, urgent care centers and retail clinics are making a dent, but they can only make a dent in the problem. Continue reading →

Posted in emergency department, primary care | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Can hospitals be saved? Some fresh ideas

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Katherine Rourke

Can we pull hospitals out of their financial death spiral? Maybe. Here at nextHospital we’ve been intrigued by news of a couple of proposals intended to help patients AND ensure hospital solvency. Continue reading →

Posted in hospital transformation, primary care | Comments Off