"participatory medicine" entries
Technical requirements for coordinating care in an Accountable Care Organization
Report from the field by Tony McCormick
The concept of an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) reflects modern hopes to improve medicine and cut costs in the health system. Tony McCormick, a pioneer in the integration of health care systems, describes what is needed on the ground to get doctors working together.
Highlights from the full video interview include:
- What an Accountable Care Organization is. [Discussed at the 00:19 mark]
- Biggest challenge in forming an ACO. [Discussed at the 01:23 mark]
- The various types of providers who need to exchange data. [Discussed at the 03:08 mark]
- Data formats and gaps in the market. [Discussed at the 03:58 mark]
- Uses for data in ACOs. [Discussed at the 5:39 mark]
- Problems with current Medicare funding and solutions through ACOs. [Discussed at the 7:50 mark]
You can view the entire conversation in the following video:
Five elements of reform that health providers would rather not hear about
Data as a platform, patient control, and partnerships are key
The quantum leap we need in patient care requires a complete overhaul of record-keeping and health IT. Leaders of the health care field know this and have been urging the changes on health care providers for years, but the providers are having trouble accepting the changes for several reasons.
What’s holding them back? Change certainly costs money, but the industry is already groaning its way through enormous paradigm shifts to meet current financial and regulatory climate, so the money might as well be directed to things that work. Training staff to handle patients differently is also difficult, but the staff on the floor of these institutions are experiencing burn-out and can be inspired by a new direction. The fundamental resistance seems to be expectations by health providers and their vendors about the control they need to conduct their business profitably.
Data in use from public health to personal fitness
HHS leadership should cause other organizations to open data.
Releasing public data can't fix the health care system by itself, but it provides tools as well as a model for data sharing.
Health reform leaders focus on patient access to records as key barrier
A convocation of trend-setters and organizational leaders in U.S. health care advised two government organizations driving health reform–the Office of the National Coordinator at the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and the Dept. of Veteran Affairs–how to push forward one of their top goals, patient engagement.
Report from HIMSS 12: wrap-up of the largest health IT conference
Recalcitrant instincts that depressed me and progressive suggestions that restored me. Details DICOM, Watson, and other interesting projects.
Report from HIMSS 2012: toward interoperability and openness
Two key pillars of the Stage 2 announcement are requirements to use the Direct for data exchange and HL7's consolidated CDA for the format.
Report from Open Source convention health track, 2011
OSCon shows that open source health care, although it hasn't broken into the mainstream yet, already inspires a passionate and highly competent community.
Preview of OSCON's health care track
OSCON's health care track will focus on health IT and health data.
This year we’re looking more at what you–patients, clinicians, and researchers–can do with the data you collect, while we continue our coverage of critical IT parts of the health care system.
OSCON Preview: Interview with Greg Biggers on DIY clinical trials
Opening up clinical trials can accelerate findings, reveal more data
of value to future trials, and–perhaps most important–make
participants feel really good about doing it. An interview with OSCon
speaker Greg Biggers.