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Daily Digest: Data passports, narrow networks, and more

Data passports: In the absence of health IT interoperability, some systems have started using “patient passports” for complex cases. It’s a start. Maybe next, patient passports for all? Here’s a Wall Street Journal piece that tells the story: “Patient ‘Passports’ Make Sure People With Complex Cases Are Heard”

Narrow networks, narrower choices: Affordable insurance plans are no guarantee that you’ll find a provider that takes your plan, and is near your home. As the health insurance industry adds millions of new customers via ACA Marketplace plans, it’s turning out to be a contentious relationship for some folks. The NY Times’ Elisabeth Rosenthal breaks down the issue: “Insured, but Not Covered”

Wisdom of children’s books: The always-worth-reading Susannah Fox thinks that healthcare can learn a lot from one of her favorite children’s books. After reading her post, we’re in agreement with her perspective. “What healthcare can learn from Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel”

Deep dive into Twitter on measles outbreak: Our SPM friend Mark Harmel has a terrific post up on the Symplur blog looking at the Twitter data surrounding the #measlestruth conversation kicked off by Dr. Bryan Vartabedian and Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson to support the idea of vaccinating kids against measles. “Did #MeaslesTruth Create a New Form of Twitter Communication?”

Why Anthem hack is potential horror: A very cautionary piece on NPR about the black market for personal data shows that health IDs, particularly Medicare information, is worth a bundle to the bad guys. The real horror here is the lack of cyber-security sophistication on othe part of healthcare industry IT overlords. “The Black Market for Stolen Health Care Data”

John Oliver on “Last Week Tonight” takes on pharma [WARNING: use headphones if you’re at work!]: The weekly HBO news-comedy host takes on pharma marketing in a very funny, but very NSFW (Not Safe For Work), examination of the marketing juggernaut that is the pharmaceutical industry.  “Marketing to Doctors”

 

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Daily Digest: Monday, February 2, 2015

 

Welcome to a new feature: the Daily Digest, by my friend and fellow SPM member “Mighty Casey” Quinlan, of Richmond, VA. Her Facebook feed and Twitter feed are so constantly full of things I’d missed that I thought “Shoot, let’s post that!” So this month, Monday through Friday, she’ll post links to what she thinks are the best/hottest/most interesting healthcare, medicine, and bio-science stories that day. Here she goes:

Yeah, there might even be some humor, since we’re both fans of Gomerblog and ZDoggMD.

Today’s crop:

  1. The human brain is a fascinating instrument. This piece from the NY Times’ Well blog looks at the impact price awareness has on the placebo effect. The outcome is both surprising, and not surprising at all. “Expensive Drugs Work Better Than Cheap Ones“
  2. Are minute clinics, where patients can walk in for quick care on stuff like strep throat or flu shots, better patient experiences than care at a regular primary care practice? Geriatrician Dr. Leslie Kernisan had the opportunity to compare two of her own experiences, which she shared on The Health Care Blog: “A Tale of Two Sore Throats: On Retail Clinics and Urgent Care“
  3. How far would you go for medical care? Would you go all the way to Thailand? Morgan Spurlock, the guy behind “Supersize Me,” now has a CNN series called “Inside Man,” where he looked at the rise of medical tourism in the face of rising U.S. healthcare costs. “Surf, sand … and surgery? Inside the world of medical tourism“
  4. Our friends at Symplur, the healthcare data visualization gurus, asked and answered a great question on their blog recently about patient communities and New Year’s goals. Christopher Snider posted this, and it’s a great read. “Looking Forward to Looking Back – How Do Patient Communities Approach New Year’s Goals?“
  5. Connected health and quantified-self have gotten a lot of ink, both physical and virtual, over the last few years. With the rise of self-tracking tools, from Fitbit to AliveCor to Scanadu, patients with chronic conditions and early-adopter tech mavens are monitoring their physical status with more and more granularity. Can connected health penetrate the “actual medical practice” membrane? Here’s a list from The Doctor Weighs In blog: “Five Accelerants to the Adoption of Connected Health“
  6. Because we mentioned humor, and Gomerblog, and ZDoggMD in our intro, here’s a three-fer: a post about Turntable Health, ZDoggMD’s new comprehensive care clinic in Las Vegas, on Gomerblog. It’s not a new post, it dates from May of 2014, but it is definitely worth a read for the laughs. NOTE: this post is SATIRE. “Big Pharma and Mega Hospitals ‘Scared Beyond Belief’ of Tiny Las Vegas Health Clinic“

That’s it for today – check back tomorrow, we’ll have a fresh list of must-reads for you!