The Curious Engineer

The Health Care Blog

2003–2004

711 posts

2005–2006 →

2004 488

December 2004

  1. BLOGGING: Christmas & Holiday blogging
  2. PHARMA: Industry Veteran on Don Johnson’s ideas on saving Merck
  3. BlOGS: New health care blogs
  4. PHARMA: Don Johnson on how to save Merck
  5. POLICY: Medicare dis-Advantaged?
  6. QUALITY: Is pre-chemo testing the future? by Harvey Frey MD
  7. THCB UPDATE
  8. BLOGS: Italics for anyone?
  9. PHARMA: Fee-based distribution
  10. HOSPITALS/POLICY: Matt Quinn on California staffing ratios contention
  11. QUALITY: Gordon Norman on DSM, Medicare and Oliver Stone & me
  12. POLICY/ETHICS: Follow up to the Dutch euthanasia issue
  13. BLOGS: Other stuff that’s worth a look
  14. POLICY: Medpundit totally misreads the euthanasia debate in Europe, and is incredibly insulting to boot.
  15. PHARMA: Overdosed America’s Abramson on CSPAN
  16. QUALITY: Medicare DSM demos are awarded, but not to providers
  17. POLITICS/TECHNOLOGY: A photo essay of unnecessary carnage
  18. HOSPITALS; King/Drew–putting a failure in context. Part 1
  19. HOSPITALS: More on King-Drew
  20. TECHNOLOGY: J&J continues winning diversification strategy
  21. HOSPITALS: Trying to put King/Drew in context
  22. PHARMA: Cynical thought for the day
  23. PHARMA: Atlas is not impressed by the Illinois reimporter
  24. QUALITY: Wachter agrees that patient safety is only marginally improving
  25. POLITICS: Prop. 72 actually did lose
  26. POLICY/INDUSTRY: Costs — The rate of increase decreases, but not enough to spoil everyone’s party, with UPDATE
  27. POLITICS: Has Prop 72 won?
  28. HEALTH PLANS: Georgia names its price and Wellpoint/Anthem merger is done

November 2004

  1. TECHNOLOGY: Dan Weintraub on the HIT world
  2. QUALITY: Millenson on Pay For Perfomance
  3. HEALTH PLANS: United swallows Definity
  4. QUALITY: Five years on from To Err Is Human
  5. HAPPY THANKSGIVING
  6. TECHNOLOGY: The UK’s EMR project is not apples to apples, with UPDATE
  7. BLOGS: Grand rounds
  8. PHARMA/POLICY/QUALITY: A deluge, sorry
  9. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran on drug patents and who pays for research
  10. POLICY: A Blue state Republican talks about expanding healthcare access
  11. TECHNOLOGY: Molly Coye’s call for action
  12. Sam Karp, CIO California Health
  13. TECHNOLGY/QUALITY: Carolyn Clancy says DSM works; Sam Ho agrees; Arnie Milstein says that we’ll cut costs just in time
  14. Suneel Rattan, Health Hero Network
  15. Laura Jantos, EMR implementation whiz
  16. QUALITY: More from HIT conference (Friday)
  17. POLICY: What will turn the tide? by Atlas
  18. PHARMA: Is Crestor the next Vioxx?
  19. TECHNOLOGY/QUALITY: A quickie on the DSM companies panel
  20. QUALITY/TECHNOLOGY: Pay for performance in California
  21. TECHNOLOGY/QUALITY: DSM and IT at the HIT meeting
  22. TECHNOLOGY: More HIT notes — barriers to EHR acquisition session
  23. TECHNOLOGY: More on HIT
  24. TECHNOLOGY: Live blogging from HIT conference
  25. POLICY: Bush Plans Tax Code Overhaul, with UPDATE
  26. TECHNOLOGY: HIT meeting today
  27. POLICY: Jonathan Cohn on the politics of real reform
  28. QUALITY: Holding the line on 5 year anniversaries!
  29. BLOGGING: BloggerCon session on Medblogging is up
  30. POLICY/POLITICS: What might turn the tide?
  31. PHARMA: Viagra wild thing ad no-noed
  32. BLOGS: Grand Rounds
  33. QUALITY: Which parts of DSM do make sense, by Gordon Norman
  34. PHARMA: 60 Minutes piles in more on Vioxx
  35. QUALITY: DSM– Convincing anyone? Maybe. Improving health? Probably. Saving money? Probably not. (with clarifying UPDATE)
  36. POLICY/HEALTH PLANS/HOSPITALS/PHARMA: Wall Street roundtable on the industry
  37. QUALITY/POLICY: Paying people to stay thin? by Anonymous
  38. PHARMA: Vioxx not an anomally, by John Abramson MD
  39. QUALITY: NEJM sneaks in early about “To Err is Human” plus 5
  40. QUALITY: Personal health ecologies as the future of DSM.
  41. POLITICS: A reply to my wanted ad
  42. HEALTH PLANS: Looks like Anthem/Wellpoint has ground Garamendi down, with UPDATE
  43. PHARMA/QUALITY: More in chemo sensitivity testing, by Larry Weisenthal
  44. POLICY: The real costs of uninsurance, by Anonymous , with quick UPDATE
  45. PHARMA/PHYSICIANS: Changing the Identity of Medical Oncology Under Medicare, by Gregory D. Pawelski
  46. POLITICS: Election winners and losers
  47. BLOGS: Blogger bloggered & quick Wanted ad
  48. POLITICS: Wake me up in 4 years
  49. PHARMA: Merck knew more than it let on about Vioxx
  50. POLITICS: After today, it may be over
  51. POLITICS: It’s a dead heat
  52. POLICY/POLITICS: Prop 72, sorry couldn’t stop myself!

