Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Podcasts

Judith Rodin and Ariel Pablos-MÃ©ndez of the Rockefeller Foundation

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 07:46:00 GMT

As regular readers know, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to Bellagio, Italy, last week for the third of four weeks in a series of conferences called Making the eHealth Connection. The goal was for a small group of technology and healthcare informatics leaders to come up with actionable ideas to use IT to improve the health of people in the developing world.

The week I was there focused on electronic health records and mobile health.

While I was in Bellagio, I interviewed Judith Rodin, Ph.D., president of the Rockefeller Foundation (and former president of the University of Pennsylvania), and Ariel Pablos-MÃndez, M.D., managing director of the Rockefeller Foundation and the head of health programs. Unfortunately, there was an echo in the room that found its way onto the recording. And unfortunately the battery ran out of my recorder before I got done chatting with Dr. Pablos.

We also take a while getting into the discussion about IT, but I still think itâs an interesting interview.

Podcast details: Interview with Judith Rodin, Ph.D., and Ariel Pablos-MÃndez, M.D., of the Rockefeller Foundation. Recorded July 29, 2008, in Bellagio, Italy. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 14.5 MB, running time 31:41.

1:05 Rationale behind the conferences
1:55 Harnessing the beneficial aspects of globalization to fix the negative effects
2:50 Why e-health in the developing world?
5:00 Affordability, accessibility and quality of care
5:28 "Leapfrog" strategy for bringing technology to underserved areas
6:50 Market opportunities from public-private partnerships, even in poor countries
8:02 E-health as a remedy to globalization of diseases
10:30 Bold, actionable ideas
12:22 "Game-changing ideas" from previous Bellagio conferences
13:15 Welcome to Dr. Ariel Pablos-MÃndez
14:05 The foundationâs current attempt to strengthen health systems and long history of creating global programs
15:15 Breaking down the silos of health programs in developing countries
16:05 Worldwide concerns go beyond HIV/AIDS
16:40 Problems with access to care, and the role of telemedicine
17:10 Problems with affordability and efficiency
18:20 Good health at low cost
19:15 Theory that the future will be about more health for the money rather than more money for health
19:45 Current Rockefeller Foundation health programs: access
20:35 Role of the private sector in health systems in developing countries
22:45 E-health in the developing world
23:50 Challenges and opportunities in e-health
24:55 Interoperability issues with legacy systems
26:20 Technology transfer from U.S. institutions to Africa before legacy systems become a problem
27:34 Why the timing is right for IT and for these conferences
28:10 Needs: collaboration, agenda setting, capacity building, evidence, applications
30:00 Bold ideas: British NHS and a system in Sao Paolo, Brazil, sharing code with South Africa and developing a framework strategy for e-health

Dr. Robert Kolodner on the national HIT strategy

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:03:00 GMT

I love the annual Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) Physician-Computer Connection. It's a chance to hear some of the smartest people and most accomplished people in healthcare, namely medical informaticists, in a small, informal setting. This year's event, held last week in beautiful, laid-back Ojai, Calif., featured an appearance by Robert Kolodner, M.D., the national coordinator for health information technology.

After Dr. Kolodner's presentationâmore of a Q&A with his peers in medical informaticsâhe graciously sat down for an audio interview with me. Here is the result.

Podcast details: Robert Kolodner, M.D., on the national health IT strategy. Recorded July 16, 2008, in Ojai, Calif. MP3, stereo, 64 kbps, 14.3 MB, running time 31:24.

0:40 Background on national health IT strategic plan toward interoperable electronic health records
3:35 Goals of the plan
4:08 Distinction between "health" and "healthcare"
5:25 Explanation of "patient centeredness"
6:20 Physiciansâ role in promoting patient centeredness
7:30 ITâs role
8:50 Population health
10:40 Why physicians should care about national IT strategy
12:55 Making the issue personal
13:35 Financial incentives for technology adoption
14:37 Incremental advances
16:18 Medicare e-prescribing incentives as one step in a series of improvements
17:30 Convincing healthcare organizations to cooperate
18:08 Greater public awareness about electronic health information
18:32 Privacy and security concerns, and coming framework
20:50 Convincing doctors to share data
22:10 Trial National Health Implementation Network implementations
22:55 Where physician IT leaders can make a difference
24:06 AHIC successor
25:25 Complexity of healthcare in the U.S. and abroad
27:18 Profound workflow changes from IT and maximizing skills of healthcare professionals
29:06 Possible effects of 2009 administration change
30:15 Health ITâs fundamental role in healthcare reform

TEPR Cell Phone Project

Sat, 24 May 2008 04:42:00 GMT

The just-completed Towards an Electronic Patient Record (TEPR) conference featured the unveiling of the TEPR Cell Phone Project, an eight-month effort to study and prove the efficacy of the mobile phone as a hub of interoperability in healthcare. (You can read my Digital HealthCare & Productivity story about the project here.)

