Learning from South Africa
Several years ago I was fascinated by Dr. Atul Gawande’s discussion of ignorance and incompetence. He argued that we in healthcare are no longer ignorant. We know quite a bit about pathology, pharmacology, diagnostics, and various therapeutic techniques. On my visit...
Sustainable Universal Coverage
Last month CMS announced the results of the efforts of the Pioneer and MSSP (Medicare Shared Savings Program) ACOs for 2014. The headline made for compelling reading: Medicare ACOs Provide Improved Care While Slowing Cost Growth in 2014. This suggests that sustainable...
The Older Americans Act
Recently the New England Journal of Medicine published a great article in the “Perspective” section, “The Older Americans Act at 50”. Unfortunately the article is available online only to those who are subscribers, so I will try to give a very brief overview of its...
Community Engagement and Prevention
We all agree on the need for “physician engagement.” I rarely attend a meeting of physicians where someone doesn’t say that the problem with healthcare is that patients are passive, non-compliant and demanding and that a more effective form of “patient engagement” is...
The Triple Aim Before its Time
Lately I have been thinking again about the prescience of one of my most important mentors, Dr. Robert Ebert, who was Dean of Harvard Medical School when I was a student there. In my last blog post I cited a talk Dr. Ebert gave in 1967 at Simmons College, and I...Case Study – Elizabeth Mcarthy
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