October 2004

  1. INTERNATIONAL: US primary care looks poor in comparison to other nations
  2. BLOGS: Self-referential ego-surfing
  3. POLICY: One more time around on the VA issue, by Dave Moskowitz
  4. POLITICS: My (almost) last word on Prop 72
  5. POLICY: Interesting book out on Soc Sec, Titles 18 & 19
  6. TECHNOLOGY: Stent Wars
  7. TECHNOLOGY: Social networking meets health care
  8. POLICY: Will infrastructure issues scuttle the VA idea?
  9. INTERNATIONAL/PHYSICIANS: American doctors running off — to the UK!?
  10. PHARMA/POLICY: A research and policy institute for the “third way”
  11. POLICY: The VA as a solution for the uninsured, by Dave Moskowitz
  12. POLITICS: Dateline Nevada
  13. POLICY: Uwe’s words of wisdom
  14. PHARMA: The New Yorker , Industry Veteran and Atlas on pharma pricing and where the industry goes next.
  15. HEALTH PLANS: Did Eliot Spitzer short the health plan index?
  16. POLITICS: “Movable” voters in the swing states care about health care
  17. BLOGS: A Kosalanche hits THCB
  18. POLICY: Medicare and admin costs, again.
  19. PHARMA: Doctor says drug firms ghost write medical articles, with UPDATE from The Industry Veteran
  20. POLICY: Why dishonesty rules in our health care “debate”
  21. POLICY/PHARMA: Ross on the flu vaccine
  22. POLICY: An economist’s forecasts Prop 72’s impact, so it’s incomplete and lacks common sense, with UPDATE
  23. TECHNOLOGY: Huge report on mobile solutions from BCC Consulting
  24. PHARMA: Big pharma spends more on dividends than research? with UPDATE
  25. POLICY: Of unbiased Republicans, Thorpe, Kerry and uninsured kids, with UPDATE
  26. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran takes THCB to task for its wishy-washy moderation
  27. POLICY: No on Prop. 72 ad busted for faking it
  28. POLICY: HSAs Redux, and “A short response on a short bit of logic”
  29. QUALITY: Wennberg’s Dartmouth team shows enormous variation even in the “best hospitals”
  30. PHARMA: Marcia Angell rips big Pharma a new one
  31. PHARMA FUNNY: Angry Actresses march on Washington over Botox rationing
  32. TECHNOLOGY: Very short memories in the PHR space
  33. HOSPITALS: A southern hospitals CEO roundtable, with UPDATE
  34. HEALTH PLANS: Destiny Health’s survey says 8 out of 10 Health Plan CEOs said their cats customers preferred it
  35. PHARMA: Reimportation, corporate villains and the likely outcomes
  36. POLITICS: Real survey companies know that it’s a tie
  37. PHARMA: Everything you ever wanted to know about Vioxx but were too afraid to ask

September 2004

  1. PHARMA: Merck withdraws Vioxx
  2. POLICY: Lifespan crisis hits supersize America
  3. POLICY/HEALTH PLANS/PROVIDERS: Michael Porter sinking into the healthcare quagmire
  4. POLICY: Kerry v Bush, the AMA News’ take
  5. POLICY/HEALTH PLANS/PHARMA: The Public Health Press on the Medicareless — Formu-hilarity
  6. POLITICS: Prop 72, Califorina’s pay or play, looks good for now
  7. POLITICS: Health Care in the 2004 Presidential Election
  8. QUALITY: Patient safety — we’re still waiting and getting impatient
  9. BLOGS: Blogger boggered?
  10. POLICY/PHARMA: “Producers” comment on how much we should spend on health care.
  11. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Plans challenge Commonwealth Fund position on CDHPs
  12. QUALITY: Comprehensive ‘pay for performance’ article
  13. THCB PLUG: Upcoming Michael Porter event
  14. THCB NOTES: FierceHealthcare Newsletter
  15. QUALITY: More problems at Tenet sub-contractor
  16. POLITICS/POLICY: Harris Poll Shows Tight Presidential Race
  17. POLICY/POLITICS: Which Californians care about Prop 72?
  18. PHARMA: The debate on R & D spending, with UPDATE
  19. POLICY/POLITICS: My quick view on the politics of Medicare in the campaign, with brief UPDATE
  20. CHARITY: Grenada hurricane victims appeal
  21. QUALITY/POLICY/PHARMA: More on the costs of chemo
  22. HEALTH PLANS: In Defense of HSAs, by Langdon Alger
  23. POLICY: Rebuttal and rebuke from The Industry Veteran on free (or not) markets and (legal) drug trade
  24. POLICY: International comparisons, or “How does Japan do it?” revisited
  25. PHARMA/POLICY: A couple of views on single payer and reimportation, by Terry Nugent & Joe Crea
  26. QUALITY/PHARMA: Chemosensitivity Testing and its relation to the Chemotherapy Drug Concession, by Greg Pawelski
  27. PHARMA: I guess GSK’s not reading THCB
  28. HEALTH PLANS: The power of THCB! Ooh, can’t you just feel it…
  29. QUALITY: Betsy Lehman redux, patient safety crisis continues
  30. POLICY: The Wall Street Journal likes HSAs in theory, but they’re in trouble in practice
  31. POLICY: Great Flash animation on Single Payer
  32. PHARMA: The real debate behind reimportation
  33. QUALITY: DSM–Alive and kicking?