The Medical Records Institute, which puts on TEPR, is partnering with AllOne Health Group, a Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based health and wellness services provider, to conduct this test of bottom-up, consumer-controlled health information exchange. The study begins June 1, and results will be released at TEPR 2009 next February.

During Mondayâs TEPR Cell Phone Project press conference, I peppered AllOne executives with some tough questions about their plans, and was not shy about voicing my skepticism about personal health records. In a rare show of tact on my part, I did so without offending anyone. In fact, Frank Avignone, director of business and sales development for AllOne Health subsidiary AllOne Mobile, agreed to join me the following day to record this podcast.

Podcast details: Interview with Frank Avignone, director of business and sales development, AllOne Mobile, about the TEPR Cell Phone Interoperability Project. Recorded May 20, 2008. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 10.8 MB. Running time 23:37

0:54 Background on the company and its technology
2:00 Interoperability study
3:30 Metrics being measured
4:00 Convergence of Dossia, Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault, and the subtle differences
5:50 Technology behind AllOne Mobile Health
6:49 Phone requirements and registration process
8:25 Continuity of Care Record
8:50 Why consumers might accept this technology
10:25 Data input options
11:50 Provider access to data
12:37 Workflow considerations
14:10 Pragmatic approach to uptake
14:35 Logistics of the study
16:25 Study participants
17:30 Mobile phone carriers
19:30 ROI for end users
21:00 Marketing strategy
22:18 Study goals

Jonathan Bush, the sequel

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:36:00 GMT

For me, the highlight of HIMSS â07 was my podcast interview with Jonathan Bush of athenahealth. It was so much fun, he agreed to sit down with me again at this yearâs HIMSS conference. Iâm hoping this can become a regular occurrence. We get full of ourselves at several points and get way off topic at times, but it was taped on the last morning of HIMSS and everyoneâs a little loopy by then. Even the technical glitchâmy microphone being off for a few secondsâdidnât affect the outcome, other than to provide a good laugh or three.

Podcast details: Interview with Jonathan Bush, president and CEO of athenahealth, recorded Feb. 28, 2008, in Orlando, Fla. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 18.9 MB, running time 41:17.

0:35 The cult of Mr. HIStalk
1:25 Is Cerner pulling out of HIMSS?
2:25 Disruptive technologies
2:50 Why software is dead
4:25 Why other companies still sell software
6:30 The "dead zone" around the Orange County Convention Center
8:15 Chief athenista Todd Park and future plans for the company
10:15 athenaâs lingo
12:10 Success of eClinicalWorks based on selling software
14:10 Google Health, the next Segway?
16:05 Google Health vs. Microsoft HealthVault and other PHRs
18:00 Why existing PHRs are not much better than Microsoft Word
19:00 How athenahealth could help with PHRs
20:40 PHRs need something to do
21:15 Could Google give doctors leverage with health plans?
23:55 Trust issues
24:45 Risk vs. reward for sharing health information
26:05 athenaâs API for linking to PHRs
27:25 Why e-commerce works in other industries
28:35 What doctors need
29:25 Carrot vs. stick: cash, options or control
31:10 Opportunity for doctors to take back disease management from payers
33:00 How to reach physician practices
33:40 Targeting smaller practices
34:55 Opportunities with enterprise customers
36:15 Partnership with Eclipsys and the seeds of RHIOs
39:40 Slight technical glitch, and concluding remarks

HIMSS CEO Steve Lieber

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:15:00 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla.âHereâs a podcast thatâs been a year in the making. Actually, it was a year plus an hour and a half. Last year in New Orleans, I had a lively, hour-long conversation with HIMSS President and CEO Steve Lieber that was supposed to be for a podcast, but the recording didnât work.

On Saturday, I showed up at the appointed hour for another sit-down with Lieber, and realized Iâd forgotten my recorder back at my hotel, so we rescheduled for about 90 minutes later. Well, the third time was a charm, and the result is this podcast, a lively, half-hour-long conversation with Steve Lieber, just ahead of the opening of the annual HIMSS conference.

