The Next Pandemic May Be an AI one
By KIM BELLARD
Since the early days of the pandemic, conspiracy theorists have charged that COVID was a manufactured bioweapon, either deliberately leaked or the result of an inadvertent lab leak. There’s been no evidence to support these speculations, but, alas, that is not to say that such bioweapons aren’t truly an existential threat. And artificial intelligence (AI) may make the threat even worse.
Last week the Department of Defense issued its first ever Biodefense Posture Review. It “recognizes that expanding biological threats, enabled by advances in life sciences and biotechnology, are among the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 23, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy AI Bioterrorism ChatGPT COVID Department of Defense Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs
Torben Nielsen, CEO, Uptiv Health
Early this month I caught up with Torben Nielsen who is now CEO of Uptiv Health. Another one from the Redesign Health factory, Uptiv Health came out of stealth recently with the goal of improving the experience and reducing the cost of those patients who have to have regular infusion treatments. Uptiv Health just raised $7.5m and is opening its first location in Detroit at the end of August 2023, with a goal of becoming the health home of those chronic disease patients. Why do we need a new offering in infusion care? Torben will tell you–Matthew Holt (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 22, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: The Business of Health Care Infusion care Redesign Health Torben Nielsen Uptiv Health Source Type: blogs
Lash of St. Francis
BY MIKE MAGEE
On September 25, 1939, Southern California woke with fear of The Lash of St. Francis or El Cordonazo on the horizon. The term refers to northwestern tracking, cyclone-laden storms that can hit the western shores of Mexico and California most commonly around the Feast of Saint Francis, on October 4th. This one made landfall at San Pedro, California.
The calamity that day in Southern California was a rare event, the only one of its kind in the 20th century. The last one to hit, prior to this was in San Diego on October 2,1858. The Earth’s rotation normally assures that such cyclones in this region move...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 21, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Non-Health Global Warming Mike Magee St. Francis Summer Heat Wave Source Type: blogs
THCB 20th Birthday classics: A Brief History of Price Controls by Annoyed Republican Administrations
By UWE REINHARDT
One of the greatest pleasures of running THCB has been to get to know and host the writings of some of my health policy heroes. This week I have already published work from Jeff Goldsmith, and Ian Morrison & Michael Millenson among others will be featured next week (as the party won’t quite stop). Perhaps one of the most amazing things was that the doyen of health economists, Uwe Reinhardt, offered to write some original pieces for THCB…prodded by former editor John Irvine. This is one of my favorites, riffing on a talk I heard him give in (I think) 1993 about how HCFA was like the Kreml...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Price controls Uwe Reinhardt Source Type: blogs
Academics Weigh In On How To Bring Down Trump
By MIKE MAGEE
This week, as a fourth indictment came due, a tragic Donald Trump headed back to social media, digging himself into a hole that will eventually lead to some personal hell. But before Donald Trump, there was William Frederick Kohler.
He made his appearance on the American stage on February 28, 1995, an historian who had just completed his “Great Work” – The Guilt and Innocence of Hitler’s Germany. He was odd and dark and duplicitous. His life’s work was ready to go. All that was left was to write the introduction to his book. Instead his attention was diverted, as he followed his impulse to...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 18, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Mike Magee Trump Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 133, Thursday August 17
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday August 17 at 1pm PST 4pm EST are futurist Jeff Goldsmith: medical historian Mike Magee (@drmikemagee); policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1); and patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@mlmillenson);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 17, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Jeff Goldsmith Matthew Holt Michael Millenson Mike Magee rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
THCB 20th Birthday Classic: As I’ve always suspected, Health Care = Communism + Frappuccinos
By MATTHEW HOLT
Our 20th birthday continues with a few classics coming out. Back in 2005 I was really cutting a lyrical rug, and would never miss a chance to get that Cambridge training in Marxism into use. This essay about whether health care should be a public or private good has always been one of my favorites, even if I’m not sure Starbucks is still making Frappuccinos. And 18 years later the basic point of this essay remains true, even if many of you will not have a clue who Vioxx or Haliburton were or why they mattered back then!
Those of you who think I’m an unreconstructed commie will correctly suspec...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Matthew Holt Communism Frappuccinos Source Type: blogs
What Robotaxis Mean for Healthcare
BY KIM BELLARD
You may have seen that last week the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) gave approval for two companies to operate self-driving taxicabs (“robotaxis”) in San Francisco, available 24/7 and able to charge fares. Think Uber or Lyft but without drivers.
It has seemed inevitable for several years now, yet we’re not really ready. It reminds me, of course, of how the future is coming fast for healthcare too, especially around artificial intelligence, and we’re not really ready for that either.
