Five Shovel-Ready Health Care Reforms

BRIAN KLEPPER and DAVID C. KIBBE

Microsoft Health Vault's leader Peter Neupert has a wonderful blog post that makes two important points really well. One message is that health care reform is about the outcomes, not the technology. We should think expansively about which technologies to invest in, based on the results we want to get.

The other message is the economic stimulus package is different than the reform effort. It is moving at hyper-speed through Congress, and it may be difficult for staffers and other advisors to sort through and incorporate what may seem like opposing Health IT views against a backdrop of traditional ideology and extremely forceful special interest lobbying.

Cognitive Dissonance and HHS' Position on Medicare Physician Data

Just as it launches a new program aimed at allowing local organization access to physician profiling information, HHS has blocked access to that same information by a national consumer group.

Here's a really classical example of a federal regulatory agency holding fast to two opposing ideas at the same time. I wonder what it means?

Last week HHS posted  an interesting notice announcing a new program that recognizes 14 (presumably) forward-thinking health care coalitions of providers, employers, insurers and consumers, which it refers to Chartered Value Exchanges, or CVEs. (Who comes up with these names?!)