Podcast details: Interview with Steve Lieber at HIMSS â08. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 13.8 MB. Running time 30:10.

0:30 Expected attendance of 27,000+
1:15 Greater attention on technology in healthcare
1:45 Growth on clinical side
2:50 More interest from non-IT executives
4:00 E-prescribing as an example of IT crossing disciplines
5:45 Multiple opportunites for improvements in prescribing and medication administration
6:30 Continuing problems with access to capital
8:50 Prospects for Medicare payment reform
10:07 Health IT in the presidential campaign
11:15 Health IT debate remains largely nonpartisan.
12:40 Progress among private payers in reimbursement for quality
14:00 More focus on disease management than quality per se
14:40 Slow adoption of personal health records
15:42 Suitability of PHRs for chronically ill
17:30 Kids may be first major PHR constituency in general population.
18:05 Google, Microsoft and Revolution Health in healthcare and HIMSS keynotes from Eric Schmidt and Steve Case
20:00 Movement toward home health
20:40 HIMSS strategic interest in medical devices
21:40 HIMSS branching out as an association
22:30 Interoperability of financial and administrative information
23:10 Working for universal set of quality measures
23:35 Globalization of HIMSS
26:00 Standardization beyond the U.S., e.g., Snomed
27:00 Highlights of HIMSS conference: Interoperability Showcase
28:00 Public meetings at HIMSS, including AHIC
29:03 International registration

Blogging hospital CEO Nick Jacobs

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:49:00 GMT

From the Department of Better Late Than Never comes this podcast with Nick Jacobs, CEO of Windber Medical Center in Windber, Pa., who's well known in some circles for being perhaps the first hospital chief in the country to write his own blog.

Nick's Blog has been around since May 2005, and Jacobs also contributes to Hospital Impact and to the World Health Care Blog. Paul Levy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has been writing his blog since August 2006. (I've got them both beat, as my blog dates to May 2004. But I am not going to brag until I get the kind of traffic that HIStalk does. That blog, which I've heard referred to as the "National Enquirer of health IT," recently passed 1 million visitors. I'm still looking up at 30,000.)

Speaking of historical records, I've been sitting on this podcast since September, when Jacobs was in Chicago for the third Healthcare Blogging & Social Media Summit way back in September. I've got an even older recording in the podcast pipeline, and who knows when I'll get to that? I did write about Jacobs in Digital HealthCare & Productivity in early October, but now you can hear what he's all about.

Podcast details: Interview with Nick Jacobs, CEO of Windber (Pa.) Medical Center. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 9 MB. Running time 19:34.

0:49 Genesis of the blog
2:02 How blogging helps a small hospital compete with larger hospitals
2:50 His message
3:45 Early blog posts and how he started taking more risks
4:50 Motivating employees via the blog
5:40 Keeping local mass media honest
6:40 The global reach of the Internet: âYou can never be a prophet in your own home town.â?
8:00 Why other hospital CEOs donât blog
9:20 Being the first to take the plunge
10:00 Why healthcare is so slow to turn to IT
10:40 Windberâs cancer research for the military
11:30 National recognition and local indifference: âreverse urban snobberyâ?
12:30 Transparency in healthcare
13:45 Flaws in public reporting requirements
15:30 High tech at small hospitals
16:20 Using the Internet to build a reputation
17:30 Market challenges for a small hospital
18:04 The future and his passion for change in healthcare

Dr. David Brailer on his new venture and progress in health IT

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:40:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO--Dr. David Brailer is a very popular man these days. Having $700 million of Other Peopleâs Money to invest, as his company, Health Evolution Partners does, tends to do that. At the Health 2.0 Conference today, it took an hour and 15 minutes for him to fend off the suitors and finally sit down with me for this brief but lively podcast about his new venture and about the current state of health information technology in America. I think it was worth the wait.

(Everyone else is blogging this event live. I canât keep up, so thought Iâd try something different.)

Podcast details: Interview with Dr. David Brailer on Health Evolution Partners and progress in health IT. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 4.5 MB. Running time 9:53.

0:34 Investment strategy
1:05 Surprise since he started the fund
1:40 About the company
2:25 Why heâs not looking at biotechnology
2:55 Health 2.0
3:35 Investing through venture partners
3:45 Assessment of national health IT adoption
4:35 Health IT hasnât become politicized
5:05 Tough issues still unsettled
6:13 RHIOs
6:50 Shakeout in health IT (and interruption from siren outside the window)
7:50 Advice to people involved in RHIOs
8:08 Personal health records and consumerism

Robert Kolodner's MedInfo speech

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:30:00 GMT

I guess technically this isn't really a podcast, or at least not my podcast, since I'm not in this at all. But I'm pretty sure it's a worldwide Internet exclusive, U.S. National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Robert Kolodner's keynote address to the MedInfo 2007 conference on Aug. 23 in Brisbane, Australia. Kolodner's office even asked me for a copy.

