HealthBlog

Considering the cost, no excuse for bad service in healthcare

hlthblog — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:45:37 GMT

On January 27th I posted a story about the work I’ve been doing with Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. The medical center has been hosting CEO Healthcare Summits around the country encouraging large employers to apply the same scrutiny to...(read more)

A Forum for Iconic Change in Healthcare – Harvard Business School Conference on Health

hlthblog — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:38:53 GMT

On Saturday, February 4th, it was my honor to present the closing keynote at the 2012 Harvard Business School Conference on Health . Nearly 700 business leaders, clinicians, alumni, students, and faculty attended the conference. The theme...(read more)

Famous Pediatric Hospital in Italy Improves Services and Saves Money with Microsoft Cloud E-mail Solution

hlthblog — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:30:20 GMT

Bambino Gesù is a century’s old pediatric hospital located on the grounds of Vatican City in Rome. That a pediatric hospital would be located in Vatican City might be enough to tickle your interest. However, that is not the reason we are focusing...(read more)

Purchasing healthcare on “a wing and a prayer”? There’s a better way.

hlthblog — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:28:50 GMT

In a post earlier this month I conveyed information about my participation in a CEO Health Care Summit organized by Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Our first Summit was held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Today, we...(read more)

Why health businesses and initiatives fail when clinicians aren’t at the table

hlthblog — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:43:12 GMT

In 30 years as a physician, technologist, hospital executive, company co-founder, industry evangelist and thought leader, I’ve seen my share of successes and failures in the health industry. I’m always amazed how many companies tackle projects and...(read more)

Unified Communication technology saves the day(s) during snow and ice storms in the Pacific Northwest – Important Lessons for the Health Industry

hlthblog — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:48:21 GMT

You may have seen it on the national news. The past few days, much of Western Washington state has been slammed by a series of snow and ice storms. The snow (one to two feet in some areas) was bad enough. Today a very unusual ice storm is...(read more)

Software Helps Clinicians & Patients Better Manage Diabetes

hlthblog — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:49:24 GMT

On our newest episode of Microsoft Health Tech Today , we connect with a prominent physician educator at University College London . Professor Peter Hindmarsh is affiliated with University College London’s developmental endocrinology research...(read more)

Digital Health on Stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

hlthblog — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:38:46 GMT

This week I’ve been in Las Vegas. I traveled here to meet with Microsoft customers and partners at a CES side event called LEAP at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I also did a presentation on health industry tech trends for the UnitedHealth Group in their...(read more)

A Call for Nominations – Microsoft Health Users Group Awards

hlthblog — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:28:35 GMT

I wanted to pass along this important announcement about the call for nominations for the annual Microsoft Health Users Group (Microsoft HUG) Awards. Please see below for full details. Call for Nominations It’s that time of year again for the members...(read more)

A formula for market-based, business driven healthcare reform

hlthblog — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:14:14 GMT

Last Thursday and Friday I traveled to New York City to participate in an event organized by Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle. The CEO Health Care Summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel , drew together a select group of business...(read more)

Telemedicine solution improves practice productivity, pleases patients

hlthblog — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:35:42 GMT

There was a time when telemedicine services could only be provided by very large clinics, academic medical centers or government health organizations. Telemedicine required big bulky equipment and expensive dedicated landlines or satellite connections...(read more)

4 leading trends and technologies that will transform health and healthcare in 2012 and beyond

hlthblog — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:17:08 GMT

Countries around the world are grappling with aging populations, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, and spiraling costs of healthcare. It is essential that we develop more efficient, scalable and less costly systems of care and that we ...(read more)

First on the Scene – Egyptian Ambulance Organization markedly improves response times with cloud-based, fleet management solution

hlthblog — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:22:34 GMT

In an emergency first responders know that every second counts. They speak in terms of the “golden hour”, a period of time during which a seriously injured accident victim must be stabilized and transported to a hospital in order to have the best...(read more)

Microsoft Health Solutions Group announces joint venture with GE

hlthblog — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:09:11 GMT

Ten years is a significant period of time in a person’s life. Ten years in the history of medicine is but a blink of the eye. As I think back on my ten year career working here at Microsoft, I’m sometimes amazed by how much progress has been made in a...(read more)

If you could design the perfect computing device for clinicians and clinical workflow, what would you ask for?

hlthblog — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:44:22 GMT

Next month I will have a unique opportunity to influence the design of future devices for clinical computing. Our OEM (original equipment manufacturers) group at Microsoft has invited me to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ...(read more)

Real Impact: Manifesto for an eHealthier Europe

hlthblog — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:46:30 GMT

Regular followers of this blog may recall that last year about this same time I reported on a big event we held in Brussels. It was a gathering of customers, partners, developers, clinicians, and EU government officials who came together to discuss...(read more)

On World AIDS Day – Fighting HIV with Data

hlthblog — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:24:18 GMT

On December 1 we recognize World AIDS Day. Although there is much to celebrate about the progress researchers have made in fighting HIV and AIDS, there is so much yet to do. According to U.S. health officials, only 28 percent of the 1.2 million...(read more)

Deaf Society improves communication and services with Microsoft Lync

hlthblog — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:33:21 GMT

I suspect most of us take our hearing for granted. We seldom think about how a hearing loss or deafness might challenge our ability to communicate. However, for those with profound loss of hearing or deafness, the ability to communicate with others...(read more)

A thankful reflection on information technology in health and healthcare

hlthblog — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:39:39 GMT

This year marks my 10th anniversary at Microsoft . I have much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful family. I am gainfully employed. Through my work, I’ve had an opportunity to travel the world and learn more about health, healthcare...(read more)

How to improve care experience (and satisfaction) while maintaining compliance

hlthblog — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:14:52 GMT

No matter where I travel these days to meet with health industry customers, there is a common theme. Oh sure; hospital and clinic IT staff, administrators and clinician leaders are focused on electronic medical records, meaningful use (in the US) and...(read more)

Electronic records may define new era for “evidence-based” medicine

hlthblog — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:11:19 GMT

This week while other members of my Microsoft team are hanging out in Brussels, Oslo, Mexico City, Rio, and even Cyprus, I find myself in Indianapolis, Indiana . Oh well, at least the plane ride was shorter. I’m here for something we call the EBC...(read more)

Health records move to the cloud in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

hlthblog — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:03:55 GMT

This week on Health Tech Today we travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We’ll introduce you to a Microsoft partner that is working with the health ministry to give every citizen a patient centric health record in the cloud. The partner is a Portuguese...(read more)

On the road to Accountable Care

hlthblog — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:38:20 GMT

I spent the end of this week on the road in the Boston area. On Thursday morning, I delivered a keynote for a meeting organized by the Massachusetts Hospital Association at the Waltham Woods Conference Center in Waltham, Mass. The theme for...(read more)

The Kinect Effect – in games, education, health and so much more.

hlthblog — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:27:15 GMT

It has only been a year since Microsoft introduced Xbox Kinect to the gaming world. As I’ve explained so often here on HealthBlog, Kinect’s impact is being felt far beyond the domain of home entertainment. Around the world, people are experimenting...(read more)

Clinical Genomics – Hype, Hope and Better Tools for Researchers

hlthblog — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:18:36 GMT

This week I came across two important announcements that I wanted to share with readers of HealthBlog. The first was communicated to me in an e-mail I received from my colleague Michael Millenson (right). Over the years Michael and I have...(read more)