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Economics: The Healthcare Blog

Shame

By Rob Lamberts, MD I saw a gentleman in my office recently.  He was having severe pain radiating from his lower back, down to his calf. I was about to describe my plan to him when he interrupted me saying, “I know, Doc, I am overweight.  I know that this would just get better if [...]

The Lesion’s Curse

By James Salwitz, MD A frightened Diane called me today.  She was in big trouble.  Her primary doctor’s office had called with terrible news.  The MRI showed Diane had a lesion.  Desperate, she reached out to an Oncologist for help. A lesion?  Yes, a lesion.  What could that mean?  What did she need to do?  [...]

When Practicing on Patients Can Have Real Consequences

By Ilana Yurkiewicz My preceptor would call this a “Pandora’s Box” case. Do not open the conversation if you are not prepared to grapple with all of its consequences. This is what I am thinking as I interview Ms. L. I have a standard set of social history questions. Ms. L screens positive for nearly [...]

Gamification

By John Halamka, MD Recently, I’ve met with several internet startups, web thought leaders, and venture capitalists. There’s one word that’s come up in every conversation and it’s not Plastics.  It’s Gamification. Gamification, described by Wikipedia is applying gaming principles to non-gaming applications and processes, “in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to [...]

Pills Still Matter

By David Shaywitz, MD Reviewing “The Myth of The Paperless Office” for the New Yorker in 2002, Malcolm Gladwell argued that if the computer had come first, and paper didn’t exist, someone would have had to invent it.  Paper, it turns out, is a lot more useful than we typically appreciate. It occurred to me that [...]

The Lifesaving(?) Technology of Facebook

By Shannon Brownlee and Joe Colucci When most of us think about Facebook, the first phrase that comes to mind probably isn’t “good Samaritan.”  Facebook is an easy way to keep in touch with friends, and it can be a gigantic time-suck, for sure, but last week the site did something that could truly benefit a [...]

Red or Blue Pill for Payment Reform? Both Won’t Work

By JOSHUA ARCHAMBAULT Are the House and Senate giving us a false choice for how to control health care costs in Massachusetts? Aren’t there other options? A few major themes have emerged from the two payment reform proposals and highlight the fact that they fail to align incentives for patients to be more involved in [...]

Activist Seeds – The Latest, Subtle Trend in Seed Investing

By Jeff Bussgang When I entered the VC business 10 years ago, I tried to keep thinking about venture capital as a business, where the key focus area was on meeting the needs of our target customers — entrepreneurs and limited partner investors. In the case of entrepreneurs, those needs have changed radically in these [...]

Fast Science: The Uncertainty Paradox

By Marya Zilberberg, MD Reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-Sided” has been liberating in that is has given me permission to let my pessimistic nature out of the closet. Well, it’s not exactly that I am pessimistic, but certainly I am not given over to brightness and cheer all the time. My poison is worry. Yes, I [...]

Don’t Bypass Physicians

By Peter W. Carmel As physicians, our primary concern is ensuring the health and safety of our patients. The Food and Drug Administration has offered a new concept to make more prescription drugs available over the counter (OTC). Proponents claim it could improve patient health and outcomes, reduce patient costs and promote proper medication use. [...]