I wanted to plug my recorder into the sound board. The sound techs there told me don't bother, they'd burn me a CD of the speech. So here you have it, a pristine recording, ripped from that CD. (Please, no flames from BitTorrent purists who believe that there's no such thing as a "pristine mp3" file.) I've uploaded it in stereo and at 128 kbps, double my normal, mono podcast rate.

I'm not going to bother with detailed podcast info for this one, since it took me almost a month to get this posted in the first place, but I'll link once again to the story I wrote from Brisbane about Kolodner's remarks and my interview with him. As a special bonus, I've included Kolodner's presentation slides so you can follow along at home.

I'll also say that the "cuddling a koala" he refers to in the first minute is exactly what I'm doing in the picture in my Sept. 9 post. That was from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary on the outskirts of Brisbane, if you're ever in the neighborhood. Good thing Brisbane is in Queensland, because apparently it's illegal to touch a koala in the Australia state of Victoria.

I have a couple more podcasts in the pipeline, so check this space later this week.

Podcast details: Keynote speech by Dr. Robert Kolodner to MedInfo 2007, Aug. 23, 2007, in Brisbane, Australia. MP3, stereo, 128 kbps, 43.5 MB. Running time 47:30.

Presentation slides (PDF, 2.4 MB)

SureScripts COO Rick Ratliff on proposed Medicare e-Rx changes

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 16:22:00 GMT

Right before America effectively shut down for an Independence Day that fell on a Wednesday and surely prompted some very long weekends, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed some modifications to various Medicare payment and provider eligibility rules. Among the proposals is a plan to remove computer-generated faxing from the CMS definition of electronic prescribing. alter the Medicare Part D electronic prescribing regulations.

This move is bound to make some e-prescribing advocates very happy, particularly on the pharmacy side and among the patient-safety crowd. Case in point is Rick Ratliff, chief operating officer of e-prescribing connectivity network SureScripts, who joins me for this podcast to discuss the CMS proposal and the future of e-prescribing.

Podcast details: Interview with SureScripts COO Rick Ratliff on proposed Medicare Part D e-prescribing regulations. MP3, 64 kbps, 10.2 MB, running time 22:14.

1:00 What SureScripts does
2:08 Fax exemption in existing rule
3:07 What CMS is proposing
4:02 Impact of the proposed change
4:26 What vendors might have to do
5:37 Lack of financial incentives in Medicare e-prescribing rules
6:35 Why it's a "potentially enormous" change
7:45 Two-way communication in e-prescribing
8:35 Savings from efficiency gains
9:33 Private payers following the lead of CMS
10:00 True electronic prescribing vs. electronic faxing
11:30 Public comment period for the proposal
12:43 What SureScripts might tell CMS
13:22 How to encourage physicians to adopt e-prescribing
15:02 Physician attitudes toward patient suggestions
16:45 The tipping point
17:50 Is this a competitive battleground for pharmacies?
18:37 How retail pharmacies view e-prescribing
19:30 Effect of e-prescribing on patient and physician expectations
20:07 New SureScripts technology to report back to physicians on fill rates
21:25 E-prescribing effect on healthcare quality

HIT consultant Denise Silber on European initiatives

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Last month, I blogged about the "personal" nature of electronic health records in France, based on a blog post by American-born, Paris-based health IT consultant Denise Silber. Well, Denise read my post and e-mailed me, or maybe it was I who sent the link to her. I've been in Vegas the last three days and the memory is a bit fuzzy at this stage. A few e-mails later, I had her on the phone for this podcast. Enjoy.

