HealthBlog

Directions on Health IT and Clinical Computing

hlthblog — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:52:36 GMT

No matter your role in healthcare – doctor, nurse, clinic administrator or hospital executive – your head is probably spinning over the pace of change in the industry. If it isn’t you just aren’t paying attention. The practice of medicine...(read more)

Cloud computing in healthcare – turn here for answers

hlthblog — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:47:21 GMT

Businesses large and small are hurdling faster and faster to cloud computing. The reasons are clear. Cloud computing offers the scalability, flexibility and cost advantages needed to help businesses stay competitive during these challenging...(read more)

Cost versus worth of technology in healthcare

hlthblog — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:40:03 GMT

Two articles caught my attention this week amid of the flurry of news about jobs, the market and the economy. The first, Not retiring at 65: Physician goes from anti-EHR to pro-ACO , was about a 65 year old physician in Tucson who is not only delaying...(read more)

A Whirlwind of Activity at WoHIT eHealth Week in Copenhagen, Denmark

hlthblog — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:51:47 GMT

The view from my room high atop the Bella Sky Comwell Hotel pretty much symbolizes what my past two days have been like at the World of Health IT Conference in Copenhagen – whirlwind . Well, actually the view is of a gigantic wind turbine that supplies...(read more)

Creative Destruction – What it means for healthcare, clinical practice and consumers

hlthblog — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:43:00 GMT

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of providing a keynote address at the Group Practice Improvement Network (GPIN) conference that was held in Seattle. I say “pleasure” for two reasons. Unlike most of the conferences I speak at these days...(read more)

Research4Life “Library in a Box” to be honored at GBCHealth Awards in NYC

hlthblog — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:05:12 GMT

A public-private partnership known as Research4Life that is sponsored in part by Microsoft, has been commended by the Global Business Coalition on Health and will be honored during that organization’s annual GBCHealth conference and awards dinner in New...(read more)

Health Tech Spending and Profitability - Chicken, Egg or Omelet?

hlthblog — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:46:40 GMT

As someone whose entire career has been steeped in clinical medicine and technology, I’m a big fan of the American publication, Hospitals and Health Networks . I especially like reading the commentaries on the publication’s digital feed, H&HN...(read more)

Is your IT strategy putting your health organization at risk of becoming extinct?

hlthblog — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:57:07 GMT

This week I’m writing from Gothenburg, Sweden, where I am holding meetings with Microsoft customers and partners. I am also doing a keynote address at Vitalis , a conference billed as the largest health IT event in Scandinavia. This isn’t...(read more)

Microsoft HealthVault opens to the world……. or at least a lot more of it

hlthblog — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:15:39 GMT

Whenever I travel outside the US, and even inside the US, I tend to get lots of questions about Microsoft’s platform for personal health records, HealthVault . I say “platform” because HealthVault is much more than a site for storing your personal...(read more)

Health ICT 2012 – Pain, Progress and Promise

hlthblog — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:41:47 GMT

After two weeks back in my Redmond office it is time again to hit the road. I swear I hardly remember last week due to the mental fog of jetlag after a two and a half week sojourn in New Zealand and Australia. Next week I’m heading in the...(read more)

Senior citizens improve health, sense of well being with Kinect, XBOX 360 & Microsoft HealthVault

hlthblog — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:30:47 GMT

If you think video games are just for kids, tweens and teens you’d be terribly wrong. People of all ages are buying and playing video games these days. In fact, a pilot program called the Exergamers Wellness Club developed by Microsoft, the...(read more)

Health ICT moves forward in Australia with some great people and best practices

hlthblog — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 02:13:25 GMT

This weekend I’ve settled in Brisbane at one of my favorite hotels, the Stamford Plaza . It has an ideal location with easy access to the riverfront, City Cat water taxi service, the botanical garden, restaurants, and local area attractions. ...(read more)

New Zealand sets an example on the race for better healthcare

hlthblog — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:19:22 GMT

Over the weekend I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, my first stop before I continue on to Australia for a multi-city tour of meetings with customers, partners and government officials in the region. I will also deliver a few keynote addresses at...(read more)

Making health services more accessible and affordable to more people

hlthblog — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:38:30 GMT

The Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act is slated to bring health insurance coverage to an additional 30 million Americans who are currently uninsured. With many primary care medical practices closed to taking new patients and a national...(read more)

Don’t blame technology for driving up the cost of healthcare. Blame all of us who use it inappropriately.

hlthblog — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:31:41 GMT

If you are a regular reader of HealthBlog, I suspect you may already subscribe to THCB , The Health Care Blog. Like most folks in the health industry, I’m a big fan of THCB. It is a “must read” for news and opinion about what’s going on in...(read more)

Your turn! Health information and medical services that scale and change the world.

hlthblog — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:48:32 GMT

Those who know about my background understand why and how my medical career gravitated toward all things digital. Frankly, it wasn’t by design. Life just kind of happened more than it was planned. My career started at the tender age of 17...(read more)

Innovations for health and healthcare through the looking glass of Microsoft Research

hlthblog — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:20:31 GMT

One of the coolest aspects of my job at Microsoft is getting early previews of work going on at Microsoft Research . Did you know that Microsoft invests more than $9 Billion a year on applied research across a broad range of ICT. This includes...(read more)

Medical Dictation, Speech Recognition Moves to the Cloud

hlthblog — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:28:46 GMT

Healthcare is a data intensive business. One of the barriers to adoption of electronic medical records is data entry. Using a keyboard to write long medical reports or enter data into formatted templates can be a tiresome productivity sink for busy...(read more)

HIMSS 2012 – Software, Solutions and Robots…… Oh My!

hlthblog — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:42:15 GMT

In my last post I mentioned that this year at HIMSS I’d be looking for IT solutions that help bring us closer to the “triple-aim” of better (higher quality), faster (improved access), less expensive care. Oh sure, like every other year I saw some...(read more)

Lessons from Las Vegas - HIMSS 12 and Healthcare

hlthblog — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:11:53 GMT

As almost anyone even remotely connected to the world of health ICT knows, this week is the HIMSS Conference in Las Vegas. I arrived early to provide a keynote Sunday morning for a large contingent of our customers and partners visiting HIMSS from...(read more)

Software solution keeps doctors on time, patients more satisfied

hlthblog — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:19:48 GMT

Have you ever been a patient in a hospital? If not, perhaps you have had the experience of having a family member or other loved one spend time in a hospital. In either case, I’ll bet one of the most annoying and anxiety causing things about...(read more)

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)