health wonk review lucky 7

The Health Wonk Review (Lucky #7)

Well, that'll teach me to volunteer! This week's putative host has

apparently gone AWOL, so HWR honcho Joe Paduda accepted my offer to

substitute. Please forgive any mistakes, errors, runs, drips or

streaks.

So, a coupla days late, but none the worse for wear (I hope!), here's

this week's foray into the world of policy, infrastructure, insurance,

technology, and managed care bloggers. Enjoy!

fS Politics, Policy, Economics

Jared Rhoads, of The Lucidicus Project, has an interesting article

about Massachusetts' new healthcare legislation. Comparing commentary

from various members of the free-market community, he concludes that,

even as mixed as the free-market folks are, the conservatives are

worse. His solution: rights-based capitalism protected by limited

government.

Frequent IB foil Jill Quadango posts her presentation to the

Democratic Senators Issues Conference on why 46 million Americans lack

healthcare. If you haven't read her book, One Nation Uninsured (which

we reviewed last fall), this is a good summary of its contents, and

conclusions. While I don't often agree with Dr Q, she is a compelling

and interesting author.

If you follow the Medblogosphere, then you've certainly read Marcus

Newberry's great blog about health promotion, healthy lifestyle and

disease prevention. In this post, the good doctor tells us about the

late Jane Jacobs, author of "The Death and Life of Great American

Cities." He compares her thesis that cities are vibrant living systems

with the reality of the current situation in health care. As usual, he

brings a refreshing insight.

David Williams, proprietor of the Health Business Blog, has an

interesting (and provocative) take on Google Health. He tells us that,

although the offering itself is weak, Google is also exploiting the

goodwill of volunteers under its so-called "Co-op" program. Problem

is, it's not a co-op at all.

Behind The Wheel, brought to you by the folks who run Marketplace MD,

is a fun and engaging blog (I know, because I visit it pretty often).

This entry is a virtual survey of Consumer Driven Health Care,

covering over two weeks' worth of nuggets from blogs, the media, and

academic journals. I was particularly pleased to read that

Marketplace's founder has been published by Health Affairs, twice.

Mazel Tov, Doc!

PhD-to-be Jason Shafrin, posts as the "Healthcare Economist." This

week, he tells us that the British government is shifting childbirth

policy away from hospital delivery and towards births in the home, and

asks if this good policy. His post also raises the point that

government dictating where you have to give birth to your child is one

of the costs of nationalized healthcare.

HWR founder Joe Paduda has some thoughts about the GOP's efforts to

pass Association Health Plan and medical malpractice reform

legislation. He wonders if it's necessarily a bad thing that it "ran

into a brick wall." IB's Bob Vineyard discussed this a while back, and

I'd love to read a debate between them (hint, hint).

The final entry in this category is my own: in many markets, one

insurer dominates. Some in the governing class object to this, and

have proposed dubious solutions. We explore the situation, and

possible resolutions.

fS Business of Healthcare

Tony Chen, one of a group of high-powered bloggers at Hospital Impact,

has a thought-provoking post on what the mission of hospitals could be

in the future. He looks at how Mayo, Johns Hopkins, the Cleveland

Clinic and other A-list facilities operate now, and what their mission

might look like in the future. Talk about Future Shock.

fS Technology, IT

Dmitriy Kruglyak at The Medical Blog Network offers a Consumer Health

IT report from the 2006 CDHCC (Consumer Directed Health Care

Conference and Expo). He says that Intuit's designs on healthcare

connectivity are the most notable, and a panel of investment experts

discussed how the industry is likely to evolve. It's quite a full

report, with everything from Rules Engines to Data Mining.

fS Miscellaneous

Jon Coppelman, who writes at the Workers Comp Insider, examines a

recent ADA case involving Liberty Mutual Insurance. That case should

raise red flags for employers: by granting FMLA leave for treatment,

the employer was apparently held accountable for making "reasonable

accommodations," even though it appears that none were requested. In