August 2004

  1. POLICY: Americans apparently prefer Canadian healthcare
  2. HEALTH PLANS: Profits up to $10 Billion in 2003, doubling 2002’s level
  3. BLOGS: The Bloviator Is Dead, Long Live The Public Health Press
  4. HEALTH PLANS: Is Kaiser thriving? Probably!
  5. HEALTH PLANS: KFF report on the public’s view on managed care
  6. POLICY: Krugman on why Canadian business likes single payer
  7. PHARMA: Reimportation radio show, with late afternoon UPDATE
  8. PHARMA: Drug reps being kept out of clinics
  9. PHARMA: Vioxx study hits Merck stock price
  10. POLICY: Uninsurance–It’s 45 million now
  11. HEALTH PLANS: The Wellpoint-Anthem merger saga goes on
  12. PHARMA/POLICY: Oncologists, chemo and the new reality, by Gregory Pawelski
  13. POLICY: A long and excellent series on health insurance, and a good review of the Kerry plan, with UPDATE
  14. TECHNOLOGY: Patient Physician email redux
  15. HEALTH PLANS: Group Health strike–ahh the irony
  16. QUALITY: Medcal safety–not Millenson! Instead an interview with a real doctor!
  17. HOSPITALS/PROVIDERS: GPOs under investigation
  18. POLICY: Watching the politics of MMA
  19. HOSPITALS/PROVIDERS: Hospitalists save money
  20. QUALITY: Pain, its treatment and hope amongst the insanity
  21. TECHNOLOGY: Stent sales go begging for J&J and Boston Scientific, with UPDATE
  22. POLICY: Apparently health care costs real money (and yes, more on CDHPs)
  23. PHARMA: A great look at how a prescription drug gets marketed
  24. PHARMA: Is this the best they’ve got?
  25. TECHNOLOGY: Forrester ‘s “Healthcare Unbound” gets some backing from NEHI
  26. QUALITY: The VA, Managed Care and care management
  27. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: CDHPs, HSAs, and what’s wrong with employer-provided insurance? With contribution from Atlas
  28. TECHNOLOGY: Personal Health Records (or the story of my continuing poverty…)
  29. BLOGS: Off-topic, THCB predicts future! Craigslist….
  30. PHARMA: More on the ethics of reimportation and all that, with new contributor Atlas and a cameo from The Veteran
  31. TECHNOLOGY: New Health Care IT booster groups popping up all over the place (and news from Manhattan on eRx)
  32. QUALITY QUICKIE: Seniors on the wrong drugs–Medicare & doctors on the wrong incentive plan
  33. BLOGS: Happy 1st Birthday to THCB and Hi to Genny
  34. PHARMA: A riposte to my crack about pharma, software and auto R&D, by Terry Nugent
  35. HEALTH PLANS: HIAA, while not existing anymore, beats drum for CDHPs–while its successor AHIP misrepresents KFF study about individual insurance
  36. POLICY: Seniors continue to oppose new Medicare law. With UPDATE
  37. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran on Polypharmacy in Psychiatry
  38. PHARMA: Marcia Angell makes more waves
  39. EMPLOYERS: Halliburton sues retirees on health coverage
  40. PHARMA: A bizzaro world view on reimportation
  41. QUALITY: Millenson demands a shock to the system
  42. PBMs: Spitzer puts the boot into Express Scripts
  43. PHARMA: A tawdry little tale of big money and double dipping
  44. TECHNOLOGY: More potential problems for Boston Scientific’s Stent
  45. POLICY: HSC confirms that employer-based insurance fell during recession
  46. POLICY/POLITICS: Kerry’s post-convention bounce
  47. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: More information on the individual insurance market, and yes it still sucks!
  48. POLICY: The Industry Veteran on negative advertising, the ethics of clinicians, and is THCB more boring than the Democratic Convention?
  49. BLOGS/INTERVIEW: Interview with yours truly at Managed Care magazine

July 2004

  1. PHYSICIANS: Better up your political contributions, AMA
  2. POLICY: Health care at the Convention, or Jones the Policy Wonk explains how I’ve got my head up my ass it’s been used politically and why.
  3. PBMs: Express Scripts stock battered by multi-state probe
  4. POLICY: Wonks only please…Uwe’s new theorem
  5. BLOGS: The power of Craig’s “List”
  6. PBMs: Sorry, got it all wrong, PBMs save money
  7. TECHNOLOGY: EMR use up among family docs
  8. POLICY/POLITICS: Blogging the convention
  9. POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: CDHPs–Employers skeptical, actuaries doubtful.
  10. TECHNOLOGY: Quick clinics as part of the Walmartization of health care
  11. HEALTH PLANS: Wellpoint stock plummet insanity shock horror probe!
  12. TECHNOLOGY: JSK on the Health care IT Federal 10 year plan
  13. HEALTH PLANS/PHARMA: Politics is all there is….
  14. W,F&A: Bizarre big fraud in southern California
  15. TECHNOLOGY: The Ten Year Plan — American health care IT goes Stalinist
  16. PBMs: Something old and something new
  17. TECHNOLOGY: Are consumer health plan web sites finally taking off? Matt Quinn doubts it!
  18. TECHNOLOGY: Buyer beware when biotech doesn’t live up to its promise
  19. BLOGS: Apology to Brian Towell
  20. POLICY: Free Market Medical Care, by Andy Ribner, M.D.
  21. POLICY: In Florida not all the nuts grow on trees
  22. TECHNOLOGY: Boston Scientific recalls thousands of heart stents
  23. PHARMA: Marcia Angell’s frontal assault on big pharma
  24. PHARMA: Free trade and importation redux
  25. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran responds to “mountebank” Brian Towell
  26. BLOGS: The Bloviator is back
  27. PHARMA: When is a kickback not a kickback?
  28. POLICY: Cuts in Drug Benefits for Retirees
  29. QUALITY: More ammo for the malpractice debate
  30. PHARMA: The Democrats’ favorite Republican falls off PhRMA’s Christmas card list
  31. PHARMA: More on the future of pharma marketing, by Brian Towell
  32. PHARMA/INTERNATIONAL: UPDATE ON Free trade pact with the Aussies may mess up reimportation
  33. QUALITY: Do we need national standards for pay-for-performance?
  34. POLICY: A little more about physician supply
  35. QUALITY/POLICY: Who’s telling the truth in the malpractice debate?
  36. PHARMA: More on the state of pharma marketing, by The Industry Veteran
  37. POLICY: Toto, we’re back in Kansas and it’s 1991 again.
  38. PHARMA: Even The New York Times has noticed that pharma has PR problems
  39. QUALITY: The nursing shortage, with UPDATE from The Industry Veteran
  40. PHARMA: More on big pharma’s marketing and sales strategies
  41. POLICY: Scully guilty, but not legally, with BRIEF UPDATE
  42. QUALITY: Hospitals remain dangerous, but talking about the issue makes them safer
  43. TECHNOLOGY: Boston Scientific recalls stents
  44. TECHNOLOGY: Fuel Cells That Keep Going And Going…
  45. HEALTH PLANS: Wellpoint merger wandering through California
  46. INDUSTRY: Is nothing sacred? Cardinal admits sinning
  47. POLICY: One in five households struggle with medical debt

