At the recent Medical Group Management Association annual conference in Las Vegas, I sat down with Malcolm Costello, vice president of marketing for Kryptiq Corp., a healthcare communication and integration company in Portland, Ore. We talked about secure messaging and other means of electronic communication that are helping to improve healthcare workflows and link providers to patients.

I was surprisingly alert for 9:30 in the morning, when we recorded this, and the sound quality is better than normal because I used an actual hand-held microphone rather than the built-in mic on my digital recorder. What a concept!

Podcast details: Interview with Malcolm Costello, VP marketing, Kryptiq Corp., recorded Oct. 24, 2006 at MGMA annual conference in Las Vegas. MP3, 64 kbps, 9.0 MB, running time 19:41.

00:22 What Kryptiq does
01:20 Online communications as a way to interest physicians in IT
02:25 Michigan State case study on messaging
03:15 Memorial-Hermann case study on prescription refills
04:15 Nursing burnout from administrative inefficiency
05:05 Coordination of care from electronic messaging
06:27 Standards in messaging vs. standards in EHR
07:30 Different formats of physician portals
08:40 Where messaging fits in the RHIO discussion
09:24 No good, sustainable financial model for RHIOs
10:00 Peer-to-peer messaging is a better idea
10:58 E-mail works other industries as a standardized platform
11:53 Potential of smart medical devices and other future communication technologies
14:02 E-mail for disease management
14:55 Integration of inputs from patients
16:15 Outlook for interoperability in the future
18:25 Adoption without standardization

As promised, here's the podcast of the delivered by outgoing CMS administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., at last week's Third Health Information Technology Summit in Washington.

McClellan, who is stepping down in mid-October after heading Medicare for two years, spoke immediately after Robert Kolodner, M.D., gave his first public comments since being named interim national health IT coordinator the previous week. Again, the moderator who hosts the Q&A portion is John Glaser, vice president and chief information officer of Partners HealthCare, Boston.

Podcast details: Mark McClellan, M.D., Third HIT Summit, Sept. 25, 2006, Washington, D.C. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 17.0 MB, running time 37:19.

WASHINGTON--I've got nearly pristine audio of the first public comments of Robert Kolodner, M.D., after he was named interim national coordinator for health information technology. The speech was recorded live Monday in Washington, at the Third National Health IT Summit.

I also have audio from outgoing CMS administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., who spoke immediately after Kolodner. I will post that recording later in the week.

The moderator for the Q&A whom you hear at the end of Kolodner's address is John Glaser, vice president and chief information officer of Partners HealthCare, Boston.

Podcast details: Robert Kolodner, M.D., Third National HIT Summit, Sept. 25, 2006, Washington, D.C. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 14.4 MB. Running time 31:25.

Although I have been covering healthcare issues for 5½ years now and health IT for 4½ years, I feel like I don't belong at the annual Association of Health Care Journalists conference, which is going on here this weekend. Saturday in particular was a complete waste of my time, as there was not one session on the agenda that I found relevant to the work I do. There is too much of a focus on clinical and consumer issues and little that someone in the non-scientific trade press would care about.

The lunchtime keynote speaker on Saturday, acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., just got nominated to the job on a permanent basis, and thus chose not to speak about any policy or his regulatory philosophy until the Senate has a chance to hold hearings. I walked out before his speech ended, and I was not the only one who was disappointed.

What was more disheartening, though, was the session that I personally moderated Friday morning on issues related to health IT. You can hear the audio here.

The panel, consisting of Sam Karp of the California HealthCare Foundation; Certification Commission for Health Information Technology Chairman Mark Leavitt, M.D.; and Linda Dimitropoulos of RTI International; went well. But attendance was sparse. I counted 19 people in the room, but that included publicists for two of the panelists, plus an editor from a techie magazine.

Given the fact that conference registration was close to 350 and that there were only four other sessions going on at the time, I was disappointed. Health correspondent from metropolitan daily papers mostly stayed away. This tells me that the average health correspondent does not understand the significance of IT, even though the session was entitled, "IT: Its promise for changing health care." Reporters continue to write about how the American health system is broken, but they ignore one of the most obvious cures.

On Friday, we were lucky enough to have Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Director Carolyn Clancy, M.D., for a press conference and a keynote address. Privately, Clancy told me that she shares my concern that the mainstream press does not understand the role of IT in healthcare reform. Publicly during her speech, she implored the journalists present to help inform the public about how electronic health records can improve outcomes and save money.

Later, more than one fellow AHCJ member told me they found Clancy's speech uninspiring. The technology message apparently went over everyone's head. No wonder there is little consumer pressure on healthcare providers to change their ways.

Despite being a shy person, I've always been a bit of an anti-establishment rabble-rouser when I feel like something is wrong, so during Saturday's AHCJ membership meeting, I voiced my disappointment about the fact I found most of the program irrelevant to what I do. I also mentioned that I doubted value of my membership.

At the risk of sounding pompous, I get the sense that they need me more than I need them.

Listen to the podcast and tell me I'm not crazy. It's a long session and a big file, but I think it's worth it. Too bad my colleagues in the health media don't seem to agree with me.

Podcast details: "IT: Its promise for changing health care." Association of Health Care Journalists annual meeting, March 17, 2006, Houston. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 35.2 MB, running time 1:16:58.

While meeting last week with Narendra Kini, M.D., Trinity Health's executive vice president for clinical and physician services, I decided to turn the recorder on and let him explain Project Genesis for the masses (or at least the few hundred people who will find this page). This podcast is the result.

Podcast details: MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 5.7 MB, running time 12:30.

The quality of recordings made from the telephone line varies quite a bit, and the sound has not been the best on my two most recent podcasts, including this one. I went shopping on eBay recently and I’m expecting to get better recordings in person at HIMSS next week with the audio equipment I picked up.

Podcast details:

Interview with Misys Healthcare Systems CEO Tom Skelton on HIT industry consolidation. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 5.9 MB, running time 12:53

Podcast details:

Interview with William Yasnoff, M.D., on the "eHealthTrust" concept. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 21 MB, running time 45:59.