Podcast details: HIT consultant Denise Silber on European initiatives. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 10.3 MB, running time 22:36

1:00 Background on her e-health consulting and marketing work
2:40 France's "personal medical record"
3:40 Fears of Big Brother on both sides of the Atlantic and French data privacy laws
4:25 Patient control of records in France
5:15 HIPAA confusion in the U.S.
6:00 Conflicts between French law and European standards for physicians, and patient concealment of personal health information
6:55 Usage and costs of French health system, including electronic insurance cards
8:25 Differences between French system and other European health systems
9:42 Physician use of EMRs and computers in France
10:25 Current status of French EMR projects
11:47 Standards
12:28 Purpose of the French PMR
13:05 Accuracy and quality of consumer health information
14:45 Physician shortage in France
15:47 HON Code
16:47 New organization for health information improvement in France
18:45 Consumerism in healthcare and transparency
21:10 Other forms of information accreditation

Dr. David Kibbe on personal health information, medical homes, value in healthcare and more

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:30:00 GMT

This podcast pretty much covers the entire field. Dr. David Kibbe, senior advisor to the Center for Health Information Technology of the American Academy of Family Physicians, weighs in on health IT in primary care, consumerism, data standards, value-based healthcare purchasing and national IT policy, among many topics we cover in just over half an hour. We recorded this at the 2007 TEPR conference in Dallas last week.

Podcast details: Interview with Dr. David Kibbe at 2007 TEPR conference. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 16 MB, running time 35:090:40 Background on AAFP's Center for Health IT and what he's doing.
1:40 Personal health records and mobilization of personal health information
2:10 Continuity of Care Record
4:11 Continuity of Care Document and Clinical Document Architecture
5:25 CCR, PHRs and the Internet 6:20 Growth in CCR interest
7:00 PHRs based on XML
7:40 Google's healthcare plans
8:55 Reliability of health information on the Internet
10:00 Consumers having access to the same information as health professionals
10:45 Revolution Health
11:50 Web information and the physician/patient relationship
12:45 Higher expectations among patients
13:45 Consumerism and retail health clinics
15:00 AAFP's involvement in retail clinics
16:28 Concept of the medical home
18:00 Health information and the elderly
19:12 Model of information homes in other service industries
20:20 Asynchronous communication to help manage patient care
20:46 Reimbursement problems with asynchronous care
21:20 Employers becoming more aware of value in healthcare
22:15 Advice to major healthcare purchasers
23:00 When major changes might happen
23:45 Framing the national debate
25:15 Stark exemption and primary care
26:57 AAFP advice to small practices on the Stark exemption
28:40 Awareness of Stark exemption
30:30 Awareness of the benefits of EHRs
31:42 Certification
33:57 Are products improving because of certification?

Interview: Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on health IT adoption

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:07:00 GMT

WASHINGTONÃïïAs co-chair of the State Alliance for e-Health, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has been heavily involved in the health IT policy debate. He's also frustrated with the slow progress of technology adoption that's holding back gains in quality and efficiency (read "cost savings" from a governor's perspective). And Monday at the World Health Care Congress, he was not afraid to share his thoughts, as this short audio clip demonstrates.

Podcast details: Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on health IT adoption, recorded April 23, 2007, in Washington, D.C. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 2.1 MB, running time 4:31.

Interview with Dr. Bill Bria on CMIOs and medical informatics

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:55:00 GMT

WASHINGTONâLive from the World Health Care Congress, here's an interview with Dr. Bill Bria, chief medical information officer of Shriners Hospitals for Children and president of the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems. We talk about the increasing importance of CMIOs as hospitals align their IT strategies with overall institutional goals, including quality improvement, and we discuss the similar growth of AMDIS. Bria also plugs the annual AMDIS Physician-Computer Connection, which is OK with me since I've been shameless in plugging my article in Red Herring.

Podcast details: Interview with Dr. Bill Bria on CMIOs and medical informatics. Recorded April 23, 2007, in Washington, D.C. MP3, 64kbps, 8.6 MB, running time 18:56.

Interview with Jonathan Bush

Thu, 1 Mar 2007 23:48:00 GMT

NEW ORLEANSâAs promised, here's my particularly lively podcast with Jonathan Bush, president and CEO of athenahealth. I could tell you some of the highlights, but the details below ought to be teaser enough. Enjoy.

Podcast details: Interview with Jonathan Bush, president and CEO of athenahealth, recorded at HIMSS'07 in New Orleans. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 11.8 MB, running time 25:45.

2:12 HIMSS traffic
2:50 HIT interest in ambulatory care/Stark changes
4:05 "Battle of the Thunderdome" at the nexus of health IT
5:00 Personal health records
7:10 Role of government in health IT
7:56 Role of hospitals in promoting HIT adoption
9:25 Movement of money in healthcare supply chain
11:00 athenahealth's relationship with Eclipsys
11:50 athenahealth's business model
12:45 Plutonium shoes and the value of "free"
15:40 athenaClinicals and financial guarantees
16:55 Physicians and data entry
19:08 Office/workflow management as a supply chain
20:30 athena's scanning/data-entry operation
21:20 Delivering results
22:45 Outlook for the industry
24:45 The "athena model"

Interview with Dave Garets

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:23:00 GMT

NEW ORLEANSâSince time of the essence this week, I'm keeping this post short.