The two companies, Cruise (owned by GM) and Waymo (owned by Alphabet) have been testi...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech Healthcare Healthcare AI Kim Bellard Robotaxis Source Type: blogs
THCB 20th Birthday Classic: McKinsey wants to inspire lots of change; caveat emptor
by MATTHEW HOLT
So to celebrate 20 years, we’ll be publishing a few classics for the next week or so. This is one of my faves from the early days of THCB, back in 2006. It’s interesting to compare it with Jeff Goldsmith’s NEW piece from yesterday on vertical integration because at the time a pair of Harvard professors, Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg were telling hospitals to change their operations in a way that seemed to me were going to destroy their business–cut down to one or two service lines they were best at and stop with the rest. McKinsey picked up on this and I went to town on wh...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: The Business of Health Care Elizabeth Teisberg Hospitals Matthew Holt Mckinsey Michael Porter Source Type: blogs
Vertical Integration Doesn ’t Work in Healthcare: Time to Move On
Conclusion
Healthcare providers of all stripes must leave the industrial world behind. The value chains in health services are not physical, but rather comprised of human relationships, sustained by trust. Virtual care, the advent of AI in healthcare and consumer demand will require a flexible, 24/7 and care anywhere business model. Those who build the best modern clinical mousetrap will end up with a committed clinical staff and loyal patients. Healthcare isn’t about the building, or the brand, or scale. Surviving and thriving in the future will require engaged clinicians who foster trust on the part o...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: The Business of Health Care Hospitals Jeff Goldsmith Physicians Vertical integration Source Type: blogs
Happy 20th Birthday THCB
Hard to believe it but 20 years ago (Aug 12 2003) I started writing THCB! Somehow 20 years later it’s still here. Lots of changes over the years. Hundreds of people have written for THCB, thousands have been interviewed on it, and we’ve made a little dent in the world of health care.
Next week we will run some new articles, new interviews and re-run a selection of the greatest hits…. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Matthew Holt 20th Anniversary THCB Source Type: blogs
Naive Realism and the Legal Profession
By MIKE MAGEE
In 2002, psychologist Emily Pronin and her co-authors, in an article titled, You Don’t Know Me, But I Know You: The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight, laid out the concept of “Naive Realism.”
As she explained, “We insist that our ‘outsider perspective’ affords us insights about our peers that they are denied by their defensiveness, egocentricity, or other sources of bias. By contrast, we rarely entertain the notion that others are seeing us more clearly and objectively than we see ourselves. (We) talk when we would do well to listen…” Point well taken, but these (most would agree) are tryin...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 9, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Jan 6 Lawyers Mike Magee Trump Source Type: blogs
I Want a Lazy Girl Job Too
BY KIM BELLARD
I came across a phrase the other day that is so evocative, so delicious, that I had to write about it: “lazy girl job,” or, as you might know it. @#lazygirljob.
Now, before anyone gets too offended, it’s not about labeling girls as lazy; it’s not really even about lazy or even only girls. It’s about wanting jobs with the proverbial work-life balance: jobs that pay decently, don’t require crazy hours, and give employees flexibility to manage the other parts of their lives. Author Eliza Van Cort told Bryan Robinson, writing in Forbes: “The phrasing ‘lazy girl job’ is less than ideal...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 8, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: The Business of Health Care Gabrielle Judge Kim Bellard tiktok Work Life Balance Working Source Type: blogs
Population Health Management: SDOH Challenges and Solutions
Conclusion
SDOH data collection has its challenges. The first step is to convince organizations and policymakers of its utility and promise to offer whole-person care. Without SDOH, providers are only taking in a fraction of their patient’s health. Therefore, the dismissal of SDOH only widens health disparity gaps and fuels a cycle of reduced patient engagement.
However, the use of focused SDOH benchmarking, routine screening assessments, and robust analytics tools can help organizations take steps toward greater health equity. This gives each patient the potential to achieve and maintain optimal physical hea...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Arcadia Population Health Management SDoH Source Type: blogs
How to Talk to a Doc
BY KIM BELLARD
For better and for worse, our healthcare system is built around physicians. For the most part, they’re the ones we rely on for diagnoses, for prescribing medications, and for delivering care. And, often, simply for being a comfort.
Unfortunately, in 2023, they’re still “only” human, and they’re not perfect. Despite best intentions, they sometimes miss things, make mistakes, or order ineffective or outdated care. The order of magnitude for these mistakes is not clear; one recent study estimated 800,000 Americans suffering permanent disability or death annually. Whatever the real...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 3, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Practice Diagnostic Error Iatric Systems Kim Bellard Medical errors Source Type: blogs
