The Incidental Economist

February 20, 2015 By e-Patient Dave Leave a Comment

Daily Digest: Open data, lone rangers, and more

Open data, sort of: In a post on the Health Affairs blog, some big brains from Brookings talk about how open data can help end over-treatment and high-cost treatment when science doesn’t support either one. In my opinion (which I shared in a comment on the post) they left somebody out in the data-share: patients. “How Open Data Can Reveal and Correct the Faults in Our Health System”

That which does not kill you … might still kill you: Dr. Aaron Carroll takes up the question of what are called the social determinants of health on his Healthcare Triage YouTube channel. Here’s a link to a post on The Incidental Economist with that video, and some other perspective on the topic. “How Long Are You Going to Live?”

Overwhelmed by over-treatment: One of our friends, Shannon Brownlee, is a globally known thought leader on ending medical overtreatment and shared decision making. From her view on the leadership team of the Lown Institute, she’s seen all the science on why overtreatment is still a pernicious issue in US healthcare. Her op-ed on the subject from DrKevinMD: “Fixing overtreatment: Lone rangers need not apply”

“Let Patients Help” – hospital board edition: In a piece on the NY Times Upshot blog, Austin Frakt says that hospital boards need to have more clinical expertise on them, so that treatment guidelines in the facility don’t wander off the evidence-based/quality-outcome reservation. We think he left out an important consideration: *patients* on hospital boards. “In Hospitals, Board Rooms Are as Important as Operating Rooms”

It’s not your funny bone, it’s your funny brain: It turns out that the old bromide about laughter being the best medicine might actually be true, at least in preventing age-related cognitive impairment. From Medical News Today: “Laughter may be the best medicine for age-related memory loss“

February 19, 2015 By e-Patient Dave Leave a Comment

Daily Digest: The West Wing, lab coats, and more

West Wing replay: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said something recently that had Aaron Carroll reflect on the West Wing over on The Incidental Economist blog. “When real life imitates ‘The West Wing,’ Surgeon General edition”

Less is more, health IT edition: On the HL7 Standards blog, Michelle Ronan Noteboom looks at the idea that too much is way too much when it comes to several things, including portals and medical treatment. “When Less Is More in Health IT”

You can get it at Lowe’s: Not hardware, although they do certainly have plenty of that. In this piece on the Health Affairs blog, Bob Ihrie and Alan Spiro take a look at how Lowe’s retooled their employee health insurance coverage with an eye on behavioral economics, trust, and relationship dynamics. “Engaging Health Care Consumers: the Lowe’s Experience”

Tattoo you: I (Casey) have been making the health IT event rounds lately as a patient voice on panels about health tech and patient engagement. Since I took a very out-there step related to my own health data, my appearance in the room can start some interesting conversations. An example, by Jim Tate in the HITECH Answers blog: “Patient Engagement: I Tattoo, Therefore I Am”

Lab coats – yes or no? A meta-analysis of the study data available on patient satisfaction scores and physician attire shows that patients are likely to rate a doctor who’s dressed professionally higher than one who isn’t. What’s your thinking there – would you prefer a tie (which can be an infection vector), or are scrubs OK with you? From Lena Weiner in HealthLeaders Media: “Physicians’ Attire Linked to Patient Satisfaction Rates”

From the This Will Never Get Old desk: A film director and his wife took to YouTube back in 2010 to illustrate the user experience when you’re a patient booking healthcare, setting that illustration in the context of air travel booking. The results were, and are, hilarious. The New Altons on YouTube: “If air travel worked like healthcare“

February 5, 2015 By e-Patient Dave 2 Comments

Daily Digest: Thursday, February 5, 2015

Hello, Thursday – here’s your dose of ePatient vitamin-D-for-Digest!

Social workers are superb participatory medicine practitioners. They get it. Here’s a post from The Social Work Helper with a nifty little virtuous-cycle quadrant image that outlines how, and why, the e-patient movement matters. “The E-Patient Movement”

Our friends over at The Incidental Economist noticed an item in the White House’s proposed budget related to the agricultural use of antibiotics. With the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, why are we still pumping antibiotics into cattle, pigs, and chickens to “promote their growth”? Modern farming practices promote growth just fine. The science of ag antibiotics, and why it should stop: “Agricultural antibiotics in the President’s budget request”

Cui bono (Latin, to whose benefit) in healthcare reform? Sarah Kliff has an interesting answer after studying insurance stock earnings reports. Health plans have far outstripped the S&P 500 for the last five years. “Health insurer stocks have crushed market averages since Obamacare passed”

Stephen Wilkins is a health policy thinker whose home on the web is something he calls the Mind the Gap Academy. He posted something on LinkedIn that is a pretty tight list of the Top 10 things a clinician can do to foster patient engagement. No tech required. “The Ten Commandments Of Patient Engagement”

The American College of Physicians (ACP) – the 2nd largest physician organization in the US, after the American Medical Association (AMA) – has jumped in to the pharma price fight with both feet. They announced this week that they were signing on to the Campaign for Sustainable RX Pricing. Here’s a piece from CNBC with the details: “Doctors group joins fight against ‘skyrocketing’ drug prices”

We love the internet. We wouldn’t be here talking to you if we didn’t. However, the Wild Wild Web can be a challenging place for advocates of all stripes. When I (Casey) came across a post on the Guardian’s site recently, it prompted me to put up a post about trolls on one of my own blogs. Here you go, weigh in with your thoughts. “Advocacy, trolls, and threats – oh my!”

Last but not least, our humor break for today, in which Dr. Grumpy ponders Zen and the art of cough drops. “Cough Drops“