June 2004

  1. HOSPITALS: Pity poor ex-Tenet CEO Barbakow
  2. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran and friends blame (mostly) the doctors
  3. INTERNATIONAL: Canada’s Liberal Party Loses Majority
  4. PHARMA: Hands – cookie jar – once more a connection
  5. INDUSTRY: JSK on transparency in health care
  6. PHARMA: Big pharma’s reputation continues to sink, and managed care stays low
  7. PBMs: Medco layoffs
  8. HEALTH PLANS: Jones the Policy Wonk on the Supremes decision in favor of HMOs
  9. POLICY: Perpetual war hits military families hard
  10. TECHNOLOGY: ePrescribing facing tough going
  11. HEALTH PLANS: More tittle-tattle about WellPoint
  12. PHARMA: Statin redux as FDA issues new advisory for Crestor
  13. POLICY: Another view on the uninsured numbers tells the same story
  14. TECHNOLOGY: How much is really being spent on IT?
  15. PHARMA/TECHNOLOGY: Picking your statin to match your genotype
  16. HOSPITALS: Capital issues for hospitals
  17. HOSPITALS: Tenet borrows another $500 million
  18. HEALTH PLANS: Calpers to vote against Anthem-WellPoint merger
  19. TECHNOLOGY: Open Source EMRs, the AAFP, and CMS grants gone awry? (with apologies to George Lucas)
  20. QUALITY: The “White” Wall of Silence, by MATT QUINN
  21. HOSPITALS: Can Tenet really afford $1 billion to settle?
  22. PHARMA/POLICY: Kaiser FF reports on Seniors views on the Medicare bill
  23. POLICY: Craziness and deception from the College of Pediatricians
  24. PHARMA: A quick update on the GSK Paxil probe, by The Industry Veteran
  25. HEALTH PLANS: CDHPs saving money! Really? by MATT QUINN
  26. TECHNOLOGY: The state of play at America’s leading health systems
  27. TECHNOLOGY/QUALITY: The Digital Delivery System
  28. HOSPITALS: CalPERS v Sutter latest
  29. HEALTH PLANS: Wellpoint pay-out word is out, and the PR is not good, with UPDATE
  30. POLICY/SYSTEM: Costs increases slowing slightly
  31. HOSPITALS/POLICY: For-profits cost more, but that’s not the point!
  32. BLOGNOTES: Jeanne Scott’s website coming to life, and Bloglet
  33. INTERNATIONAL: Tight elections and the Canada/US comparison
  34. QUALITY: More evidence on the scantity of EBM
  35. PHARMA: The New York Times opinion on GSK and Spitzer
  36. TECHNOLOGY: Biomimetics
  37. POLICY/HEALTH PLANS: What’s the end game of all these premium rises?
  38. TECHNOLOGY: Has the time come for low-cost, standardized EMRs? by Matt Quinn
  39. TECHNOLOGY: WebMD probs continue
  40. PHARMA: Overdosing on ED
  41. PHARMA: The progress of reimportation, by The Industry Veteran
  42. POLICY: The war on pain doctors
  43. POLICY: A rural California MD comments on the CHCF studies

May 2004

  1. MEMORIAL DAY OFF
  2. POLICY: It sucks to be sick and poor in America
  3. TECHNOLOGY: Upping the ante on physician technology use
  4. QUALITY: Pay for Performance, Care Management and the scribblings of defunct economists
  5. PHARMA: Formularies–penny-wise, pound foolish.
  6. POLICY & HEALTH PLANS: Managed care costs Medicare more
  7. POLICY: Overview of HC system spending
  8. PHARMA: Bristol-Myers to Stop U.S. Sale of Serzone
  9. LIGHT RELIEF
  10. HOSPITALS: CalPERS drops 36 hospitals
  11. HOSPITALS: Straight Outa’ Compton, by MATT QUINN
  12. GENERAL: Round-up of few stories
  13. BLOG NOTES:
  14. INSURANCE: Premiums Rising, by MATT QUINN
  15. HOSPITALS: Tenet Update, by MATT QUINN
  16. PAYERS/HOSPITALS: The CalPERS and Sutter Saga Continues, by MATT QUINN
  17. HEALTH INSURANCE: ED Overcrowding – Addressing Supply & Demand, by MATT QUINN
  18. HOSPITALS: Soothing Kool-Aid Served at Tenet Shareholder Meeting, by MATT QUINN
  19. HOSPITALS: Gamesmanship to avert specialty hospital classification, By MATT QUINN
  20. HOSPITALS: Fraud–Hospital CEO Goes to Jail, by MATT QUINN
  21. TECHNOLOGY: Healthcare IT–Staying the Course (or Not) by MATT QUINN
  22. TECHNOLOGY: WebMD as victim of AMA activism? by MATT QUINN