This is a fairly short, off-the-cuff interview with Dave Garets, president and CEO of HIMSS Analytics, kind of a teaser for Garets' "Riffing on the Issues" session on Tuesday with Partners HealthCare CIO John Glaser at the annual HIMSS conference.

Of note, HIMSS Analytics is announing Tuesday that it is expanding its research of hospital IT capabilities into Canada, but you heard it here first. But that's not all you'll get out of this podcast. Garets gives his take on the state of the health IT industry, circa February 2007.

If I had more time, I'd include a detailed description of the contents of this podcast, but since I have deadlines to meet tonight, I'm going to pass. Click here to listen.

More recordings to come later this week.

Podcast details: Interview with HIMSS Analytics CEO Dave Garets. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 5.9 mb, running time 12:56.

Podcast: HealthTrain Manifesto for the age of blogging

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:37:00 GMT

From the Department of Better Late than Never comes this podcast, recorded two weeks ago, in advance of the first-ever Healthcare Blogging Summit, which was held Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C. But thanks to my crazy schedule, this interview was not posted until Dec. 15 in a Florida hotel room. Most of the information is still relevant. Promise.

In this interview, Dmitriy Kruglyak, creator of the Medical Blog Network, a healthcare-focused publication in a blog format, talks with me about the growth of blogging in healthcare and explains his current project, the HealthTrain Manifesto. Essentially, itâs a statement of integrity guidelines for the highly unstructured world of grass-roots healthcare media.

Podcast details: Dmitriy Kruglyak, creator of the Medical Blog Network and HealthTrain Manifesto. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 15.6 MB, running time 34:11.0:50 Explanation of the Medical Blog Network
2:35 Healthcare Blogging Summit
3:40 Bloggingâs effect on consumers and on healthcare organizations
5:20 The changing dynamics of information dissemination
5:51 Grass-roots transparency and how to respond to it
6:36 Speakers at the summit
8:47 Harnessing the power of the Web and new concepts on the Internet
11:25 Growth of individuals publishing information online
12:52 Power of blogging in other industries
13:45 Transformation of the role of traditional media
14:28 Bloggingâs growth in healthcare
16:50 Evolution of the Internet in healthcare
18:37 HealthTrain Manifesto
19:21 Roots of it in ClueTrain Manifesto (late 1990s) for conversational media
20:51 How healthcare is different from other subject matter
22:13 HON Code and other earlier e-health standards more for top-down media
23:05 Holes that HealthTrain attempts to fill
24:21 Credibility of health information
25:10 The 18 concepts of the HealthTrain Manifesto
27:19 Survey of healthcare bloggers re: anonymity
29:48 More on how healthcare organizations should operate in new era of transparency
30:47 Support for HealthTrain Manifesto
33:00 Where to read manifesto and list of supporters

Podcast: Sage Software

Sat, 9 Dec 2006 00:41:00 GMT

A new name on the healthcare scene is Sage Software, which entered the market in September with its $565 million purchase of Emdeon Practice Services from Emdeon Corp. Who is Sage Software and what are the company's plans for the Intergy brand name? At last week's Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago, I sat down with Paul Stinson, Sage's senior vice president of healthcare, to find out.

Audio quality isn't the best because a lot of ambient noise made its way into the interview booths in the press room, but I don't think it's worse than listening to AM radio.

Podcast details: Interview with Paul Stinson, senior vice president of healthcare for Sage Software, Nov. 27, 2006. MP3, 64kbps, 11.6 MB, running time 25:23.

0:40 Background on acquisition and on Sage
1:30 Sageâs history in accounting software
2:40 Intergyâs history in radiology and imaging
3:35 Sageâs market share
4:00 View of radiology market as part of bigger healthcare picture
5:30 Growth potential in EHR and size of customer base
6:37 Target market
8:00 Division of product line between Intergy and Medware
9:24 Assessment of market for smallest practices
11:45 Effect of Stark exemption on the market
13:37 Effect of CCHIT certification on the market
15:24 Evolution of market in next two years
17:25 Continuing relationship with WebMD
18:16 Growing interest in PHRs and providing information to patients
19:08 Physicians warming to sharing scheduling information online
20:55 Online communication with patients and e-prescribing
22:53 Patient safety improvements and malpractice insurance rates
23:40 Privacy and security issues

Podcast: Malcolm Costello of Kryptiq on interoperability

Wed, 8 Nov 2006 05:31:00 GMT

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

Exclusive interview with Intel and Wal-Mart execs

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:17:00 GMT

What was supposed to be a journalists' roundtable with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Wal-Mart Stores Executive Vice President Linda Dillman turned into an exclusive interview for me when other invited reporters failed to show. Their loss is my gainâand yours.