April 2004

  1. TCHB NOTICE: Vacation time a-coming
  2. QUALITY/MALPRACTICE: Change malpractice system to patient safety system, say Pfizer doc
  3. HEALTH PLANS: As you may have guessed CDHP = Cost shifting
  4. QUALITY/PHARMA: A response to the obesity question
  5. HOPSITALS: Market shrugs off $117m Tenet loss
  6. PBMs: Medco settles state complaints, but pretty cheaply
  7. HEALTH PLANS: UnitedHealth to buy Oxford for $4.9 Bln
  8. TECHNOLOGY: A hint that not all is well with Boston Scientific’s Taxus stent
  9. QUALITY/PHARMA: Is the anti-obesity movement a con job?
  10. HEALTH PLANS/HOSPITALS: Quick left-coast round-up
  11. PHARMA: Drug re-import bill moving into the Senate
  12. BLOGGING: New Healthcare Blog
  13. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Real research on consumer-directed health plans
  14. TECHNOLOGY: Online consults growing (but slowly) in California
  15. PHARMA: TAP trial starts today, by MATT QUINN
  16. HEALTH PLANS: California Blue Cross now accepting Mexican ID
  17. QUALITY/MALPRACTICE: Questioning the accepted wisdom in Pennsylvania
  18. POLICY & BLOGGING: MedPundit on insurance and SARS
  19. HOSPITALS: HCA profits cut by lack of paying customers–Congress says “tough!”
  20. TECHNOLOGY: Stents’R’Us and hospitals are scared
  21. PERSONAL/MEDICAL RESEARCH: Apparently drinking beer causes gout
  22. HEALTH PLANS: United’s good news not good enough?
  23. TECHNOLOGY: Mittman on Cyborgs, Healthtech on Sensors
  24. TECHNOLOGY: ePrescribing and consumer medical records
  25. TECHNOLOGY: Virtual Colonoscopy not ready for prime time
  26. BLOGS & WRITING: New News Source
  27. PHARMA: Even the WSJ concedes the importation debate is lost
  28. TECHNOLOGY: Cyberchondria and “online-itis stalls”–Looking back at old forecasts
  29. TECHNOLOGY/QUALITY: CPOE not enough to prevent errors?
  30. HOSPITALS: You know your hospital bill is out of control when USA Today tells you so!
  31. HOSPITALS: Tenet losing independents off the board
  32. PHARMA: Oncology drugs seeing effect of payment changes
  33. POLICY: News just in…..Bill Frist is connected to a hospital chain
  34. QUALITY: Are we getting our money’s worth?
  35. TECHNOLOGY: Boston Sci winning the latest battle in the Stent war
  36. HEALTH PLANS: Oops my bad, Aetna’s not overpaying Rowe after all
  37. PHARMA: The re-import battle that will not die
  38. TECHNOLOGY: New York Times CPOE article
  39. POLICY: Health care lobbyists pay up, get their money’s worth
  40. HOSPITALS: Emergency departments and how hospitals make money. With UPDATE late afternoon 4/6/04
  41. INDUSTRY: Consolidation in the health care sector
  42. PERSONAL/QUALITY: Knee surgery update
  43. PERSONAL: Back on the slab
  44. QUALITY: Malpractice Jury-Award Median Up Slightly
  45. POLICY/QUALITY: Antibiotics overuse as an emerging public health threat
  46. POLICY: Just one more poll showing that Medicare bill is a loser for Bush
  47. CONSUMERS/INDUSTRY: Reggie’s back and the intellectual slop goes on

March 2004

  1. PHARMA: How big a deal is cross-border Internet pharmacy?
  2. TECHNOLOGY/QUALITY: Physician use of point of care clinical information
  3. PHARMA: Spitzer looks into Norvir pricing controversy
  4. PHARMA & TECHNOLOGY: JSK on scenario planning, Mittman on forecasting
  5. PHARMA: Pharma stocks–Apparently it’s all Kerry’s fault
  6. POLICY: Redefining the underserved–1 in 8 Americans have no access to basic care
  7. HEALTH PLANS: It’s a good year for the Rowe(ses)
  8. HOSPITALS: Another Tenet settlement, but more coming
  9. INDUSTRY: PPM evolution–US Oncology to be bought
  10. BLOGGING: Ross The Bloviator is back
  11. PHARMA: The Motley Fool on drug costs, here and there
  12. HOSPITALS: Scully shorts Medcath? Well not exactly but….
  13. INTERNATIONAL: . . . . and you thought doctors were difficult in the US
  14. POLICY: HSAs here and there, in theory and in practice. (with UPDATED link later afternoon Monday)
  15. INDUSTRY/POLICY: Humphrey Taylor on the big debates in healthcare’s future
  16. PHARMA: Drug pricing here and there II: The Industry Veteran is not impressed with Levinson’s logic
  17. POLICY/PHARMA: JSK on Medicare
  18. POLICY/PHARMA: Thompson prepares to cave on drug imports
  19. TECHNOLOGY: Backdoor man
  20. HOSPITALS: Tenet numbers look, er, bad?
  21. POLICY: Saving Private Ryan
  22. POLICY: The uninsured
  23. PHARMA: West Virginia joins the fray
  24. EDITORIAL: Ignoring science
  25. PHARMA: 60 Minutes helps put the boot into Pharma
  26. PHARMA: Drug profiteering claims denied again….but not here this time
  27. PHARMA/PHYSICIANS: More on oncology drugs
  28. PHARMA: PBM plays tough with A-Z’s Crestor
  29. PHARMA/PHYSICIANS: The Continuing Saga of Injectable Drugs, from Matt Quinn , with UPDATE
  30. HOSPITALS: When you’re wrong you’re wrong–Tenet shares fall
  31. QUALITY/PHYSICIANS: I disappoint the Industry Veteran , with UPDATE
  32. HEALTH PLANS: Look who’s getting into the business
  33. test post
  34. POLICY: Enthoven’s lament, with UPDATE
  35. QUALITY: Online rankings rankle hospitals
  36. TECHNOLOGY: Stents now movin on up, with UPDATE
  37. PHARMA: HHS’ Thompson reads THCB
  38. INDUSTRY: Scrushy goes on TV with Roy Moore to proclaim innocence
  39. QUALITY/PHYSICIANS: When war is declared it’s hard to find a middle way
  40. TECHNOLOGY: Drug-eluting stents take off–With late afternoon UPDATE
  41. TECHNOLOGY: Data on physician to patient eVisits
  42. POLICY: Harris Interactive’s take on 2004
  43. QUALITY: Matt Quinn on why we “need” malpractice litigation
  44. PHARMA: Drug re-importation bill reintroduced
  45. POLICY: S. Cal grocery strike is over, but the health issue rumbles on
  46. POLICY/PHARMA: Medicare polls galore
  47. PHARMA: Drug Prices here and there

February 2004

  1. QUALITY/CONSUMERISM: Treating patients like, well, people?
  2. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Consumer directed health plans
  3. TECHNOLOGY: JSK’s HIMSS review
  4. HOSPITALS: Tenet….and now the good news!
  5. PHARMA: Drugs cost too much but they work
  6. POLICY: Abramovitz on Why Consumer-Directed Health Care Won’t Fly
  7. QUALITY QUICKIE: Interview with Robert Wacther
  8. TECHNOLOGY: El Camino vies to be Hospital of the future once more
  9. HOSPITALS/POLICY: Hospitals and the uninsured–a discount’s OK
  10. TECHNOLOGY: CHW goes with Cerner
  11. PHARMA: Prescription drug sales over $216 billion in 2003
  12. POLICY: Quick update to the Policy Wonk ‘s Medicaid piece from Ross the Bloviator
  13. PHARMA: Big Pharma influencing formulary decision makers
  14. PHARMA: Headline news–Seniors with better drug coverage use more, and more expensive drugs
  15. PBMs: Zero sum big swings in the PBM world
  16. TECHNOLOGY: Getting the data from the machine that goes “ping” into the EMR
  17. PHARMA : Big investor unloads some AstraZeneca shares
  18. TECHNOLOGY: Thompson wants to use Medicare fraud money for IT
  19. TECHNOLOLGY: Kaiser’s having an Epic time, dude!
  20. POLICY: Medicaid used as a way for the Feds to batter the states? with UPDATE Tues afternoon
  21. PHARMA: The Pharma company’s fear of the consumer
  22. POLICY: Medicare costs and HMO enrollment, with long UPDATE
  23. PBMs: These are the good-old days for the PBMs
  24. QUALITY QUICKIE: Prescribing wrong drugs happens too often
  25. HOSPITALS: Is HCA having a Tenet-like moment?
  26. PHARMA: Business, Science Clash at Medical Journal
  27. TECHNOLOGY: XML as another savior for clinical computing?
  28. HOSPITALS: Emergency rooms suffering from crowding, non-emergent patients and losing specialty coverage
  29. TECHNOLOGY: PDA use by pediatricians
  30. POLICY/EMPLOYERS: All you need to know about health care is in this article
  31. GENERAL: Monday morning grab-bag
  32. TECHNOLOGY: Spending and adoption in the clinical IT market — Is the S curve getting up off the floor?
  33. INDUSTRY: Medicare reporting may add to Tenet’s woes.
  34. POLICY: Too many physicians? UPDATE midday Friday
  35. TECHNOLOGY: Boston Scientific’s new stent near market
  36. PHARMA: Public Image continues to go downhill
  37. INTERNATIONAL: Money’s tight at the NHS?
  38. PHARMA/GENOMICS: Incyte throws in the towel
  39. HEALTH PLANS: For-profit conversions don’t really leave anyone Blue
  40. Ouch! Internal Bleeding exposes medical errors
  41. BLOGS: Congratulations, Don
  42. QUALITY QUICKIE: EBM goes mainstream (sort of)
  43. POLICY: Health savings accounts-the likely impact
  44. TECHNOLOGY: Pain Control by virtual reality

January 2004

  1. TECHNOLOGY: Problems for medical groups working with WebMD
  2. INDUSTRY/QUALITY: Better Health Technologies DSM e-Newsletter
  3. PHARMA/PHYSICIANS: The oncologists dilemma, by Matt Quinn
  4. PHARMA: Love the sin, hate the sinner?
  5. POLICY/INDUSTRY: The value of health care–interesting issue, but appalling analysis
  6. TECHNOLOGY: We’re all agreed about motherhood and apple pie
  7. POLICY: Health care becomes like foreign policy
  8. POLICY: California docs ambivalent about SB2
  9. PHARMA: Sanofi Bids 48 Billion Euros for Aventis
  10. INDUSTRY: Tenet in trouble again
  11. PHARMA: Price controls and foreign imports–European style
  12. POLICY: France faces health budget crunch
  13. TECHNOLOGY: Pew reports on wired Californians
  14. QUALITY QUICKIE: Letter from England, (with UPDATE Tues)
  15. TECHNOLOGY: IT for EBM
  16. INDUSTRY: Healthsouth soap opera reaches ridiculous stage
  17. PBMs: More litigation attacks on PBM behavior, leads to longer term doubts.
  18. POLICY: Notes from my wonderings on Medicare
  19. PHYSICIANS/INDUSTRY: Notes from my wanderings on EBM and malpractice
  20. NOTE: Lite today
  21. TECHNOLOGY: Jane Sarasohn Kahn’s top ehealth predictions for 2004
  22. POLICY: 1991 redux? NY Times discovers health care crisis, Democrats response to it
  23. PHARMA/POLICY: New word for the day
  24. INDUSTRY: Malpractice & EBM, a modest proposal from Matt Quinn
  25. PHARMA: Potential blockbuster drugs to watch in ’04
  26. PHARMA: Big pharma gets aggressive over pricing
  27. QUALIITY: Says here that Doctors read the news!
  28. PHARMA: GSK says to contest $5.2 billion U.S. tax claim
  29. QUALITY: IOM meeting focuses on asthma, other key areas while Berwick puts it to the sword
  30. QUALITY: More on malpractice
  31. INDUSTRY: Boutique medicine emerges as an on & off-line niche. Will it be turbocharged by HSAs?
  32. INDUSTRY: Malpractice at Wampum, with UPDATE
  33. QUALITY: Appendix surgery, too often needless but inevitably so?
  34. HEALTH PLANS: Goldman analyst reads THCB, BusinessWord
  35. TECHNOLOGY: CSC, Accenture Win Regional Pacts for NHS System
  36. PHARMA: Drug stocks low risk in the new year?
  37. HAPPY NEW YEAR
  38. HAPPY NEW YEAR
  39. INTERNATIONAL/INDUSTRY–British Surgeons’ Private Fees Highest in World, really?