I now have a podcast with two of the most powerful business people in America, on the subject of large healthcare purchasers demanding technology-driven quality from the people who provide health services to their employees. It continues on the theme that Barrett spoke on during his keynote address to the Third Health Information Technology Summit in Washington last month, which I reported on here. This interview took place shortly after the speech.

Podcast details: Exclusive interview with Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and Wal-Mart SVP Linda Dillman, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2006. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 13.9 MB, running time 30:23.

00:40 Barrett's interest in healthcare
01:05 Pilot programs to promote IT and quality
01:30 Purchasing power of large employers
01:58 Wal-Mart's $4 co-pay for generic drugs
03:20 Completeness of personal health records
04:33 Lack of price information for consumers
05:30 Cost shifting in healthcare
06:00 Wal-Mart's IT investment
06:40 Looking at the big picture
07:30 Getting a broad coalition involved
08:10 Debate vs. actions, cost shifting
09:10 Consumers ultimately pay the bills
09:40 Opportunity in the health system and incentives for healthcare to modernize
10:35 Current insurance at companies
10:55 Wal-Mart will be requiring quality
11:40 How to show transparency
12:25 Feedback from employees
13:40 Employees are savvy business`people
14:15 Duplication in the system
14:50 Medical liability and access to information
16:40 Systemwide quality should be overriding issue
18:00 What creates quality problems?
18:35 IT's role in alleviating the nursing shortage
19:45 Opinion of Kolodner
20:20 Barrett on AHIC and the slow pace of reform
22:15 Every other industry has adopted technology
22:50 Framing the debate over who pays
23:35 Quality tolerance in other industries
23:50 Roles of various stakeholders
24:35 "Forcing function" of change
26:18 Private payers are middlemen responding to the rules.
27:00 How to put pressure on suppliers
27:35 Purchasers have been passive for too long
28:36 How long until purchasing changes start showing results?
28:53 American competitiveness

CMS administrator Mark McClellan

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 03:42:00 GMT

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.

Interim HIT coordinator Robert Kolodner

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:16:00 GMT

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.

AHCJ panel on health IT

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 04:07:00 GMT

HOUSTON--As an esteemed member of the Fourth Estate, it pains me to say this, but many of my colleagues just don't get it.

Although I have been covering healthcare issues for 5Â years now and health IT for 4Â 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.

The biggest IT project you haven't heard about

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:01:00 GMT

The folks at Trinity Health in Novi, Mich., are in the midst of a massive rollout of health information technology that eventually will cover 24 hospitals in seven states--and have the third-largest clinical data repository in the nation, behind only the Department of Veterans Affairs and Kaiser Permanente. Called Project Genesis, the effort has not been widely publicized (not for lack of trying--I pitched the story to a couple of editors last year and was turned down).

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.

Meet the Bloggers

nversel@rcn.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:31:00 GMT

Meet the Bloggers event at HIMSS 2006, Feb. 12, 2006. MP3, mono, 64 kbps, 6.5 MB, running time 14:16.

Misys CEO Tom Skelton

nversel@rcn.com — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 16:08:00 GMT

This is my interview with Misys Healthcare Systems CEO Tom Skelton about consolidation among health IT vendors. We recorded it on Feb. 1, the day Misys announced its acquisition of Payerpath and the day after the presidentâs State of the Union address, and we refer to the events of "today" and "last night" in the podcast. I waited a week to post it because I used the interview for a story that ran in this weekâs Health-IT World. Never bite the hand that feeds you!

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 Iâm 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

0:00 Introduction

0:40 Misys acquisition of Payerpath

1:10 Payerpathâs fit within current Misys operations

3:20 Data capture and data mining for clinical improvement

4:55 Standards and certification for ambulatory EHRs

7:02 Consolidation in health IT industry

9:40 Impact of consolidation on customers

11:08 What potential customers should consider

12:08 Skeltonâs "elevator speech" about Misys

Dr. Bill Yasnoff on regional connectivity

nversel@rcn.com — Mon, 6 Feb 2006 21:27:00 GMT

William Yasnoff, M.D., former National Health Information Infrastructure director in the Department of Health and Human Services, has created a new business model for community-wide health information exchange, which he calls the eHealthTrust. Now a private healthcare consultant in Arlington, Va., Yasnoff recently landed its first eHealthTrust customer, the Louisville Health Information Exchange. In this podcast, he explains the concept and discusses a current request for proposals for the Louisville project.