2003 223

December 2003

  1. TECHNOLOGY: Paying for online consults
  2. PHARMA: The Cholesterol Wars
  3. HEALTH PLANS: HSAs and Doctors Letting Patients Skip Co-Pays
  4. THANKYOU
  5. POLICY: Medicaid as the vehicle for Republican health reform?
  6. POLICY: First decent Medicare Bill polling data
  7. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Why is the individual market such a mess?
  8. POLICY: Dean and Clark’s health care plans don’t amount to much
  9. PBMs: Even the New York Times notices rebate deals are a little odd
  10. INDUSTRY: Forrester’s predictions for the year ahead
  11. HEALTH PLANS/POLICY: Health insurance for individuals is a big mess, and HSAs won’t help, probably.
  12. PHARMA: NEJM reports that combo therapy works for BPH
  13. PHARMA: The Industry Veteran takes on Crestor and the Anonymous Cardiologist
  14. PHARMA: More on Pfizer from another new source.
  15. QUALITY/PHARMA: Getting patients to take the right meds is not easy
  16. PHARMA: Yet more views on Crestor v Lipitor v The Lancet
  17. PHARMA: Lucky old MedImmune…
  18. POLICY: Inciting trouble! RangelMD, Steffi and flying off the handle!
  19. POLICY: Private health in the UK muddies the American waters.
  20. PHARMA: Pfizer Begins Limits on Sales to Canada
  21. PHARMA: Canadians concerned about tail wagging dog
  22. QUALITY: Why doesn’t evidence-based medicine happen in practice? Now with UPDATE
  23. INDUSTRY: First Healthsouth sentence is a juicy one
  24. BLOGS: Health care blogs in the press
  25. INDUSTRY: HMA fights back
  26. TECHNOLOGY: HIMSS’ view of what’s hidden in the Medicare bill & the UK really starts up
  27. PHARMA: $1.7bn R&D for a new drug? Surely you jest, Bainies?
  28. TECHNOLOGY: Mass. docs say one thing do another
  29. QUALITY: Why are we caring about medical errors now?
  30. POLICY: Bush signs Medicare bill, declares victory, goes home
  31. INDUSTRY: HMA stock down 10%
  32. PHARMA: More on A-Z, Crestor, statins, heart disease . . .
  33. FRIDAY FUNNY: Triumph
  34. QUALITY: Paying for medical excellence (and I do mean “paying”)
  35. INDUSTRY/POLICY: It’s 1990 again, and the autos want a solution for health care
  36. PHARMA: More on Crestor and Astra-Zeneca
  37. PHARMA/PBM: Three tier formularies work
  38. PHARMA: Lipitor v Crestor
  39. TECHNOLOGY: PSA tests unnecessary, but it’s typical for Medicare?
  40. INDUSTRY: Employer based health insurance–pay more, get less
  41. POLICY: Health Care Costs 101
  42. PHARMA: The AMA goes out on a limb on DTC ads
  43. INDUSTRY: Tenet suit alive again
  44. INDUSTRY: Tom Scully’s had enough
  45. QUALITY: Helmet doesn’t save young skier
  46. INDUSTRY: Who’ll make money in Medicare?
  47. QUALITY: Kaiser cheaper and better than the NHS, says NHS
  48. PHARMA: Statins good but no better than aspirin?
  49. TECHNOLOGY: Medicare Bill’s impact on ePrescribing
  50. INDUSTRY: Better fewer, but better!
  51. POLICY: Malpractice reforms–coming up next, maybe.
  52. POLICY: Medicare morning-after round-up, with update

November 2003

  1. POLICY: Medicare round-up around the blogsphere
  2. POLICY: Medicare bill passes
  3. TECHNOLOGY: eHealth update
  4. QUALITY QUICKIE: Ratings getting off ground, but humbled by technology
  5. POLICY: Medicare drug bill on its way to passage.
  6. INDUSTRY: Tenet watch
  7. POLICY: Medicare bill making it?
  8. PHARMA: Statin drugs may go OTC in UK next year and Crestor update
  9. TECHNOLOGY: eHealth update
  10. POLICY: Medicare Bill just gets past the house
  11. PHARMA: PhRMA members learn to play the game
  12. GENERAL HEALTHCARE: A run-down of interesting stuff
  13. PBMs: Caremark hiccup or It’s better to be lucky than good
  14. QUALITY QUICKIE: IOM calls for National EMR
  15. PHARMA: Update on COX-2 piece
  16. POLICY: The Medicare bill latest, or What does the failure of Medicare+Choice mean?
  17. POLICY: Fuchs’ proposal re-emerges
  18. QUALITY: Rise reported in medication errors
  19. TECHNOLOGY: Physician email and IT use
  20. PHARMA: New free-market ideas on counter-detailing
  21. POLICY: Just in case you thought the AARP endorsement sealed it…
  22. PHARMA/PBMs: Are Cox-2 inhibitors over-used?
  23. HEALTH PLANS: Kaiser CEO interview
  24. POLICY: Medicare agreement-is it a charade?
  25. PHARMA: Stock update and Medicare
  26. POLICY: More on uninsurance
  27. PBMs: No one’s listening to me?
  28. TECHNOLOGY/INDUSTRY: More Tenet-related scuttlebutt
  29. PBMs/POLICY: Will tentative Medicare deal stick?
  30. PHARMA: Lipitor stops build up of plaque
  31. POLICY: Canada Follow-up
  32. TECHNOLOGY: Two quickies
  33. INDUSTRY: I promised that I wouldn’t write about this!
  34. POLICY: Oh Canada
  35. POLICY: State budget crunches are real
  36. TECHNOLOGY: Patient-Physician email–Is it or is it not a “good thing”?
  37. TECHNOLOGY: My, does Trizetto have a good PR firm!
  38. POLICY: Medicare competition as a political football.
  39. TECHNOLOGY: More on technology, handhelds and synchronization
  40. PHARMA: Is it Nature or Nurture?
  41. INDUSTRY: New HealthSouth management blames Scrushy
  42. PHARMA: A little more info on Crestor
  43. DSM/TECHNOLOGY: Is DSM going the way of the PBM? (mostly) by Matt Quinn
  44. QUALITY QUICKIE: Are hospitals screwing over MD whistleblowers?
  45. TECHNOLOGY: Manhattan Research’s latest data on Cyberhealth
  46. INDUSTRY/TECHNOLOGY: Healthsouth wackiness hits new high
  47. POLICY: Oh Canada, implications for the US, part 1
  48. INDUSTRY: Aggressive collections by hospitals questioned.
  49. INDUSTRY: Can anything else go wrong at Tenet? Maybe…