Podcast details:

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

0:00 Introduction

0:50 Issues with building National Health Information Network

4:45 Winning stakeholder cooperation

6:20 HIPAA and patient ownership of medical records

7:20 Financial sustainability of regional health networks

9:48 Business case for the eHealthTrust

10:40 An untapped source of revenue

11:45 Consumer awareness of EHRs

13:10 Public trust and consumer access to their own health information

15:10 Why there should be centralized health databases

17:55 Usability of search functions in an eHealthTrust

19:30 Financial consequences of decentralization

22:25 Components of an eHealthTrust

23:30 Security and operational considerations

26:35 Explanation of eHealthTrust business model

31:25 Participation of Medicare/Medicaid/uninsured patients

34:50 Louisville Health Information Exchange

37:15 Services offered to patients

41:13 Louisville contract bidding process

45:18 For more information

Dr. Sam Bierstock

nversel@rcn.com — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 22:22:00 GMT

Podcast details: MP3, stereo, 128 kbps, 11.6 MB, running time 12:39

This is a very special interview I did with Sam Bierstock, M.D., a health IT consultant with IBM, but perhaps better known as the harmonica-playing leader of Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Blues Band (a.k.a. Dr. Sam and the Frivolous Action Blues Band).

He and keyboard player John Melnick have combined to write and perform "Before You Go," a special musical tribute to the thinning ranks of veterans of World War II.

Dr. Sam discusses the motivation behind the song and the incredible response there has been since he posted it for free access at www.beforeyougo.us a little more than a month ago. As of Friday, the site was being accessed at the astounding rate of 50,000 times a day.

He requests that people pass along the link to any World War II veterans they know. As the grandson of a living WWII vet, I am happy to oblige.

I apologize for the echo when I speak, as I had to convert the original MP3 file to WAV format in order to edit in a clip of the song, then re-convert the finished product to MP3. Sound quality always suffers in the MP3-to-WAV translation.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Fred Trotter on software licensing in healthcare

nversel@rcn.com — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 03:03:00 GMT

Interview with Fred Trotter, GPL Medicine proponent, on "free" and other open-source software for healthcare. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 18.5 MB, running time 40:27.

0:55 Definition of GPL software

2:30 Definition and discussion of "free" software

5:25 Why he believes GPL is the only "morally acceptable" license in medicine

6:35 GPL vs. proprietary licenses

10:35 Making money with GPL licenses

11:45 Critical nature of medical software

13:15 Software keeping up with changes in the law

16:05 "Vendor lock-in" for customers

19:40 Trotter's experience in healthcare programming

21:35 Three important GPL projects: FreeMed, OpenEMR and ClearHealth

23:10 VistA

24:30 VistA-Office EHR

29:20 How VistA-Office might change the EHR market

33:30 Problems with hybrid electronic/paper record systems

34:50 GPL allows users to improve software

36:20 Why VistA improved VA healthcare

38:40 Fixing the broken healthcare system

Personal health records

nversel@rcn.com — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:02:00 GMT

Interview with Girish Kumar, founder and vice president of sales and marketing, eClinicalWorks, re: personal health records. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 9.3 MB, running time 20:18

Health IT for Hurricane Katrina response

nversel@rcn.com — Thu, 8 Sep 2005 03:24:00 GMT

Interview with Jordan Glogau, chief technology officer, Preferred Health Resources re: Hurricane Katrina assistance

MP3, mono, 64kbps, 6.5 MB, running time 14:16

1:05 Explanation of plan

2:45 Open-source software

3:10 Standards

3:45 Rude interruption by Call Waiting beep

4:40 Power of the Internet to solve problems

5:45 Disease surveillance

7:25 HIPAA

9:10 Urgency of situation

10:40 Interest from others in health IT

11:35 Quick deployment of technology

12:20 How to get in touch

13:30 Call for action

Mobile healthcare technology

nversel@rcn.com — Tue, 6 Sep 2005 18:15:00 GMT

Interview with Stephen Hau, founder and vice president of marketing and development, PatientKeeper. MP3, mono, 64kbps, 11.7 MB running time 25:39