October 2003

  1. PHARMA: Crestor & Statin slight update.
  2. POLICY: The uninsured–can Pfizer’s solution really help?
  3. PHARMA: The Lancet vs Crestor, or why I’m not on statins….yet!
  4. PHARMA: Pharma no longer a safe haven?
  5. PBMs: PBMs doing well while CaremarkRx/AdvancePCS’ deal is still uncertain
  6. PHARMA/HEALTH PLANS: Kaiser ends coverage for brands for seniors
  7. TECHNOLOGY: More on the Forrester HMO website report (with update)
  8. INDUSTRY: Merger Mania Monday
  9. TECHNOLOGY: Physicians like the Internet, eventually
  10. POLICY: User fees, employer-based insurance and why it won’t go away
  11. POLICY: Not enough doctors?
  12. POLICY: A very tentative deal on drug benefits
  13. POLICY: Other shoe dropping on employer-based health insurance
  14. POLICY: Medical privacy-what happens when private data leaves the country
  15. TECHNOLOGY: CPR use– review of state of the nation report from CHCF
  16. POLICY: Medpundit’s concerns–too much coverage
  17. PHARMA: Does Lipitor cause memory loss?
  18. POLICY: Support for “Medicare-for-all” high, perhaps?
  19. PHARMA: US attorney cracking down on drug companies, by Matt Quinn
  20. POLICY: Medicare drug coverage issue hurts Bush
  21. INDUSTRY: Slow progress on HBOC indictments
  22. INDUSTRY: The ever-growing power of Wal-Mart
  23. INDUSTRY: Major healthcare M&A deals this year
  24. TECHNOLOGY: Physician IT use–New Zealand leads the way
  25. QUALITY QUICKIE: Design in HC–IDEO’s take
  26. INDUSTRY: Employer health costs moderating slightly
  27. HEALTH PLANS–Using OTC as a lever for pushing costs onto members
  28. QUALITY QUICKIE: Blue Cross’ Pay for Performance strategy
  29. TECHNOLOGY: Customer service on health plan web sites–Now I’m mad! (with new UPDATE )
  30. DISEASE MANAGEMENT: Health-e-technologies Initiative launches
  31. POLICY: Fraud in Medi-Cal, by Matt Quinn
  32. UPCOMING: Clinical wireless and PDA use
  33. TECHNOLOGY: What’s behind WebMD missing its numbers?
  34. INDUSTRY: Healthsouth–Scrushy speaks out
  35. POLICY & PHARMA: Opposing drug re-importation is political loser for big Pharma
  36. TECHNOLOGY: Tim Oren’s analysis of Sili valley development
  37. QUALITY QUICKIE: Another study on medical errors
  38. PHARMA: The orphan blockbuster costs $800m
  39. PHARMA: Follow up to the Pipeline Post
  40. TECHNOLOGY: Follow up to Wireless Vulnerability
  41. TECHNOLOGY: A surgeon as a futurist?
  42. QUALITY QUICKIE: Follow up to Kentucky nurse dismissals
  43. TECHNOLOGY: Dump the stent, have a by-pass
  44. PHARMA: The pipeline needs filling
  45. TECHNOLOGY: Wireless vulnerability
  46. QUALITY QUICKIE: Kentucky hospital dismisses 14 nurses
  47. QUALITY QUICKIE: Managed care works in California (according to Managed Care)
  48. POLICY: Pay or Play in California signed into law
  49. Friday Funny
  50. PBMs: The very, very begining of the end for PBMs?
  51. TECHNOLOGY: Health tech spending grows
  52. QUALITY QUICKIE: Practice Variation by Race
  53. TECHNOLOGY: New tools for e-detailing
  54. THE INDUSTRY: Price Discrimination lives–Only the poor pay full price in U.S. healthcare system
  55. Healthsouth Quickie
  56. More details on the Medco suit
  57. Did Astra Zeneca treat innocent MDs as Babes in the Wood? by Matt Quinn
  58. Political update on uninsurance story

September 2003

  1. Uninsurance: the numbers go way up.
  2. PBM quickie: Feds join lawsuit against Medco
  3. Schering Quickie
  4. The Bloviator and the uninsured
  5. Tenet’s counsel can’t stand the heat
  6. Why Wall Street hates health care services but doesn’t know it.
  7. More on the underbelly of pharma marketing: State of Mass sues drug makers
  8. More on nursing staff ratios, from Matt Quinn
  9. Very funny
  10. Tenet quickie: another arrest!
  11. Quality Quickie: Better educated nurses make the hospital safer?
  12. Technical Note: RSS Feed & thanks to other HC bloggers
  13. Technical Note:RSS
  14. Got the Blues? WellPoint keeps growing, so does Anthem
  15. Health care IT spend up sharply
  16. Medicaid–a bleak picture gets bleaker
  17. Cronkite sued: A view into the underbelly of drug marketing
  18. Employer-based health insurance is dissolving quite fast
  19. Drug Distributors: Bergen hits a snag?
  20. The NHS: IT in a mess?
  21. Technical snafu corrected
  22. Quality Quickie: NCQA’s annual report
  23. Drug imports–This is getting a little nasty
  24. Quality Quickie: the Docs resist pay for performance
  25. Stents: on the forefront of combining drugs and devices
  26. Health plans spend more on IT
  27. Medicare Rx & ePrescribing
  28. Pay or Play passes
  29. Nano-medicine, socialized medicine and innovation.
  30. Three strikes and you’re covered
  31. ePrescribing, PDAs and all that
  32. Quality Quickie- Blue Cross pays out
  33. California SB 2: Socialized medicine? Hardly.
  34. Is medical practice as clinical trial the tonic for the FDA and drug recalls?
  35. Quickie on Premiums
  36. Jeanne Scott looks at Single payer, MSAs and what employees want: I editorialize back
  37. Premiums keep on going up
  38. The perils of being mid-market big Pharma
  39. Cigna settles — The end of “ Managed Care ” in sight?
  40. Drug companies political contributions in the limelight
  41. WebMD – An old nugget gives indigestion
  42. Caremark/AdvancePCS Follow up
  43. I’m back alive online
  44. PBMs again — Caremark buys AdvancePCS
  45. Biotech re-emerges?

August 2003

  1. technical update
  2. Medicare bill: not any time soon
  3. Online detailing & prescribing: taking off at last?
  4. Quickies: PBM stocks
  5. Tenet reshuffles
  6. PBMs: Quick update on Medco
  7. Anti-clotting drugs: Not as good as angioplasty?
  8. Quality Quickie
  9. Drug margins under fire
  10. A Quality Quickie
  11. Performance-based pay in health care?
  12. PBMs face a little more mail-order trouble
  13. Quickie follow-up to Tenet story
  14. Jeanne Scott–an unabashed plug
  15. Quality
  16. Does Disease Management Work?
  17. Quickie 2: Pharma market research
  18. A few quickies 1: Single payer rears its head, again!
  19. The first post: What’s wrong with Medicare?

2005–2006 →